chulster's reviews

Tamron 35-150mm f/2.8-4 Di VC OSD

This is a fantastic lens. It's sharp at every focal length, from 35mm all the way to 150mm and every focal length in between. The only weaknesses I've noticed have been at 35mm f/2.8, where the edges of the frame could be better, and my copy seems to front-focus a bit at that setting. Stopping down to f/4 cures both problems.

Bokeh is quite pleasant with this lens. It's soft and without hard edges. Out-of-focus highlights do have an oniony appearance, but I'm not bothered by it.

The lens is reasonably light and well-balanced, but quite bulky. Image stabilization works great, and autofocus is very consistent and reliable.

The lens focuses very closely for a zoom, but it has a lot of focus breathing: at MFD you won't get anywhere close to 150mm in focal length. Still, the maximum magnification of 1:3.7 is very good, and the optics are well corrected at any subject distance.

Ergonomically, the lens could be better. There is the aforementioned bulk, for one thing. The smooth, matte-finished plastic of the barrel is somewhat slippery when your hands are dry, and it feels vulnerable to scratching. The zoom action is smooth enough but feels dry, like paper rubbing against paper. Worst, the focus ring turns during autofocus.

All in all, it's a lot of lens for the price. I recommend it.