Tamron AF28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di

This is an ideal lense for someone on a budget that wants an all purpose lense. The lens gives somewhat soft images but the quality is adequate for most consumers who want prints to about 11 x 17 or jpegs for email and the internet. Does well for family and casual photographs but does not have the image quality for larger blowup prints. Images can be enhanced with Photoshop but the best images will be limited to about the 11x17 size.

Well built great price point lense. 6 year USA warranty

Soft at both ends of the zoom range. Best shot at the smaller F stops whenever possible.

Canon, Sigma and Tokina

Not needed

I originally bought this lens to replace the kit lens for the canon 300d. Not really knowing much about lenses and specs it was more of a shot in the dark. It's been a fine walk about lens. I have many nice and sharp photos taken with this lens. I personally don't find anything impressive about the looks of this lens. Knowing what I know now I'd probably save my money and buy a nicer canon lens. I was able to buy a Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS for $750. There's no comparison in the quality of these lenses. I should have saved my money and bought the 24-105 instead. However, this Tamron lens has served me well with some amazing photos.

Nice sharp images at shorter distances. It's a good entry level lens that's versatile and affordable.

Cheaper quality lens. Definitely not L-glass.

I wanted versatility for my Canon 7e and I got a problem lens instead. But first, the coolest part of it is its tremendous range of 28-300mm. Also, it looks very cool to see the lens extend more than twice its original length. The price you pay is the quality of the picture. The word "soft" does not explain it well; it is more "never in focus".

I ended up selling it on eBay.

To summarize, if you want to impress someone on the street with a lens that extends in and out, go for it. If you want quality pictures, look elsewhere.

Great looks

Poor picures

none "similar". Better since.

Not used

I had read several very mixed reviews of this lens but then I realized that several of the most negative people were comparing it to the Canon “L” class 28-300 EF IS (priced at $2,500.00). Oh get serious, this is a $400 lens! So my comments here reflect a comparison between this lens, a $200 Tamron 70-300mm and a Canon 75-300mm (Non IS). This is almost the lightest lens I own (I have one tiny 50mm prime that is lighter) but it still feels very solid and well constructed. When set to 28mm the lens is also physically very small though as you zoom out to 300mm you begin to feel a little silly about how far the lens extends. It carries very nicely thanks to a lock switch that will keep the lens at 28mm. The zoom is smooth and had just the right feeling of resistance to me. The focus is decently quick and not especially loud. It won’t win any speed awards but it is faster and significantly quieter than my old Tamron 70-300. It has an internal focus so the front element of the lens doesn’t rotate (filter friendly) however the focus ring DOES turn. I kept touching the edge of the focus ring with my fingers at first and had to train myself to move my grip down further. Overall I would call this lens “slightly soft”. It isn’t terrible though I think serious photographers will start to frown if the images were blown up much past 8x10. Again I comment that it’s a $400 lens, not “L” class glass. At it’s best it is a little better than either my older Tamron 70-300 or the Canon 75-300. At it’s worst it is pretty much equal to either of those lenses. This lens hits it’s stride at f6.7 and up. However mine has a couple of odd spots (exactly at 28mm and 100mm) where it just stays soft no matter what I do. With f6.3 at the long end you will probably never get a good handheld shot at 250mm and up unless it is VERY bright outside. So why do I rate this lens so highly? Overall capability. I had a big protest coming up that I needed to photograph and due to the nature of the event I was going to need to pack light and be able to move fast. This lens on a Canon 10D gave me the full range I needed without ever pausing to change glass. Not changing lenses kept out the dirt/dust/grit thrown up by 15,000 protesters walking around (you would be AMAZED at how much crud that throws up into the air). Using only one lens and one body was very light and greatly reduced fatigue on this all day shoot. And finally, the light conditions were terrible! Even with overcast conditions and high ISO on the camera I still got good shots throughout the day. In summary, if you are looking for a studio portrait or fine-art lens, this is NOT it, you won’t be happy with the sharpness. However if you need something light and adaptable with an enormous range of coverage that won’t break the bank (photojournalists, tourists, etc) you simply can’t go wrong for the price.

-Light -Compact -Feels Solid -Avoid lens swaps -Great for photojournalists and tourists

-Slightly soft overall, especially at 28mm and 100mm. Not the best lens for portraits and studio fine art shots. -Very slow at the long end (f6.3) no handheld 300mm shots with this one! -Doesn't seem to quite reach 300mm, more like 280mm.

-Tamron 572D 70-300mm -Canon 75-300mm (Non IS) -Canon 70-200 f/4 L

none needed

I have been using the Sigma 18-200 DC but wanted some longer length,so bought this lens only today.I took about 300 photos and only about 7 were worth keeping,reason being that this lens is aweful.Tried lots of differing apertures and all photos were soft and the vast majority totally unusable.Out of focus,colour fringing even after none severe cropping.I have severely cropped some taken with the Sigma and never ever had that problem.Autofocus is on the slow side,though not too noisy.It really is,in my opinion a truly terrible lens-at any price--the Sigma is far superior in all departments,even taking into account the 100mm loss at the long end,just crop a bit more and the picture will still be better than what this Tamron will give.Keep well away unless you can try it out first and receive a full refund,as Jessops in the UK allow you to.

Looks nice.Internal opening lens cap so the hood does not have to be taking off all the time.Thats about it folks!

Terrible image quality-purple fringeing--both serious to the point that to me lens is unusable.

Nikon 18-70dc Sigma 18-200dc

n/a---although Jessops shop is first rate for help