Tamron’s stabilized 85mm f/1.8 full-frame lens arrives early, gets a pricetag
posted Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at 6:58 AM EDT
A month ago, Tamron announced two new full-frame lenses for Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras, along with an accessory to be used when updating lens firmware, a device akin to Sigma's firmware-updating, setting-tweaking USB dock. At the time, Tamron told us plenty about all three new products, but one key detail was missing for two of the trio: Expected list pricing.
We knew from day one that the Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD 1:1 Macro lens would ship from the end of February in Canon and Nikon-mount form, priced at around US$650 or thereabouts. We also knew that the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD was slated to ship in April, but with no price tag yet revealed. And finally, the Tamron TAP-In Console lens accessory was expected to ship from March 2016, again with no set price.
Today, we can fill in a missing detail for the SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens, and also reveal that it will be shipping a little sooner than promised in Canon and Nikon-mount variants. Availability is now set not for next month, but for this coming Thursday, March 24th. And what will you pay for this interesting optic, which Tamron is billing as "the world's first 85mm f/1.8 lens with VC for full-frame DSLR cameras"?
List pricing is set at around US$750 or thereabouts, making it rather pricier than unstabilized optics like the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM ($420) or Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G ($480), but more affordable than stepping up to even brighter optics like the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM ($2,000), Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G ($1,600) or Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM ($970). Of course, the lens' optical and other performance will also go a long way towards justifying its pricetag, and it remains to be seen where it will land in this respect.
No pricing or availability has yet been disclosed for the Sony-mount variant of either lens, nor has pricing and a definite launch date been provided for the Tamron TAP-In Console accessory. Watch this space for more news on these items!