Sharp photos in good light conditions, excellent wide angle outdoor shots

At f2.8 / 17mm photos are not sharp, difficult to focus in low light conditions

When I first started searching for a wide angle multipurpose zoom lens, I shortlisted Canon 18-200mm IS, Canon 18-55mm IS, Canon 17-50mm F2.8 USM, Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 & Tamron 17-50mm F2.8. I read various expert reviews, user reviews and lens comparisons on the internet. Despite very good reviews, Canon 17-50mm F2.8 USM was striked out as it did not fit the pocket. Canon 18-200mm IS & Canon 18-55mm IS were rated average and inferior to any constant f2.8 spec lens in low light conditions. Though, there were various comments w.r.t. non Canon lens like they have slow Autofocus and are noisy, in the end I decided to go for a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 for its constant f number. The model didnot support Optical Image Stabilisation, but it was the best bargain for my moderate budget. There were certain performance related issues listed in the forums with non-Japan manufactured lens, so I purchased a Made in Japan piece.

My experience with the lens is mixed. The build is sturdy and feels good to hold. The zoom ring is a bit stiff and it has not eased with use. The lens is excellent in good light conditions and give sharp photos. However, in low light conditions it struggles with autofocus. At 17mm / f2.8, even with manual focus in low light conditions, it is very difficult to get a properly focussed photo. At 17mm, barrel distortion is noticeable. From f3.5 / 24mm onwards, the results are consistently sharp. With crop factor of 1.6 for my Canon 1000D, focal length of 24 mm actually translates to 38mm and it doesnot remain a wide angle lens in enclosed spaces with poor lighting, as one would want to. Similarly at f2.8, the photos are not consistently sharp and so I avoid f2.8, the very reason that guided me to buy the lens. The autofocus is a bit noisy and slow, however the Canon counterpart with Image Stabilisation and USM motor is 3 times costlier, so no regrets. Initially I struggled with this lens. However, now I have adopted to it and use it with confidence. View my photos at thephotos.in

Sharpness
Color rendition
Bokeh
Size and weight vs Canon EF-S 17-55.
Price

Non-USM AF motor.
Barrel distortion at wide end (just like every other zoom in this range).

Overall, I'm very pleased with this lens. I've had it for about 1 year and 4 months, with no problems. Images are very sharp. Color is good. Bokeh is good. Focus is fast, albeit a bit whiny. I read a lot of reviews about how noisy the focusing motor is, and that's true, it is louder than my Canon USM lenses, but it doesn't bother me one bit. My biggest complaint is the barrel distortion at the wide end, but all zoom lenses in this range have that problem and apparently many are worse than this one. I considered the Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens but chose this one because it is significantly smaller and lighter, and obviously much cheaper too. If I were doing it all over again, I would probably get Tamron's new vibration control version of this lens. I don't regret passing on the Canon 17-55. That thing is just too big for a Rebel.

Some of you may have heard about or even tried using old manual focus film camera lenses on your DSLR, particularly with Canon DSLRs. I had Contax Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 and 50mm f/1.4 lenses, so I tried them on my Canon and compared them against this Tamron. Considering that those Zeiss lenses are supposed to be among the best lenses ever made for 35mm SLRs, I expected different results from what I got. The Tamron was equal or better in every case. See my blog postings for details:

http://forums.photographyreview.com/blog.php?do=showentry&e=802

http://forums.photographyreview.com/blog.php?do=showentry&e=803

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 28-105 on a film camera
Nikon 18-70 on a D70s
Canon 18-55 IS

- sharp enough for my needs
- compact and lightweight!!!
- great contrast and color
- low price (think price/performance)
- it's got zoom lock (come on, Nikon, it's a little piece of plastic!!)

- none in respect to quality
- i wish it was a little longer
- to my personal taste (most people won't notice this probably) Nikon's 17-55mm lens delivers the color i like better.

