All test shots are done in bright mode with the wrong adjustment on +2 to contrast and saturation and hence the high contrast and saturation on the test shots.
I am quite happy with the purchase and the lens perform well for me especially for the longer range that I can use in the zoo. It will compete with my Pentax DA 50-200 for sure. Purple fringing are seen in a couple of shots with high contrast and I am told to use a smaller aperture to minimize purple fringe with this lens.Impressions & Notes:
- An absolute bargain to buy this consumer tele zoom lens. I bought mine used for about $90 and I have a great liking for the great value that this lens brings to my amateur photos
- The best thing about this zoom is Sharp pictures.
- Color and contrast are reasonable to good in my experience
- Sharpness, color and contrast can fair well compared to Pentax DA 50-200 in the same range
- Lens is lightweight and very portable as a walk around zoom. That is right, I can use this long zoom for hiking and walk around, very similar to the style of photos that I do with Pentax DA 50-200 f/4.0-5.6 and don't feel the burden to change lens
- Besides sharpness, the next best thing about this lens is the 1:2 close focusing capability. Close up on flowers and bugs are well beyond the $90 calls for. Some of my close up with this lens compete well with my prime macro lens with the similar 1:2 magnification
- Close focus or Macro works in the range of 180mm to 300mm with a switch.
- Since minimum focusing distance is about three feet, this zoom works well with bugs in giving an ample distance farther away from bug.
- Portraits with this zoom is surprisingly well
- The biggest gripe is on more occurrences with PF/CA. My copy is no exception but I used the following to guard against PF/CA
- PF/CA happens more often in bigger aperture as in f/5.6 in 300mm
- I use f/8.0 as the guiding aperture to go agains PF/CA
- I use higher ISO to make up the light for wide open aperture
- I pay attention to high contrast areas as in backlit branches, I change angles for multiple shots
- PF/CA happen worse and lot more often with Tamron 1.4x TC unfortunately
- Overall I am very satisfied with this inexpensive zoom and I push it to its limits with use of TC to reach up to 420mm and 510mm with Tamron 1.4x TC and Promaster 1.7x TC.
- Sometimes I do struggle in collapsing the lens from Macro. What I do is to switch to manual focus (MF) and turn the focusing ring pass the 'Macro distance' in the long end and retract the zoom to normal zoom position. And then I change from MF back to AF.C for next shooting.
- A high value lens in my book for recommendation with only caveat on PF/CA
Related:
- Going Green in Blogging
- Reaction to photozone.de on Pentax DA 50-200
- Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro f/4.0-5.6
- Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Flowers
- Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Bees
- Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Birds
- Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro on Portraits
- Tamron 1.4x Pz-AF MC4 TC
- Promaster Spectrum 7 1.7x AF TC
- Tamron-F 2X KR MC4 TC -- 600mm Tamron lens f/11
- Purple Fringe with Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro
- Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
- Hin's Camera Gear
11 comments:
Thanks for all the good info here. What do you mean by "bright mode"?
Thanks for the comment. The bright mode that I refer to is one of the two image tone available on K10D and K100D: Bright (some refer as vivid color) & Natural. The default image tone on K100D is "bright" mode but on K10D, the default is "natural" mode.
Great lens overview, and some nice photographs!
I appreciate your sharing the info. :-)
Mister Hin, I need to talk to you about this lens. I recently purchased one and would like to ask you some questions about it. If you have spare time, please email me at michaelgruet@gmail.com. I'd really appreciate it if you can! Thanks!
Great review! thanks!
Is there any "bright mode" on the k200d too?
and how is the tamron compering to the sigma apo 70-300mm?
thanks again!
Doron, thanks for the visit and comment. I think the "bright mode" is the default in K100D and perhaps K200D. Check on Image Tone to be sure. As for Sigma 70-300mm, it is a better lens in terms of Purple Fringe control. In terms of sharpness and values, I think both are very close. I assume the build on Sigma is a bit better. Both do good in casual close up.
I have the Tamron LD 75-300mm f/4-5.6. Someone on eBay didn't know how to spell Tamron so relatively few people saw it. It's absolutely mint and I was the only bidder. I got it for $20.00! He sent the wrong hood. The only one I could find is silver so it looks kind of weird but I don't care.
I took it on a cruise to Alaska in 2006 and got some stunning images using it on the *ist DL.
Do you notice any purple fringing with this lens?
yes, a lot of PF are seen with the lens, one need to stop down to at least f/8.0 and avoid contrast areas. It is a cheap and sharp lens but it comes with PF unfortunately. A better lens will be the Pentax DA 55-300mm.
Dropped here by chance - as I was looking for some reviews on Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135. Anyways very nice lens - I love taking pictures of the moon and Jupiter with that, and usually on Jupiter you can catch its moons (i got 3 once). PF/CA is a serious issue - but I never looked for ways to exterminate it. Now ill try with F8. Nice work btw
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