Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

[rasputin]

Thinking about this lens for my Sony A300.

I would like to be able to use it at 2.8 and still get reasonable image quality for indoor shots/portraits - will I?

[havoc]

Depends what you're comparing it against. I've had it for 2 years and it's a good lens - very sharp, but a little slow to focus and a little fragile, neither of which are really an issue for indoor use.

At 2.8 it does soften-off a little, but 3.2 is perfectly fine and from 3.5 it's awesomely sharp for a consumer lens. Not sure what else will be notably better without spending twice the money, TBH...

[RobDickinson]

I'm thinking about one too...

Its not pin sharp at f2.8 but it is usable. As said nothing else (zoomy) gets close anyhow for the cash.

[VxDuncan]

havoc said:

Depends what you're comparing it against. I've had it for 2 years and it's a good lens - very sharp, but a little slow to focus and a little fragile, neither of which are really an issue for indoor use.

At 2.8 it does soften-off a little, but 3.2 is perfectly fine and from 3.5 it's awesomely sharp for a consumer lens. Not sure what else will be notably better without spending twice the money, TBH...

Second all that lot. Mine's screwdrive Nikon fit. Very sharp (though I do tend to use it a third of a stop in from full open). Good lens for the money, but I wish I'd gone for the Sigma. Might not quite have the edge in performance, but probably worth it for the build quality. Build wise it's not much better than the kit lenses, and the front element keeps coming loose on mine, despite it not having taken a knock to my memory. Easy fix, but a pain.

I would buy the sigma over the tamron, but wouldn't pay the extra to swap the tamron for the sigma.

[andy-xr]

I tried this and bought the Sigma, which is still a little short. 24-70 is more like it

[havoc]

VxDuncan said:

...and the front element keeps coming loose on mine, despite it not having taken a knock to my memory. Easy fix, but a pain.

The very front bit of my lens has recently started to 'wobble' slightly - is that the same thing? And if so, what's the fix Duncan?

Thanks.

[VxDuncan]

Yup! Have to remember - there's an inner trim ring, which is at 90 deg to the one that's threaded for the filter. It has a little notch you can get a small jewellers screw driver in to gently pry it up - it has a couple of pegs molded in the back that stick into holes behind. Once this trim is off you have access to 2 or 3 screws that hold the next part on. This appears to have some adjustment - as it fixes on with a cam action, the distance from the element behind being set by rotating the ring +/- a couple of degrees to move in/out. It was obvious on mine what the old setting was as you could see the marks. I think I backed the screws off a little, put it back in the old position and nipped them up gently. Then the top trim pushes back on. Fairly simple if you are careful - once the trim is off it's pretty self explanatory to someone with a mechanical mind.

I did mine because I was stuck in the middle of knowwhere (Rajestan desert) and had no choice- it had gotten really wobbly. If you are a bit clumsy you might want to get it serviced properly. Don't blame me if it goes wrong!

[baz7175]

andy-xr said:

I tried this and bought the Sigma, which is still a little short. 24-70 is more like it

I run the 24-70 f/2.8 sigma and it's a great everyday lens to have on the cam ring for auto-manual focus selection is a bit sticky these days, but that's mainly down to it being used in -30oC snow and ice conditions and +30oC dusty conditions while covering the WRC a few years ago...