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

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I also forgot to mention, I took about 300 bright snowy day pictures yesterday with quite a few shots that are ideal in revealing CA, but have yet to find one with any at all.

I also took most of the shot capturing four wheelers and motorcycles doing stunts, and was able to freeze some amazing clear action.
 
Jay,

I had a look at your review, and although I don't read (or speak) Korean I did enjoy your photographs.

Nice job! I'm sure the lens is great, but I think you'd take great photos with a disposable camera.

Thanks for posting the link and if you ever decide to publish the review in English please post a link, I'm sure there are many people who would be very interested to read it.
  • Mark
 
My Tamron is focusing in 1 sec or faster (from infinity or anywhere else).

The problem with my lens is: it's back/front focusing randomly - it's real. From 400 shots I took there are about 10% focused correctly. Also in 5 shots (out of 400) I have very bad CA.
So I am sending my lens back to the shop for the replacement.

I did simple (not scientific) autofocusing test (beer bottles row in 45 degree orientation - focus on central bottle - shot handheld with shoter speed 1/100sec + 550EX flash). For the every focal length and f=2.8 I took 10 shots - average rate: 1 in focus, 6 back focus (1-4 bottles) and 3 front focus (2-4 bottles). :)

Did someone had a similar problem with that lens?

Alex
Hans von der Crone said:
alekas said:
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
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention - I did the same test with EF50 f/1.8 and with the kit lense - they are fine - so there is nothing wrong with my nonscientific test :)

Alex
alekas said:
My Tamron is focusing in 1 sec or faster (from infinity or anywhere
else).

The problem with my lens is: it's back/front focusing randomly -
it's real. From 400 shots I took there are about 10% focused
correctly. Also in 5 shots (out of 400) I have very bad CA.
So I am sending my lens back to the shop for the replacement.

I did simple (not scientific) autofocusing test (beer bottles row
in 45 degree orientation - focus on central bottle - shot handheld
with shoter speed 1/100sec + 550EX flash). For the every focal
length and f=2.8 I took 10 shots - average rate: 1 in focus, 6 back
focus (1-4 bottles) and 3 front focus (2-4 bottles). :)

Did someone had a similar problem with that lens?

Alex
Click to expand...
 
Martin,

I am caught between keeping the Tamron 28-75 di, or the Sigma 28-70 EX DF. A recent sharpness test I performed at infinity shows the Tamron performing very well at 2.8 at 28mm, but at 50mm and 70mm, it looks as if yoiu smeared a very thin coat of Vasaline over the lens. Contrast is good, and sharpness soft, but not terrible. The Sigma at 2.8 28mm is slightly soft, not nearly as sharp as the Tamron. But the Tamron at 2.8 50 and 70mm is not as good as the Sigma's slightly soft image at these focal lengths. But the Sigma does not have this "smeared" look. I think I might have a lemon. At 4.0, the Tamron all the way across is very good, however. but the type of work I do might require shooting wide open at times. I would keep the Tamron, if I had greater performance wide open at 50 and 70mm. How does the way I describe the Tamron compare to yours? BTW, front and back focusing is good with the Sigma and the Tamron.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Robert
MartinM2 said:
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!
Click to expand...
 
THanks for all the input

I finally decide to buy the tamron lens. I realize that the focus is slower than the kit lens. but the quality of the picture is simply amaze me.

This is the picture that I got after testing the lens.
shot at f8 and I did not do anything to the image. Just straigt out from camera.


Iing Gunawan said:
I am planning to buy one of them , both of the lens is good. Which
one should I choose? Any recommendation?

Thanks,
Click to expand...
 
since I'm having a VERY slow focus issue with this Tamron on my 10D, could you please try this :
  • put the lens, using manual focus, at infinity
  • put it at 28mm
  • enable autofocus and then focus at something about 1,5m away from you
-> at 28mm, moving the focus from infinity to closeup takes between 3 and 6 seconds here before acquiring focus lock
-> at 33mm and up, it seems about as fast as my 28-135

I would love to see if this is the case with other users as well. Just let me know how long it takes your lens to focus at 28mm coming from a whole other focus range as the focus point chosen

(I need to know this for sure before sending it to Tamron for repair)
 
Just tried a minute ago and it takes less than 1 second to focus.

