it's cheap, and fairly sharp when you consider the price.

Poorly built, it fell about a foot and a half and one of the connectors that holds it to the connector broke. Not good for a serious user.

A decent lens for a beginner, but you will soon want to replace it with a tougher, sharper lens. I would recommend it only if you are only going to be using your camera sparingly. You get what you pay for here.

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

pentax 35-80AF, Nikon 28-80.

Price. AF speed. Price... And, ah, price... Oh, and it is claimed to be all glass elements.

A bit "soft" not the sharpest lens. A bit loose in MF mode. Wish they could make these lenses with wider apertures!!! A f/1.7 max at 28mm would be a dream... Why can't that be done?

A good, cheap, fast focusing, "basic" lens to keep on you camera as a do-it-all tool that you don't need to worry about breaking or scratching (cheap to replace!). Don't attempt to use this thig for serious photography where tack-sharpness is required- You'll be frustrated. I do a lot of low level available light nudes and this lens fails at this- Can't touch my 50mm prime f/1.7. But for general use, particularly outdoors, it's a good lens. Add it to your collection, but don't make it your only lens!

Customer Service

?

Similar Products Used:

Pentax and Sigma at same focal lengths.

Dirt Cheap @ $50 after rebate.

Decently sharp at all lengths. Not prime lens extremely sharp, but most people would say sharp prints rather than average or so-so.
Prints come out nicely sharp at 4x6", which is the target market for this lens, and above average in this case.

Go larger, and you probably can get away with 8x10" prints, but don't expect the same sharpness vs. a prime SLR lens.

Light-weight vs. older all-metal lenses.

Slower f/3.5+ aperature means indoor & low-light shots will often go under 1/60th second, making for fuzzy handhelds if not careful.

Contrast is not as good as even the new Minolta Freedom Zoom 150!, which has noticable, somewhat better contrast with richer, warmer wood colors and so forth. The Tamron is colder and less warm, and side-by-side, you'd see the difference immediately on prints. Resolution is about equal or a touch better than the Minolta 150 P&S.

Quality is about as sharp as the Minolta Freedom Zoom 150 P&S camera, which only goes to show that P&S quality has gone up a lot in the past several years, and the Tamron zoom is on the slightly lower-end of zooms performance-wise.

Focus ring has short turn distance, so fine manual adjustments will be hampered vs. older manual, metal SLR lenses from the 80s.

An excellent bargin for a toss-away zoom lens for any camera due to the low $50 cost (after rebate) and above average performance at the 4x6" print size most people use.

Crisp Englargments to 5x7" and probably 8x10" is possible if held steady, but don't expect it to match the resolving power of a prime 35mm lens at these sizes. At 4x6", unless you've seen what a Leica/Contax/Prime lens can do, you'll be happy with the performance of this lens at all zoom ranges on your SLR, and pictures will come out decently good - above average in most cases.

Do use 100 speed film with this lens to minimize the lower contrast and warmth produced by this dirt-cheap lens, and to give you crisper shots during the day.

One of those, "Hey, not bad." type of lenses for the price you've paid, esp. on 4x6" print sizes. Again, just don't assume it'll beat a prime 35mm lens, a white Canon monster, or anything exotic from Leica, Contax, etc., esp. at the larger print sizes of 8x10"+.

Similar Products Used:

Various Canon FD lenses, various Tamron zooms.

inexpensive, versitle, sharp as tacks on a tri-pod. this would not be the lens for one who wishes to shoot handheld given the slowness (f3.5-5.6). lightweight.

don't use for fast-breaking motion, of course. this is a slow lens! then again, your f2.8 zooms will run you ten times as much! b/c it is lightweight, there is much plastic. i agree that there is a need to be gentle with this one, but it doesn't kill you to have it in your backpack!

if you are on a tri-pod and take the time to actually make (and are involved with subject matter that allows it) a technically sound photograph, you will have no problems with the sharpness. it is a lens that lends itself much more to the 'meditative' aspect of photography: if you aren't in a hurry, you can get anything you want from it. the range of the zoom lends itself well to scenics.

Customer Service

the process of dealing with and purchasing from camera world was as promised. it went off without a hitch.

Similar Products Used:

minolta 50mm prime

A sharp lens which produces excellent 6x4 prints. Shooting mainly around f8 the results were not far off from my Minolta 50/1.7 (I've only compared 6x4 prints).
Focussing is positive and fast enough for me (I have Minolta 600si).
Zooming is easy as the zoom ring is very wide.
Amazingly cheap lens.

Non-IF design means the front of the lens/hood rotates when focussing. A bit annoying for me as I was used to an IF zoom.
All plastic construction (including mount), so you need to treat it with care.
Focussing scale is difficult to use in MF mode as there is no distance marker close to the focussing ring. The distance judged from the focussing ring doesn't seem to match precisely with actual camera-subject distance (not a problem if you shoot in AF mode).
Minimum lens length reached at 50mm which is rather odd.

I bought this lens as a cheap replacement for my Sigma 28-105 UC. The quality of results is excellent considering how cheap it is. Tamron have managed to keep the cost down ny employing a lot of plastic and assembling it in China - however lens quality has not suffered. If you mainly take 6x4 photos, this lens is a great choice.

Customer Service

Not used.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-105 UC

Light lens, pictures seem to be sharp edge to edge at 28mm.

Slow lens, not the sturdiest, might not be able to take a drop.

Good lens for a good price. Takes sharp pictures. No real complaints.

Similar Products Used:

nikon 28-80mm

Lightweight
Cheap

Plastic Construction
Too slow!

A very good lens for the beginners, but too slow for me. I have to carry my tripod with
me almost everywhere.

Similar Products Used:

Yashica 42-75mm f/3.5-4.5

It's cheap and light.

It's made of plastic, lens elements are part plastic part glass. It feels like it's about to fall apart at any moment. Very cheap.

IF you want something of higher quality and are a heavier than once a month user than this lens is NOT for you. It's cheap, light and inexpensive.

Customer Service

ok

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-135 USM IS

It's inexpensive, light weight, and sharp for the relatively low price.

A lot of plastic, poor physical build. The zoom chatters after one year of heavy use.

Sharper than many in its price range, but if you want a lens for heavy/professional use, go to something heavier built.

Customer Service

The camera salesperson recommended that I just keep it as a second lens, and plan to replace it.(!)

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 35-70, Olympus 35-70, Tokina 35-135, Vivitar Series One 28-90

Light, flexible.

None.

Fit's the bill.. Works great with my Sigma APO 1.4x teleconverter, giving it lots of versatility.

Similar Products Used:

Quntaray 28-80mm AF