Excellent walk-around workhorse. I needed a zoom with 2.8 and nice bokeh, and I've seen mostly good reviews on this lens so I bought. It stays on my camera about 60% of the time, for it's versatility, compactness and light weight. At first I had no complaints at all, then once I was comparing my images with friend's Nikon 17-55mm 2.8, and I noticed that the color rendition is slightly different. Nikon glass has its own unique color (it's hard to describe), but it's existing with almost every decent Nikon lens. Maybe Tamron is slightly warmer (NB: D300 owners can tune-up color for up to 10 lenses). I contemplated of trading up for Nikon 17-55mm, but that lens costs a lot and is BIG, while image quality is in the same league. I do a lot of travel photography, and the bulk can scare people off when coming close. Tamron actually beats Nikon in some sharpness tests. I only wish it could be longer (like Nikon) - that would be great for portraits. Overall, great lens, and thanks to Tamron.

Customer Service

I have not used Tamron's CS for this lens, but did in the past for my other lenses. It's always been simply EXCELLENT. I remember lenses coming back working better than they were working before. And repairs' cost is great.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-70mm EX 2.8, Tamron 28-75mm XR Di, Nikon 17-55mm 2.8 DX, Nikon 18-70mm, Nikon 18-200mm VR, Sigma 18-200mm, Sigma 30mm 1.4, Nikon 50mm 1.4, Nikon 50mm 1.8, Nikon 60mm 2.8 Macro, Nikon 85mm 1.8, Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro and several film only older lenses.

- wide aperture of F2,8 across the range
- not as heavy as pro grade lenses
- relatively low price

- slow and relatively noisy AF, no AF-S/ USM
- CA in strong contrast regions
- edges are less than stellar
- overall resolution is good, but not as good as I have hoped

I bought the Tamron 17-50 as a wide angle complement to my much used Tamron 28-75. I tried out 2 samples with my Fuji S3 and S5 pro, but had to find out in the end that the 17-50 is a good, but not excellent lens.

Overall sharpness is lower than on the Tamron 28-75, distortion at the wide end is quite visible with architecture etc. and often has to be removed with software.

Like on the other Tamron, CA is visible with strong contrasts and the AF is slow and relatively noisy.

While sharpness is acceptable or even good on this lens, basic resolution of the glass is only ok, very fine detail is not rendered the way excellent lenses do. I'd say the resolution limit of this lens is just below 10MP.

For comparision: I also bought the cheap plastic Nikon 18-55mm kit lens which is not as fast as the Tamron, but sharper except maybe in the last bit of the angles. As the Nikon is more silent, lighter and cheaper than the Tamron, I will keep the Nikon.

Customer Service

Not needed -

Similar Products Used:

- Nikon 18-55mm f3,5-5,6 II
- Nikon 17-55mm/ f2,8

excellent build quality.
fast, quiet, accurate focusing.
excellent image quality
constant 2.8 apature.
very good for realitivly low light conditions.
excellent zoom range.

none

I have been using nikon digital for some time now and have used a lot of professional level nikon lenses. I was in need of a wide angle zoom and was doing my homework. Nikon offers basically the same zoom in f2.8 at around $2000 AU dollars. (constant f stop lenses through their entire focual length is considered a professional grade lens for those who did not know)
Anyway after reading the review on this site regarding this lens I decided I would like to save the approx. $1600 AU dollars and try this lens.
I am very picky with the quality of the final image produced by a lens.
Aparently this lens model is made in two places (china and japan)
Mine is made in Japan. (I spoke to a good friend of mine who is a camera and optical repairer...and by the way he is renowned through-out australia for his high grade work) and he has seen lenses come in for repair and commented that where the lens is assemble can make a lot of difference. (eg. screws not been correctly tightened)...anyway I was extremely suprised by the build quality of this lens,,,I was expecting a plastic fantastic for the price I paid, but was amazed at the quality of build of this lens (it is remarkably excellent)
I have tested this lens (from all focal lengths and various f stops) and have found the lens to perform extremely well...to be honest I was astonished !!!
I always use an unsharp mask in photoshop with all my images...(normally around the 120 - 140%) value....a standard practice by pro photographers.
The final images produced are very sharp and are of a satisfactory professional level.
My advice....do not hesitate to buy this lens !!
Focusing is very fast, does not seem to 'hunt', is accurate, and quiet.
I can not say a bad thing about this lens.
Just a wonderful lens
My advice: why paid the $2000 AU dollar price for the nikon brand, this lens perform extremely well.....save yourself some bucks!!!

