Well built, sharp at all ranges and not heavy. I highly recommend it.

None.

A while ago, I reviewed this lens, and gave it a very good review. Since then, I have tested it against both versions of the Nikon 24-120 lenses. In all cases, I found the Tamron SP 24-135 to perform better than both Nikons.

Customer Service

Not needed.

This is my worst nightmare!!!!!!i used the lens for about 6 mths and it stopped working without warning.i used a 20D canon camera and everytime i tried to shoot an error 99 is always showing or some other errors.Very good at the beginning but after 6months --very bad

Built like a tank--metal construction
Pretty compact when not extended
Great sharpness for a tele-wide zoom
Really useful zoom range for digital
7-8" close focusing at 135mm
Good manual focus
Excellent value for $, especially used

Prone to flare in certain circumstances
Not the lightest lens you'll ever own
Not the fastest lens you'll ever own (3.5-5-6)
AF searches some in low light

On my Nikon D50, the lens is sharp at 24mm and very sharp throughout the rest of its range. I don't see any significant vignetting. Contrast is good, i.e. natural, not hyped, as is color fidelity. AF does search a bit in low light. Zoom ring is very tight--it takes more strength to turn than on my Nikon 35-70 & 70-210 AF lenses. Nonetheless, it is consistent through it's range and feels very solid. No risk of the zoom creeping when pointed down. Manual focus ring is looser, but not too loose. There isn't a dedicated "macro" switch or range on the lens, but at full extension you can focus at about 7 or 8 inches. Perhaps because of the massive diameter of the lens (72mm), it is pretty prone to flare if you have a light source in the picture (like a street lamp). It makes my camera look tiny. I really like this lens for digital (haven't tried it on my N70 yet). It is a great walk-around lens for the city or the great outdoors, with a very usable zoom range. I think it's very, very worthwhile if you can find a used one for under $200.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF Nikkor 35-70mm 2.8D
Nikon AF Nikkor 70-210mm 4-5.6
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G ED

Sharpness
Robustness
Included and attachable lens hood
Less distortion than other completing lenses
Price is less than named brands (but see my other comment below)
Neatly-designed lens cover has inner squeezable handles that let you attach and remove it even if you're using the hood

Still has some barrel distortion
Price is better than Nikon, but not by much. For an aftermarket brand I would expect them to be more than the 5-10% cheaper than they are

This is a short review, just wanted to say it's a good lens and that I think it's superior to the Nikon 24-120mm zoom. I have that Nikon lens but was not always happy with the sharpness, which I first attributed to camera shake, vibration, whatever but finally deduced that it simply wasn't a very sharp lens! and also has too much barrel distortion for me. The Tamron 24-135mm is not only sharper, but includes a hood and also gives you 15mm more telephoto reach than the Nikon. It also has some barrel distortion, but unfortunately most every lens I own does (except my Mamiya 645 lenses, which seem to be manufactured to a higher standard of quality, and have little to no distortion). The contrast is fine and the mechanical zooming in and out seems fair. I can't comment on the autofocus speed because I rarely use autofocus, mostly doing landscape type work.

Customer Service

Never used it

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24-120mm zoom

I hesitated for some time, before pulling the trigger on this purchase. My mistake. I promptly burned four rolls of fine grained film with it, and the results are VERY good. Upon glassing the negs, (10x loupe on light table) I found the negs to be very sharp and defined. Great color & contrast. I used it on the F100 body, and had no issues with focusing. Quite fast. It's not too heavy or awkward. It very well, will probably become my "go to" auto-focus lens.

Quiet Light Photography

Customer Service

Haven't neede it.

Lower cost Versatility Photographic results Solid build Smooth operation

Slower apetures than primes or more expensive zooms

It started when I bought an Elan 7e to upgrade from a Rebel G, Thought I needed a second lens to ride on the Rebel, so bought this one. Well, it quickly became my primary lens on the 7e and my 28-300 went to the secondary role. In the nearly 3 years I've been shooting with it, the results have not disppointed me in the least. Very crisp with good contrast and color saturation at all focal lengths and apetures. The only lens I have that might be better is the legendary Canon FD 35-105 f3.5. In general, I've found the construction to be excellent of the modern variety (nothing beats the smooth zoom of a good all metal lens from the past). Weighty, but feels solid and gives confidence to the operator. I did have the snap ring problem early on, but after repair has been fine. Autofocus is good on the 7e in average to high light levels, but struggles a little in lower light situations. I don't think it's really the fault of the lens, but due to the fact that it's not really fast (f3.5-5.6) the camera sensitivity has a lot to do with it. With a 550EX flash, in low lit rooms such as weddings and banquets, it works well. I would recommend this lens for all general purpose, carry around work, and probably for studio work as well. I don't think many primes would be noticeably better for the average photographer.

Customer Service

Excellent with quick turn around when the focus snap ring failed.

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-300mm Canon FD 35-105 f3.5 Tokina 35-135 f3.5-4 (FD mount)

Lens continues to produce razor sharp photos (for a zoom lens) across the board for the standard enlargements up to 8x10" and beyond.

None I can think of. Even on a Minolta 650si, it focuses fast, feels balanced, and has no problems to note.

Compact zoom lens with a flexible range to cover everything from wide shots to head and shoulder shots. Out on the market long enough that you can easily find an inexpensive used buy online for a good price. Just back from the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and it's one of those flexible lenses that you throw on a SLR, run out the door, get great landscape, architecture, and head&shoulder shots w/o every feeling like you've ran out of zoom or couldn't fit the landscape/building into the frame. Highly recommended over a standard 28-200/300mm zoom for those wanting top-notch sharpness and a more flexible 24mm wide-end. Practically the =only= lens I use nowadays for day-to-day travel & fun shooting.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-200mm Super II.

