Product Description
Tamron now offers a lightweight, compact, high-image-quality telephoto zoom lens with macro capability of 1: 2 that can be used with digital cameras. This new lens is a Di type lens using an optical system with improved multi-coating designed to function with digital SLR cameras as well as film cameras.With this 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, flipping a macro switch in the focal length range of 180mm to 300mm obtains a maximum magnification ratio of 1: 2 at a minimum focus distance as short as 37.4″, enabling close-up shots of flowers, insects, and other objects that normally require the use of a specially designed macro lens. Moreover, this is a zoom lens that casually offers the distant capture and foreshortening effect pleasures of the 300mm ultra-telephoto world.
Hal C. Bryson @ 5:35 pm
Had read some good things in dpreview (and at least one other digital camera forum) about this lens. It gives my K100D a nice “reach” (up to about 450mm equivalent focal length) and adds a decent macro magnification above 180 mm (270 mm equivalent)… however, it’s affordable for a reason: not very sharp at any focal length, adds some color cast to images, has a rotating front lens element and requires some manipulation to get it into and out of macro shooting. Haven’t noticed much of a CA problem yet and the contrast is generally good. I’ve taken a few nice bird photos and people (unposed portraits) shots with this lens; but ususally needs some post-processing (Photoshop Elements) to sharpen up and remove color cast. [But that's true of most of my digital photography, regardless of lens used.] On balance, not a bad compromise for shooters on a budget. I’d like to save up for the Sigma 50-500mm (aka “Bigma”) lens. Happy shooting!
Hiram Grant @ 8:29 pm
The new Di lenses from Tamron are designed to work well with digital cameras, although those with the Di will work for 35mm as well (Di-II only work with smaller, APS-C chip size digital cameras). This is an improvement on the fine 70-300 LD (Low Dispersion glass) design. The major improvements in this lens are in the coatings, to help reduce any color bias, and minimize reflections. Additionally, lens manufacturers are doing more inside the barrels to reduce reflections.
Like the older LD design, the new lens has a close-up mode (not strictly “macro”) position that allows images 1/2 lifesize on the negative. That’s about twice the size of most 300mm zooms lacking this feature.
Compared to the current Pentax lineup, this is a real winner. The Tamron includes a lens hood, and has a much longer warranty (6 years vs. 1). The Pentax design is also older, and may not meet the critical demands of the new digital chips.
Doug Milligan @ 10:24 pm
I bought this lens to go with my Tamron DI 17-35mm lens, and have been impressed by both so far. I was contemplating a 50-200mm lens that had a shorter barrel, but opted for this one instead. It’s got 50% more reach to get some great shots. Plus, it has a true macro function, where-as other lenses in this range only mimic macro.
seeker @ 12:44 am
Having used this lens for a weekend covering some portraits and a football game I can confidently say that this is a real good deal especially for the Pentax K mount.
The lens is fairly big and heavy compared to my FA 50 and DA 18-55. The front element does rotate. The build quality is very good and it feels real strong. The macro mode confused me initially and I tried to switch back to normal while the focus was in macro mode so it rightly refused(look for the golden indicators on both zoom and focus indicators) Only gripe is that it should have been mentioned more clearly in the manual.
As for the pictures, they came out sharp enough for my purpose. The range is great and even though the pics are a tad soft wide open at 300mm they are quite usable unless you plan to develop some large prints. The main issue with this lens is Purple Fringing. On one of my pics it seemed like the refree was wearing a purple cap over his white! Apart from this and some slight PF on most of my 300mm shots the lens performed pretty good during that game. My K110 didn’t have anti-shake and the auto-focus is not the fastest but I would imagine that the K10 would handle it even better.
Definitely a great lens to buy for the money. As long as you don’t use it above 200mm you won’t notice the PF (which can be removed in PP). Options are the Sigma 70-300 and Pentax DA 50-200 though both have their own drawbacks. For me this will do for the time being. Anything better in terms of speed, quality and length will come at a huge premium. If there was less PF this lens would definitely get 5 stars.
Aldo R. Perez @ 3:36 am
The lens is a full frame lens. On a DSLR body like the Pentax K2000 it behaves like a 105mm-450mm lens with no issues with vigneting. Because only the center of the lens is used in modern Pentax cameras you also get the best sharpness the lens can give you.
At 70mm (105mm equivalent) the lens is reasonably sharp at full open f/4 aperture. At f/5.6 it gets good sharpness.
At 180mm (270mm equivalent) the lens is usably sharp at full open aperture. At f/8.0 it gets good sharpness.
At 300mm (450mm equivalent) the lens is soft at full open aperture. At f/8.0 it gets average sharpness but gets a little better at f/11.
General Contrast: Average at most times but I never feel it is lacking. Just not impressive like some prime lenses.
Lens Distortion: Hardly any lens distortion to talk about.
Chromatic aberrations can sometimes be seen beyond 200mm (easily corrected in Photoshop)
Focus Speed: Average to slow focus speed. Not good to track fast moving objects or small flying insects. Not saying it is bad but you can react faster than the lens can keep up on a K2000.
Macro: Begins at 180mm (270mm equivalent)and at f/8 you can get some really nice pictures. The minumum focal range of 3 feet makes macro hand held shoots harder. Not a problem with a tripod. The magnification is good even if it is not a true macro lens.
Mechanical Quality: A little stiff to zoom in, manual focus ring is OK. Feels a little cheap at times from all the plastic. Metal mount and decent hood. Large as to be expected from a full frame lens but not heavy.
Price: You get a lot of lens for your money.
Use: This lens does better outdoors with lots is light. The long focal range at the short end (70mm, 105mm effective) makes it impractical for small spaces (unless in Macro mode and even then you need 3 feet to focus). On the other hand if you get enough light portraits pictures at 70mm (105mm effective) at f/5.6 – f/8.0 can come out nice. With enough light and f/11 even 300mm (450mm) is totally usable for large prints after a little Photoshop.
Conclusion: Maybe the best of the low end tele zoom lens for Pentax. By far the best value of the group.