Similar Products Used:

nikon 35-70 f2.8D
nikon 18-70 AFS
(and many nikon profession grade lenses that do not fall in the zoom range)

-Sharp!Sharp! Very sharp!
-f/2.8 is excellent for low light shooting
-AF is fast

none

Perfect with Canon 400D. I bought this lens together with Canon 400D body as suggested by retailer in Bangkok. Even grabbed sharp images through windshield from a running car due to f2.8. Popular lens among photographers in Thailand. My limited experience suggests that this lens gave me both excellent people and landscape shots. Good for low light shotting. Images are clean even at ISO1600. Great lens in its class both for beginners plus professionals. Quality matches with its price.

Similar Products Used:

-Canon 70-300 IS

Sharpness
F2.8 at all focal range
17-50, the most often used zoom range
performance / price winner

Focus inaccuracy when mounted on my D200
Sample to sample variation
built quality

It is a very sharp lens, even sharp at F2.8. On the photos taken with this lens at F2.8, I can't tell the sharpness difference from those by my fix focal 50 mm/F1.4 or AF 24 mm/F2.8D prime lens.
The zoom range is most useful. With the wide end at 17 mm, I don't see the urgency to buy another 12-24 lens for my D200.
However, the focus accuracy is not as good on D200 as Nikkor lens. I saw that roughly 20% of pictures take with F2.8 have focus shift. I compared 4 samples at the dealer's shop, and found that they all suffer such problem more or less by about 0.5 to 1 cm. Were it not for the focus problem, it would have beat the 3 times more expensive Nikkor 17-55/F2.8 lens.
The build quality is so so. Maybe it will not survive the heavy usage by a professional journalist, but it is good enough for a consumer using under normal condition.

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor AF 24mm/F2.8 D, AF 50 mm/F1.4, AF 24-85/2.8-4 D, AF 80-200/2.8 D, AF28-105/3.5-4.5D, AF-S 18-200/3.5-5.6 VR

Sharpness, close focus capacity.

Lightweight and compact.

So it's not built like a tank. Anyone who cares about his/her equipment shouldn't be tossing it around in any case.

This lens was purchased to use with Fuji S2pro and Nikon D70s. I had the kit lens from D7os and several other Nikon and Tamron lenses but heard this lens was really good.

As indicated by other reviewers, this is one sharp lens. It outperforms the 18-70 Nikon hands down in the area of overalll sharpness and contrast. It more than holds it own against any of a number of Nikon lenses I own.

One of the advantages noted by others and one which I appreciate is the ability to focus CLOSE and still get incredible shots.

I have been using this lens for my fashion work for several months now and my customers are noting the results. They comment that some shots are just "looking better" but they can't put their finger on the difference. I had been using the Nikon 20mm for much of this work and thought it was a superb lens!

As with anything, personal taste will influence a person's decision about which piece of equipment to buy, but if you want an exceptional lens at a reasonable price, this is a good place to start.

Customer Service

I have never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

An extremely long list of Nikon and Tamron lenses. Some good, some not so good.

Extremely sharp image quality, bargain price, weight, Tamron warranty.

no IS, no USM, no “L” build, some copies seem to front-focus.

This lens is simply a joy to use. Tamron has managed to continue the amazing quality of its famous 28-75, making it now available for the 1.6x sensors. Even at 2.8 it is quite sharp throughout the whole range. Being 2.8, it competes well with IS alternatives which cost almost twice and cannot really be used for stopping action. The build quality is not the greatest, but it is not bad either. Low-light can be a bit tricky for the AF system, but once again it is really above-average. Its weight and size allow you to take other lenses with you, which increases your chance of making different types of images.


Bottom line, an excellent lens at a bargain price which will save you the money required to get others lenses which will allow you to explore other photographic possibilities. For the price of one 17-55 IS USM, you can get this lens, the excellent Canon 85 1.8, and finally, either a 35 2.0, or a 50 1.8 MK1. This will surely open up you creative possibilities.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 17-85 IS USM

Fantasticaly clear works great w/ the rebel xt. much less $ than anything comparable from canon. 2.8 acrss the range- fast lens! very useful zoom range. Use b+w uv filter as lens protector and also picked up the b+w circ polarizer. Excellent lens- for the $ especially. Great improvement over the kit lens.