Zoom range. Picture quality. Build quality. 6 year warranty. Lens hood included. Solid construction and feel. Price. Smooth focus and zoom controls. Wide focus ring. Nice feel to rubber grip on both focus and zoom rings. Great looking.

Too slow, especially at telephoto range. Heavy. Big and intimidating to those who fear having their picture taken. Noisy focus/lack of FTM focus. Focus can be slow under low light. Smallish zoom lock button.

This is a nice lens, with an old school feel of quality to it. It's built tough, and both the zoom and focus ring feel very smooth, and well dampened IMO. The zoom range is excellent. I keep this lens on my camera a lot. (EOS 7e) The lens is not all metal, nor all plastic. The plastic is a tough composite that almost feels like aluminum. There is a lot of glass in this baby. It's surprisingly heavy, which helps add to it's feeling of quality. You will know it's on your camera after hiking with it all day, but it feels good in your hands. The zoom and focus rings are located well, and easy to use. I've considered selling this lens twice. Both times though I've failed to let go. This is my first decent lens since I've gotten back into 35mm photography. It's really a cool lens. Now for some of the warts, which may be pretty much true for any third party consumer lens. The lack of FTM focus can be a pain. Now that I've got some decent Canon USM lenses, the focus system on the Tamron just seems second rate. It's very noisy in comparison to a Canon USM. It does seem to focus well when plenty of light is available. In manual mode, the focus ring is nice and smooth, better than some of my USM lenses! To focus manually you've got to hit that switch though. The zoom will extend every once in a while hanging around your neck, but zoom creep has not been a problem for me while taking pictures. There is a smallish zoom lock button. Many times I will hit this button and lock the lens at 24mm by accident. Minor issue really. The lens is very tight, even when fully extended. Very little if any play. I've seen Canon lenses that had much more play. I've found that many of my relatives are scared away by the size of this puppy when extended to 100-135mm. This makes it difficult to take candid photos at family events. Also, the viewfinder does get dim indoors and under the shade do to the slower speed of this lens. Add a polarizer without enough light and you'll need something to cover your head so you can see the viewfinder. ;) Often I'll use my much more compact 50 1.4 or 100 2.8 when it gets dark, or to keep from scaring the family away. I'd like to test the Tamron AF28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di some day soon because of it's fixed large aperture. The cost is about the same. Now that I've got other lenses that cover the very wide and telephoto ends of the spectrum, a faster all around zoom lens would be great. I don't know if I'm ready to cough up the $$ for an L class lens yet. I don't want you to think I'm down on this lens, because I'm not. I like this lens a lot and use it often. This lens does take great pictures. I'm not a pro, but the colors are very nice and the range is great. It is what it is, a high quality third party lens with a mid range price minus some of the nicer features of Canon or Nikon. Bottom line for me is that I'm ready for a faster lens. If this lens were a bit lighter, had a quieter FTM focus system and a larger aperture it would be a dream. I can't give it a five, because it is not perfect. If you can live with these shortcomings, this is a very nice lens that will cover a lot of ground.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 50 1.4 USM Canon EF 100 2.8 Macro USM Canon EF 100-300 4.5-5.6 USM Canon EF 100-300 5.6 Canon EF 20-35 3.5-4.5 USM Quantaray 28-90mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

Focal length range provides great flexibility. Photos are acceptably sharp at all focal lengths. Solid build quality. Zoom lock is a useful feature, especially when extracting the camera from a bag that holds it in a lens-down position.

Slow, especially at longer focal lengths, arguing for fast film (ISO 400) most of the time. Trade-off for build quality is the weight.

I recently took this lens on a Canon A2 to Itlay for 2 weeks and put 20 rolls of film through it - color slides, color prints, and B&W prints with ISO's ranging from 100 to 1600. Although I used Ektachrome 100vs Velvia, Astia, and Sensia at ISO 100, I found myself wishing I had brought more Sensia 400. Even on sunny days, narrow Italian streets don't provide much light and the maximum aperatures of the lens really need higher speed film to allow it to work well in less than full sunlight without a tripod. The lens performed very well. It produced sharp images on all films. There were no problems with flare that some others have experienced, even when shooting into a rising sun. I did try to stop down as much as possible, as suggested by others here, by using the slowest shutter speed for reasonable hand-holding at each focal length. The distortion of verticals in architectural photos was minimal when the camera was held level. I use a grid screen in the A2 to help in aligning the horizontals and verticals. Can't comment on barrel or pin cushion distortion which require more careful analyses. In general it was a fine general purpose lens for this trip. I also carried a Canon 50mm f1.4 for low light situations and a Canon 24mm f2.8. I never actually used the Canon 24mm because the Tamron was fine at that focal length. The lens is heavy compared to the primes I am accustomed to carrying. After 5 or 6 hours on foot, the weight became very noticeable.

Customer Service

Not needed so far.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24-85 Canon 28-105

image quality construction size

lens flare vignetting

The good... I bought this lens about nine months ago, but I hadn't used it extensively until a recent trip to Thailand. I used the lens in a dim and bright light light, stopped down fully open, and at variety of focal lengths. In all of these circumstances I am quite happy with the quality of the images it produced. All images are quite sharp and constrasty. The bad... The worst problem with this lens is flaring. It seems to flare quite easily when shooting outside even when the sun is many degrees from the edge of the field and even with the supplied lens hood in place. Speaking of the lens hood... I keep a protective filter on the lens at all times, with this in place (and maybe without..I've never tried it) the lens hood vignettes the corners of the field. I noticed this in the field of the Elan, so I stopped using the hood (which of course aggrevated the flare problem.) Still, all things considered, I think this is a wonderful lens. If you're concious of the flare, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It makes a great all around lens.

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35-105 f/3.5-4.5 EF