Buy Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) - Model A16S for Sony-D compatibleTamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) - Model A16S for Sony-D compatible Product Description:
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent value
By N. Downes
I purchased this lens over 8 months ago, replacing the plastic bodied kit lens that Canon unfortunately decided was adequate to include with a 400D.The Tamron lens shares a plastic construction in many elements, but has a much more significant weight to it, indicating a much more solid construction overall. This weight also sits very well on small-medium bodied SLR (eg 400D, 40D), balancing well, especially if you're using an external battery grip.I've had no problems using this lens as my walkaround lens. It focuses consistently and is an extremely sharp lens for what can be purchased under £300 - comparable, apparently, to Canons extremely expensive 17-55mm 2.8 EF-S lens at twice the cost. Its sharp and fast enough that i've used it as my primary lens for weddings with perfectly acceptable results. Full time manual focussing would have got it 5 stars, and with the hood on in a reversed state, you cannot grip the focussing ring as this sits at the front of the lens. Once the hood is in use, its no longer an obstacle.Yes, it does struggle with low light sometimes and requires a switch to be flicked before you can rectify this with manual focussing.Zoom and focussing rings are smooth to operate and so far have shown no sign of loosening or even zoom creep (there a nifty lock function as well).Note that there have been no communication problems with my Canon 400D body, nor my colleagues 450D body which was released some time after the lens was manufactured.Overall, a great lens for a very reasonable cost, and a perfect replacement to the extremely ordinary kit lens.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Superb value
By TheProf
This is a legendary lens that delivers far better image quality than anything in the same price bracket, though a similar spec Sigma optic is also very highly rated (but more expensive). The lens benefits from a constant f2.8 aperture and in all mounts it is available in has got rave reviews. Why? There is no manufacturer OEM lens that comes close to the amount of bang for your buck you get with this lens. I have found it to be sharp throughout the focal length range - in the centre at all apertures, and at the edges, reasonably sharp wide open and very sharp once stopped down a bit. Some reviews correctly note that field curvature reduces wide end edge sharpness a bit, but not too dramatically, and if you are very keen on edge sharpness wide open, e.g. for landscape work, just stop the lens down to something like f7 or f8 and you get superb sharpness. The lens coatings give a pretty strong degree of contrast that reminds me of Zeiss lenses - very nice ! Mechanically and build wise this is good, but not quite up to pro lens standards like some of the pro Tokina lenses that are built like a tank for example. Overall it's a great package - good focal length range, constant aperture and very sharp optics. Just watch out for some quality control problems as described by other reviwers here on Amazon. There seems to be variation in quality between different copies of this lens - perhaps more so than with some more expensive lenses, so watch out for the occasional decentered lens reducing sharpness and clarity. if you bag a good copy of this lens though, you can't go wrong - this is FAR cheaper than Sony's Zeiss 16-50 lens and as far as I can tell pretty much as good, though obviously not quite as wide - some swear by the Sony CZ lens but from what I have seen, a good copy of this Tamron lens is an equal to it. Tested on a Sony a700 body.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.This lens will never leave your camera!!
By Steven
This lens is fantastic. I have used it for weddings, landscapes and family portraits (including animals) and its great.Pictures are lovely and sharp at all apertures. 2.8 is a bit soft (in comparison to smaller apertures) but is still very sharp. I use the 2.8 for photographing brides and it makes their skin and features look beautiful. Also at 2.8 (50mm) subjects really pop from the background. The colours are fantastic.It gets much better reviews (on professional review websites) than the Canon 17-85mm, if you are struggling to decide between the two.It is a bit loud on focusing (if you are the type to bother about such issues) but it has never bothered me nor any of my clients during a wedding service.I've never had any focusing issues with this lens. Most of focusing problems with any lens are 99% user error (in my opinion, either people miss the subject with their focus point, or forget about the crop factor which allows for a bit of camera shake to sneak into their shots). In low light its still very accurate due, of course, to the 2.8 f stop.There is a bit of barrel distortion at 17mm to about 21mm. This is most obvious when photographing horizons. However, it isn't really visible most of the time and this is the simplest type of distortion to fix in photoshop (honestly takes about 5-10 secs max).In my personal opinion you do not need the VC version at this focal range. If the subject even slightly moves (as most living beings do) VC will be a waste of time anyway. Just put your ISO up if you must. Keep your shutter speed above 1/100 or higher and your shots will be razor sharp. With 2.8, 1/100 is easy to reach a low ISO levels.Its 2.8 from 17-50mm which makes it great in low light and great fun for portraits and experimenting. You will not regret purchasing it.
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