Help!!! Tamron 28-75 f 2.8 XR or sigma 28-70 f2.8 EX DF?

alekas · Jan 11, 2004

I finally got my Tamron 28-75Di.

Here are the samples from Detroit International Autoshow:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4168910&a=31045569

It's 100% crop (epson.com does not accept bigger than 3000x3000px size). No postrprocessing (Parameter 2 was selected + sometimes I used 550EX flash).

Unfortunately epson.com recompressed all images, but it does not affect the quality much.

My first comments about the lens:

1. It's big and heavy (I know this is the "smallest lens in that range" according to Tamron - but still I think it's big and heavy).

2. It's very well built.

3. CA - the worst is on 8th photo (yellow Hummer) - img_1546.

4. It's back/front focusing randomly (the same shoot taken 3 times with f=3.5 - not even 1 shoot had right focus), but this happen not very often. Have a look on photo #3 (img_1495) - I focused on left eye, but the focus is on shoulder.

5. I am going to save some money and buy 17-40L - I need real WA lens (and I want to have L glass) - I almost sure after it happens I will sell the Tamron.

Overall - very good lens, but not really useful in the conditions where I took these photos (need more WA).

Alex

Iing Gunawan said:
Thanks for the info

I almost bought the sigma 105 EX, but I think it's better if I have
some range in the F 2.8 area. Can you post a sample when you got
it? I want to see it.

Thanks,

castlenut · Jan 11, 2004

Your samples are pretty good. In fact I don't think I've seen better performance from this Tamron. Definately a capable lens and your copy is pretty good too.

But you're right, you will sell it after you'll get the 17-40 ;-) In my case after I've got that lens, my 28-70mm zoom was ebayed immediately due to it's uselessnes, and 35mm f2.0 prime was acquired for available light shooting to accompany 50mm f1.8 I already had.

alekas · Jan 11, 2004

castlenut,
Thanks for the comment.

Basicaly I bought it because it has f=2.8 and there is no way I can afford 24-70L.

Now I know that f=2.8 is almost useless on that lens (because of autofocus issues up to f=3.5..4.0)

Well, for now I'm collecting money for 17-40L

Alex

castlenut said:
Your samples are pretty good. In fact I don't think I've seen
better performance from this Tamron. Definately a capable lens and
your copy is pretty good too.

But you're right, you will sell it after you'll get the 17-40 ;-)
In my case after I've got that lens, my 28-70mm zoom was ebayed
immediately due to it's uselessnes, and 35mm f2.0 prime was
acquired for available light shooting to accompany 50mm f1.8 I
already had.

Xaphod · Jan 11, 2004

it so sharp its amazing....i recently took some squirrel photos as a test (which I cant post yet due to various problems) but man..so amazing...

and the clouds really have that "3d" feeling...

u can see some shots on the tamron at http://pbase.com/jordanb but these are by no means the best (but were done for a commercial shot)...

The lens is amazing...Note that I had AF problems with my first body.....and replaced it...(300D)...dont blame potential body problems on the lens!
Jordan

castlenut · Jan 11, 2004

1. You may consider used 28-70mm f2.8L. It can be had for ~$750 on ebay.

2. Personally I fell like 17-40mm covers over 90% of what I need.

Jay Kim #129170 · Jan 11, 2004

I was also in a similar dillema but ended up with the Tamron and don't regret it one bit. It is very small and very light and most importantly the image quality is very good.

I wrote a long'ish review with lots of pics but as its written in Korean, just look at the pics.. =) Maybe babelfish etc might do a half decent job of transliting but i doubt it..

http://www.jayki.com/bbs/view.php?id=dslr_user_forum&no=94

--
Jay Kim
EOS-10D
Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM
Tamron SP 28-75mm F2.8 XR Di
(Have had and sold many many lenses to end up with these)

Jay Kim #129170 · Jan 11, 2004

castlenut said:
No, it does not seem so. All Tamron samples I've seen so far looked
pretty much like what I was getting from my copy.

I've seen many examples of both in korean boards also but it was either equal or Tamron was sharper wide open. (well, still no where near the sharpness of bright primes stopped at 2.8...)

castlenut said:
castlenut said:

, but the main complaint I've
heard is yellowish cast;

Click to expand...

yeah.. both sigma and tamron seems to have some type of cast which my canon primes don't.. not significant for most shots and sometimes, it may be the difference in white balance..

i think the biggest plus for the tamron lens is its size and weight.. =)

--
Jay Kim
EOS-10D

yankees · Jan 11, 2004

Jay Kim said:
I was also in a similar dillema but ended up with the Tamron and
don't regret it one bit. It is very small and very light and most
importantly the image quality is very good.

I wrote a long'ish review with lots of pics but as its written in
Korean, just look at the pics.. =) Maybe babelfish etc might do a
half decent job of transliting but i doubt it..

http://www.jayki.com/bbs/view.php?id=dslr_user_forum&no=94

Thank you so much for the review/link, very nice work! Did you have to play with the images much or were these pretty much staight from the camera. I'm trying to avoid photoshop work as much as possible so I guess you can say I'm looking for the Holy Grail of color, contrast and sharpness. Problems with the 24-70/10D combo looks like a fact of life (percentage wise) and I'm not much of a gambler. One day I lean 24-70, the next I sway toward the Tamron. No wonder why my mother named me Thomas!

Tom

Hans vdC · Jan 11, 2004

I don't understand the language, but it seems like a very well put together review when it comes to the pictures and examples. I'll have my Tamron this afternoon, hope it'll perform better than my Sigma 18-50 which is a real disappointment due to heavy front focussing

Nugi · Jan 11, 2004

Hans von der Crone said:
I'll have my Tamron this afternoon, hope it'll perform better than my
Sigma 18-50 which is a real disappointment due to heavy front
focussing

Good luck Hans, I'd like to see your test drive.
--
Nugi
10D + 4 L glasses
Need lens comparisons ? See :
http://www.pbase.com/image/22050307/original

castlenut · Jan 11, 2004

Your Tamron samples are probably the best I've seen. I suspect it's not because of the lens ;-) Great work!

