I bought this lens after selling my Tokina AF 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 and it seems to make sense to go with this Tamron wide to normal zoom as a replacement for the Pentax DA 18-55 f/3.5-5.6. It is a gratifying upgrade. The lens is very similar to my favorite portrait zoom with Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 Di LD Macro. But this lens doesn't have the aperture ring. Other than the absense of aperture ring, it looks like a small brother to the Tamron portrait zoom
I tested this new zoom from Tamron over the long weekend in Thanksgiving and my family visited Monterey Bay Aquarium and the lens perform extremely well and it surprise me for the indoor shots in high ISO with Pentax K20D. A lot of test pictures are done in wide open apertures and the 17mm wide angle happen to be very useful. It really satisfy my need in the wide angle with the IQ and sharpness that I get used to with other Tamron lens1/60 sec, f/3.5, 43mm, iso 1600, 0 Ev
1/13 sec, f/2.8, 17mm, iso 1600, 0 Ev
1/800 sec, f/4.0, 17mm, iso 100, 0 Ev
1/200 sec, f/3.5, 43mm, iso 200, 0 Ev
Impressions & Notes:
- I am very pleased with the performance on the zoom. It can rival the respect that I have for Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
- Indoor in 17mm wide angle and wide open f/2.8 is outstanding with K20D
- Outdoor for some reason tend to have underexposure in few of my test shots. Perhaps, I have many test shots under shadow of harsh lighting in the mid-afternoon
- Sharpness is very satisfactory with the lens, it surprise me in the f/2.8 wide open aperture, very similar to its brethren in Tamron 28-75 f/2.8
- Aperture ring is absent in this lens
- Ergonomics is great and it is smaller and a bit lighter than the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, I noted some stiffness in the zoom ring but I see it as a plus
- AF seems normal and pretty decent, but MF can be poor due to 1/4 focus throw
- Overall very satisfied and this wide zoom will easily get my recommendation
Related:
- Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
- Tamron 28-75mm on Portraits
- Tamron 28-75mm on Fireworks
- Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 for walk-around
- Tokina AF 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5
- Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
- Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
- Hin's Camera Gear