Thanks,
Hans von der Crone said:
since I'm having a VERY slow focus issue with this Tamron on my
10D, could you please try this :
  • put the lens, using manual focus, at infinity
  • put it at 28mm
  • enable autofocus and then focus at something about 1,5m away from
you

-> at 28mm, moving the focus from infinity to closeup takes between
3 and 6 seconds here before acquiring focus lock
-> at 33mm and up, it seems about as fast as my 28-135

I would love to see if this is the case with other users as well.
Just let me know how long it takes your lens to focus at 28mm
coming from a whole other focus range as the focus point chosen

(I need to know this for sure before sending it to Tamron for repair)
Click to expand...
 
I did some test with my Tamron 28-75 di, and I like the sharpness at f4, but even better at f8. f2.8 is indeed a bit (too) soft I think. Still I use this lens allot and i like it. But if I must work with the f2.8 all the time I would use an other lens i guess...
robert clark said:
I am caught between keeping the Tamron 28-75 di, or the Sigma 28-70
EX DF. A recent sharpness test I performed at infinity shows the
Tamron performing very well at 2.8 at 28mm, but at 50mm and 70mm,
it looks as if yoiu smeared a very thin coat of Vasaline over the
lens. Contrast is good, and sharpness soft, but not terrible. The
Sigma at 2.8 28mm is slightly soft, not nearly as sharp as the
Tamron. But the Tamron at 2.8 50 and 70mm is not as good as the
Sigma's slightly soft image at these focal lengths. But the Sigma
does not have this "smeared" look. I think I might have a lemon.
At 4.0, the Tamron all the way across is very good, however. but
the type of work I do might require shooting wide open at times. I
would keep the Tamron, if I had greater performance wide open at 50
and 70mm. How does the way I describe the Tamron compare to yours?
BTW, front and back focusing is good with the Sigma and the Tamron.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Robert
MartinM2 said:
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!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Could you please test the autofocus?

Just simple test (repeated 3-4 times) with different focal length (28, 35, 50, 60, 75) and check if it has precise focus.

Thanks,
Alex
Iing Gunawan said:
THanks for all the input

I finally decide to buy the tamron lens. I realize that the focus
is slower than the kit lens. but the quality of the picture is
simply amaze me.

This is the picture that I got after testing the lens.
shot at f8 and I did not do anything to the image. Just straigt out
from camera.
Click to expand...
 
The autofocus is ok, but i think the lens kit focus faster than this. It takes less than 1 second, but Lens kit beat this one up for the autofocus.

as far as the picture quality, I am pretty happy with this lens
alekas said:
alekas said:
Could you please test the autofocus?
Just simple test (repeated 3-4 times) with different focal length
(28, 35, 50, 60, 75) and check if it has precise focus.

Thanks,
Alex
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Iing - I'm sending my lens back tomorrow.

I will never ever have any business with Brooklyn based company. I ordered 550EX international model flash (I understand meters - not feet) + Tamron 28-75 + Hoya SHMC 67mm UV filter. I received a lemon lens + Tiffen Haze filter + 550EX USA version flash.

The site was digitalfotoclub.com (but I received the package/receipt from FocusCamera.com). It's funny - I lived in Brooklyn for 7 month - I knew those kind of people, but I ordered from them (because of about 10% less price for the complete order) again :)

Thanks for your reply.

Alex
Iing Gunawan said:
The autofocus is ok, but i think the lens kit focus faster than
this. It takes less than 1 second, but Lens kit beat this one up
for the autofocus.

as far as the picture quality, I am pretty happy with this lens
Click to expand...
 
Are all these pictures with the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 di? They are great.
Vaughn T.Winfree said:
Iing Gunawan said:
as far as the picture quality, I am pretty happy with this lens
alekas said:
alekas said:
Could you please test the autofocus?
Just simple test (repeated 3-4 times) with different focal length
(28, 35, 50, 60, 75) and check if it has precise focus.

Thanks,
Alex
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Vaughn T. Winfree
Friends Don't Let Friends Shoot Film :)

pBase supporter http://www.pBase.com/vaughn
Click to expand...
 
