Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens with Built in Motor for Canon DSLR Cameras

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Zooming action is smooth with no stepping. The action is all internal so there's no rotating of the front element. This is great for landscape photographers who use graduated filters because the filter won't rotate when the zoom is moved. At review time, the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC Lens holds the world record for longest focal length range in all camera mounts it supports including Canon's APS-C mount. The testing, returning and re-purchasing additional copies of this lens was time consuming, but alas, my third copy functions properly. Tamron's 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD was announced in December 2010, as a successor to the well-regarded AF 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO that we reviewed in December 2008. Compared to the previous version, its main attractions are a significant reduction in size and weight, and the addition of an 'Piezo Drive' motor for faster, quieter autofocus. At launch it was also the longest range superzoom available, although it's recently been surpassed by the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR in this respect. The image circle of this Samyang AF 18mm F2.8 FE is therefore large enough for full frame. But the lens is so small and light that it’s also not out of place on an APS-C camera. On the smaller APS-C sensors, this Samyang offers the field of view of a 28mm on full frame. On APS-C, the outer corners of the Samyang AF 18mm F2.8 FE remain out of view, and you only use the optically outstanding center. That doesn’t mean that you don’t get a good picture on full frame. On the contrary, the image quality is generally excellent. When you also look at the price, the quality is even ridiculously good. For landscapes or architectural shots that need to be sharp from corner to corner, it’s a good idea to stop down a few stops, but that is actually a good idea with every lens for such subjects. BUILD

In terms of build, the Tamron is perhaps best described as functional, with its relatively lightweight plastic barrel. The zoom control is a little uneven, and manual focus slightly loose, but neither has a huge impact on normal shooting. The overall impression is of a lens that's been made to a price, but quite sensibly so As is often the case, zooming in causes a slight drop in resolution, but at 70mm the lens performs acceptably wide open and very good resolution is possible in the centre when stopped down a bit. At this focal length, peak resolution is achieved at f/11 where the sharpness in the centre is very good. Chromatic aberrations are reasonably well controlled at shorter focal lengths, approaching and only just exceeding 1 pixel width at the edge of the frame. This will be barely noticeable, unless you go hunting for it. At 270mm, things get a little worse, approaching 2 pixels wide, which will be noticeable on closer examination. Does it appear than in-camera corrections for barrel and pincushion distortion are happening with this lens, or is that beyond the capability of the licensing of the mount. Tamron claims the VC is good for up to four stops of vibration reduction and it’s my guess that is in a test lab with certain acceptable parameters. In real life, I found the VC helped by about the standard stop to two stops. I pushed the lens in a couple of case to four stops and it simply did not perform in creating sharp images, such as knowing I had a good shot at 1/100 and 50mm without VC and then taking the shutter speed down to 1/6 to see what would happen. Hand holding at 1/6 is tough by any standards and I was calm and steady as I could be, but the results were not satisfactory. However, when I dropped to 1/25th (being one stop under the rule-of-thumb 1/focal length slowest speed) the results were in line with other lens’ ability to reduce vibration blur. So in that regard, while my test didn’t show four stops of VC, I think it may be in the wording on Tamron’s part how they define the starting point. In my book, this lens performed as well as others for its ability to reduce lens shake with VC on. It is a useful feature.In summary, the Tamron 18-270 VC is soft wide open and reasonably sharp when stopped down at least 1 stop or better yet, to f/8. Considering the massive range this lens covers, it is surprisingly compact, and at only 450grams, it is lightweight too. 62mm filters can be fitted to the front, which is smaller than many other superzooms where you will normally find 67mm or 72mm filters being used. The filter thread does not rotate during focus or zooming, which makes this lens ideal for use with polarising filters and neutral density graduated filters. The included plastic hood is small - and as usual with this class of lens, will not offer much protection against flare at longer focal lengths. Like other superzooms, the Tamron 18-200mm’s best results come from shooting raw and applying lens corrections during processing

Other nice Tamron 18-270 features include VC (Vibration Control), a modest size & weight and a reasonable cost. We take 10 shots at each shutter speed and visually rate them for sharpness. Shots considered 'sharp' have no visible blur at the pixel level, and are therefore suitable for viewing or printing at the largest sizes, whereas files with 'mild blur' are only slightly soft, and perfectly usable for all but the most critical applications. Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens with Built in Motor for SONY DSLR Cameras Examples CA (Chromatic Aberration) is somewhat strong in the mid and corner portions of the frame at 18mm, improves until CA is essentially gone at 50mm. I bought the DA18-270mm to replace my DA18-250mm. I bought the latter 2nd hand and used it for 7 years: it started to develop quirks and issues. The DA18-270mm is, like the DA18-250mm, the perfect all-around lens in my opinion. It is small, compact, relatively light weight and very versatile. I loved my DA18-250mm and I love my DA18-270mm.As of September 2006. Based upon Tamron's research of lenses for exclusive use with digital SLRs equipped with APS-C sized image sensors. The Vibration Compensation feature adds to the convenience factor, visibly improving shots taken at slower shutter speeds.

And if you are willing to give up the ultimate image quality and wide apertures a multi-lens solution will provide for the convenience of a super zoom lens,It's been well documented that professional photographers aren't all that keen on zoom lenses. But what about the amateur photographer who can't afford a lot of expensive prime lenses or someone that wants to go on holiday and enjoy the convenience of a wide zoom range without the bulk of half a dozen lenses. That's where the Tamron AF 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD comes in. The lens has been reworked from its predecessor and is now slightly smaller, 24% to be precise, while the filter thread has also been decreased from a professional level 72mm to a more affordable 62mm. Similarly I have the DA18-135mm. Both my wife and I love the DA18-135mm. But the DA18-270mm is more versatile in my opinion.

So, all of the zoom lenses seem to be similarly short of their named max focal length at this test distance, George, I have the Tamron lens and the X-S10. The camera stabilization set to IS Mode 1 is significantly more effective than relying only on the lens VC capability. On the X-S10, the Tamron VC seems minimally effective when the IS Mode is set to Off. Maybe there is something about the X-S10 that limits the effectiveness if the lens VC alone. When you set the X-S10 IS Mode to 1, stabilization is really quite remarkable, even at 300mm. As expected for a modern superzoom, the Canon and Nikon mount versions of the lens feature built-in optical image stabilization via Tamron's 'Vibration Control' system, which promises sharper hand held images at slow shutter speeds. The Sony mount version uses the same optics but without the image stabilization mechanism (and therefore drops 'VC' from its name), relying on the camera's built-in 'SteadyShot' system instead. This lens's angle of view widens dramatically on focusing from infinity to 0.49m, especially at the telephoto end. This is a common trait with superzooms, but at a focus distance of 2m the 270mm telephoto end has an effective focal length that's closer to 200mm. In context, it is worth bearing in mind that long telephotos generally tend to used more for distant subjects, in which case the lens naturally behaves as a 'true' 270mm; and at short distances you merely have to move a little bit closer to compensate. Lens body elementsSpecial thanks to Cles Distribution of Tamron Singapore for giving me the opportunity to loan the Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (Model B061) for Fuji mount for a review. At the time of releasing this review, I have returned the loan unit to Cles Distribution. As you can see, this new optic from Tamron is amongst the priciest of the superzooms at the moment. Here we'll take a look at whether the extra zoom range and features make the extra expense worthwhile.