Jay Kim #129170 · Jan 12, 2004

I like to write simple yet effective reviews for my readers using lots of photo examples in real life situations.. (well.. with some exceptions such as bricks and keyboard.. hehehe..)

I only resize most of my photos and sometimes fiddle with the levels..
and a touch of sharpening after resize which is necessary..

i paid 1/4 of the price of the 24-70L but i think it surely beats the 24-70L in performance/usability/price ratio..

Jay Kim #129170 · Jan 12, 2004

Well.. at the end of the day, F2.8 100% crops mean nothing to most of my photos.... hence my additions of real life examples.. =)

maybe i'll write an english review next time..
(i'm actually better at english than korean anywayz...)

cheers. Jay

Hans vdC · Jan 12, 2004

I just got this lens (2nd hand) but I’m amazed at how slow it seems to focus, to the part where I’m thinking it might be a damaged one. When I make the lens autofocus from closeup to infinity, it takes about 2 seconds to go from one end to the other. When the lens is around the focus distance, it focusses pretty quickly when changing subject, but when it's set at infinity and I then focus on something close by, it again takes a pretty long time (1sec - 2sec) for the lens to reach it's focus position.

Could be very well that this is normal for this lens (it DOES feel very well built, gotta give that to Tamron) but when it's not normal I fear I have a broken autofocus motor.

Is this also the case with your lenses? My other lenses (Canon USM) do this in an instant, but it’s VERY slow on the Tamron.

Hans vdC · Jan 12, 2004

any1?

Hans von der Crone said:
I just got this lens (2nd hand) but I’m amazed at how slow it seems
to focus, to the part where I’m thinking it might be a damaged one.
When I make the lens autofocus from closeup to infinity, it takes
about 2 seconds to go from one end to the other. When the lens is
around the focus distance, it focusses pretty quickly when changing
subject, but when it's set at infinity and I then focus on
something close by, it again takes a pretty long time (1sec - 2sec)
for the lens to reach it's focus position.

Could be very well that this is normal for this lens (it DOES feel
very well built, gotta give that to Tamron) but when it's not
normal I fear I have a broken autofocus motor.

Is this also the case with your lenses? My other lenses (Canon USM)
do this in an instant, but it’s VERY slow on the Tamron.

alekas · Jan 12, 2004

I cannot test it right now - I'm at work, but looks like you are right - it's slow (but I don't have any USM lens to compare AF speed with)

Alex

Hans von der Crone said:
Hans von der Crone said:

I just got this lens (2nd hand) but I’m amazed at how slow it seems
to focus, to the part where I’m thinking it might be a damaged one.
When I make the lens autofocus from closeup to infinity, it takes
about 2 seconds to go from one end to the other. When the lens is
around the focus distance, it focusses pretty quickly when changing
subject, but when it's set at infinity and I then focus on
something close by, it again takes a pretty long time (1sec - 2sec)
for the lens to reach it's focus position.

Could be very well that this is normal for this lens (it DOES feel
very well built, gotta give that to Tamron) but when it's not
normal I fear I have a broken autofocus motor.

Is this also the case with your lenses? My other lenses (Canon USM)
do this in an instant, but it’s VERY slow on the Tamron.

Click to expand...

Hans vdC · Jan 12, 2004

really really strange, never had this with any other lens. it's VERY slow at 28mm, but it's as fast as any USM lens (non-L) I have from 35mm and up.

alekas said:
Alex

Hans von der Crone said:

Hans von der Crone said:

I just got this lens (2nd hand) but I’m amazed at how slow it seems
to focus, to the part where I’m thinking it might be a damaged one.
When I make the lens autofocus from closeup to infinity, it takes
about 2 seconds to go from one end to the other. When the lens is
around the focus distance, it focusses pretty quickly when changing
subject, but when it's set at infinity and I then focus on
something close by, it again takes a pretty long time (1sec - 2sec)
for the lens to reach it's focus position.

Could be very well that this is normal for this lens (it DOES feel
very well built, gotta give that to Tamron) but when it's not
normal I fear I have a broken autofocus motor.

Is this also the case with your lenses? My other lenses (Canon USM)
do this in an instant, but it’s VERY slow on the Tamron.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

alekas · Jan 12, 2004

That's interesting - I'll test it today night.

Alex

Hans von der Crone said:
really really strange, never had this with any other lens. it's
VERY slow at 28mm, but it's as fast as any USM lens (non-L) I have
from 35mm and up.

Jay Kim #129170 · Jan 12, 2004

as per the korean review i wrote of this lens, i compared the focusing speed to be roughly equal to the 50mm 1.4 USM (albeit micro-usm) focusing speed.. certainly not a speed demon but fast enough for most purposes except fast ai-servo mode for sports/animals/kids etc..

I just tried my lens at one end to the other in focusing and was way faster than 1 second and hence maybe your lens is faulty.. if it took nearly 2 seconds like yours, i would have thrown mine away.. =)

maybe you need to get it checked out..

jay

MartinM2 · Jan 12, 2004

I've had it about a week and find it about the same quality of shots as my ef 50 1.8 prime, but with about double the amount of good vs. bad shots. I think it is much more consistent with focus than the 50.

I couldn't be happier, and because of this purchase, I'll probably go for the 17-35 when the wallet agrees.

Very good lens!

Help!!! Tamron 28-75 f 2.8 XR or sigma 28-70 f2.8 EX DF?

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