My version of this lens hunts a bit, and I'm still debating whether to send it back to the factory for inspection. It's nowhere near the low percentage that you report here...maybe 10% of the time, mine hunts mid shot and in AI Servo will hunt while snapping...but it's much more manageable than what you describe...

Overall, I'm still pretty happy with this lens.

Noel
alekas said:
My Tamron is focusing in 1 sec or faster (from infinity or anywhere
else).

The problem with my lens is: it's back/front focusing randomly -
it's real. From 400 shots I took there are about 10% focused
correctly. Also in 5 shots (out of 400) I have very bad CA.
So I am sending my lens back to the shop for the replacement.

I did simple (not scientific) autofocusing test (beer bottles row
in 45 degree orientation - focus on central bottle - shot handheld
with shoter speed 1/100sec + 550EX flash). For the every focal
length and f=2.8 I took 10 shots - average rate: 1 in focus, 6 back
focus (1-4 bottles) and 3 front focus (2-4 bottles). :)

Did someone had a similar problem with that lens?

Alex
Click to expand...
 
Here is a test I ran against the 50 1.8 at 50mm.



It is obviously sharper from F4 and stopped down compared to 2.8, but this is only obviously noticeable for me with 100% crops. I've found 2.8 to be perfectly acceptable for prints and in general at 2.8, but I've only had the lens for about 2 weeks and am still getting a feel for it.

It's a tough choice against the Sigma, as there is alot of debate between users as they are both great lenses. I would suggest seeing if you can exchange the tamron for one further test before making you'r decision if possible. It seems like I've heard quite a few cases of people getting bad lenses of just about any make, so it's always possible it's just a bad copy.

I hope this helps,
robert clark said:
I am caught between keeping the Tamron 28-75 di, or the Sigma 28-70
EX DF. A recent sharpness test I performed at infinity shows the
Tamron performing very well at 2.8 at 28mm, but at 50mm and 70mm,
it looks as if yoiu smeared a very thin coat of Vasaline over the
lens. Contrast is good, and sharpness soft, but not terrible. The
Sigma at 2.8 28mm is slightly soft, not nearly as sharp as the
Tamron. But the Tamron at 2.8 50 and 70mm is not as good as the
Sigma's slightly soft image at these focal lengths. But the Sigma
does not have this "smeared" look. I think I might have a lemon.
At 4.0, the Tamron all the way across is very good, however. but
the type of work I do might require shooting wide open at times. I
would keep the Tamron, if I had greater performance wide open at 50
and 70mm. How does the way I describe the Tamron compare to yours?
BTW, front and back focusing is good with the Sigma and the Tamron.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Robert
MartinM2 said:
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!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I have no problem with the focus, in fact I find it to be much faster and more accurate than the 50 1.8 prime. The 50 tends to hunt for me in lower light more often and if I release the shutter button to refocus I often get some small movement, where the Tamron doesn't do this.

Here are a few shot by my friend who has never shot an SLR before, I just put it in sports auto mode and let him get a few shot of me riding my dirt bike.



 
Excellent shot!
nice
MartinM2 said:
I have no problem with the focus, in fact I find it to be much
faster and more accurate than the 50 1.8 prime. The 50 tends to
hunt for me in lower light more often and if I release the shutter
button to refocus I often get some small movement, where the Tamron
doesn't do this.

Here are a few shot by my friend who has never shot an SLR before,
I just put it in sports auto mode and let him get a few shot of me
riding my dirt bike.



Click to expand...
 
I tried the test and the camera was at focus in under a second.
Hans von der Crone said:
since I'm having a VERY slow focus issue with this Tamron on my
10D, could you please try this :
  • put the lens, using manual focus, at infinity
  • put it at 28mm
  • enable autofocus and then focus at something about 1,5m away from
you

-> at 28mm, moving the focus from infinity to closeup takes between
3 and 6 seconds here before acquiring focus lock
-> at 33mm and up, it seems about as fast as my 28-135

I would love to see if this is the case with other users as well.
Just let me know how long it takes your lens to focus at 28mm
coming from a whole other focus range as the focus point chosen

(I need to know this for sure before sending it to Tamron for repair)
Click to expand...
 
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