Test Driving the Tamron 28-300mm VC (Model A20) Lens

Is It the Best Wedding Lens Available?

Article & Images by David Ziser

As seen on David Ziser's blog posted on April 24, 2012

Now add to that the Tamron 28-300mm VC lens and I'm thinking I may just have the ultimate gear combination for photographing weddings. Having said that - let's discuss the different features of the Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. Since the 5D Mark III is a full frame sensor camera versus the APS sized sensor on the Canon 7D, the Tamron 28-300mm VC lens is the equivalent focal length lens on the full frame 5D Mk3 considering the 7D's 1.6x magnification factor which is exactly what I was looking for at a non-wallet busting price of only ($600) for my 5D Mk3.

Okay, your wanting to know, "Just how good is this new Tamron lens?" My first impressions signaled me that it is significant step up in image quality when compared to the images I was getting off of my 7D/18-200mm lens combination. What I'd like to do in today's post is walk you through several images taken with the Tamron lens at the various focal lengths from 300mm all the way down to 28mm and at pretty wide apertures to boot and then let you draw your own conclusions.

Focal Lengths Compared
300mm: Look at the first image. It was taken with the Tamron lens racked out to 300mm and shot at F8. Looking at it in full frame mode it looks just fine. But now let's zoom in and look at it at a 2:1 magnification. You can see, upon very close inspection of this image, that we have plenty of detail in this image.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F8.0 @ 1/250 second, ISO 800

Now let's look at the next wedding image along with their 2:1 magnification view. The important thing to notice on these next two images is that they were made at the lens's widest aperture and at its longest focal length. It's with this focal length/f-stop combination that we would expect the worst performance from the lens. From my subjective observation I find the results to be amazingly good.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F6.3 @ 1/200 second, ISO 200

During my Master Class last week, I actually printed a 24 x 36" print from this image series and it looked fabulous. So even using the Tamron lens and what many would consider the worst-case F-stop scenario, I am getting beautiful portraits of my bride.

I have to admit I found the results surprising. You can see that were holding plenty of detail in the bodice of the wedding gown. Surprisingly I had the lens fully extended to the full 300mm focal length.

250mm: Now look at the next image. It was made it at F5.6 handheld a 1/13th of the second and even in the close-up of this image you can see that we have plenty of detail in her facial features and in her pearl necklace.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 249m, F5.6 @ 1/13 second handheld, ISO 800

200mm: The next image at 200 mm could be argued to look even better. You can clearly see the texture of the skin and, see plenty of detail in the pearl necklace even under the extreme 2:1 magnification.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 200m, F5.6 @ 1/80 second handheld, ISO 200

150mm: The next image, the bride leaning against the piano, still continues to exude a high level of image quality zoomed to 154mm. Notice once again that the aperture was nearly wide open at 5.6 handheld at 1/50 of the second.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 154mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second handheld, ISO 800

100mm: As I continue to shorten the focal length of the lens - look at this next image at 100 mm at F5 .0. You can see that the quality is still just as strong as in the previous images. I think the key point that I'm trying to make is that these images are made at the lens' very wide apertures. That's telling me that we have excellent optics attached to the camera.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 100mm, F5.0 @ 1/60 second handheld, ISO 200

Sure, stopping down the lens even further could give us even greater sharpness but what I'm seeing is that is not necessary. And, the larger aperture allows us to separate the subject from the background very effectively.

Take a look at this next image. Once again it was made at the 100mm setting at F5 .6 handheld at 1/60th of a second. It's a very exciting image to view capturing the beauty of our subject against the dramatic Cincinnati skyline.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 100mm, F5.6 @ 1/60 second handheld, ISO 1600

But now check it out at the one zoom magnification. You can see that even at this magnification we are looking at an extremely sharp image. And, once again it was made at nearly the full aperture of the Tamron lens.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 100mm, F5.6 @ 1/60 second handheld, ISO 1600

This next image of our bride leaning against the piano was made at a slightly wider 92 mm setting of the lens. I did absolutely no retouching on this image and even under close inspection you can see that it is tack sharp throughout.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 92mm, F5.6 @ 1/30 second handheld, ISO 800

50mm: The next three images were captured at the zoom range between 55 - 39mm. These images corroborate the results we saw in the longer zoomed photographs. In the tight 2:1 close-ups we are maintaining superior detail at this wider zoom range.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 55mm, F6.3 @ 1/160 second, ISO 200

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 50mm, F11 @ 1/200 second, ISO 200

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 39mm, F8.0 @ 1/200 second, ISO 100

28mm: At the Tamron's widest setting, 28 mm, we can easily identify that the lens is exceedingly sharp. I guess the main point I'm trying to make is I would have no hesitation at all in using this lens throughout its full focal length at my next wedding.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 28mm, F5.6 @ 1/80 second, ISO 6400

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 28mm, F5.6 @ 1/80 second, ISO 6400

Chromatic Aberration: Many times, at the extreme range of super zoom lenses you will see some chromatic aberration in the brightest parts of the scene. Take a look at this next image.

Yes, it's Barry Manilow. I'm smiling as I'm writing this because you're all probably wondering what am I doing at a Barry Manilow concert. Well, I happen to like Barry Manilow and I've sadly never been to any of his concerts.

But I digress. The topic here is chromatic aberration. When we look at this image under extreme 2:1 magnification you can see the chromatic aberration quite clearly around Mr. Manilow's jacket. Notice the red and green halos on the left and right of the jacket.

Is this a big problem? For me, it's not. Why? Because I'm using Lightroom 4 as my image processor. And, in the Lens Correction Module, by simply profiling the lens and telling Lightroom 4 to remove the chromatic aberration we really make this issue disappear easily and quickly so it's really a non-issue.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F8.0 @ 1/160 second, ISO 6400

VC - Vibration Compensation: Okay, I know what you're thinking next, "The lens sure looks good throughout it's complete zoom range from 28 to 300 mm but how good is the built-in image stabilization of the lens?" I have to tell you, I never carry a tripod with me to a wedding. That means I am essentially relying on the lens' built in image stabilization to save the day for me.

Tamron calls their image stabilization VC for Vibration Control. They claim their VC to give you three f-stop safe range when shooting at the slower shutter speeds. That means that you can shoot at a 3 stop slower shutter speed than what would normally be needed to capture a sharp photograph with their lens at a certain focal length.

After Mass on Sunday, LaDawn and I headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum. In the dim surrounds of the Art Museum I decided to check out the vibration control characteristics of the new Tamron lens. Take a look at the Gainsborough painting below. It was shot at the 160mm setting at 7.1 at 1/10 of a second handheld. In my quick test it looks like Tamron vibration and roll is working just fine.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 60mm, F7.1 @ 1/10 second handheld, ISO 6400

Take a look at the zoomed in image. I don't see any motion blur whatsoever even under very close inspection.

Later in the evening, after we returned, LaDawn grabbed the camera with the Tamron lens attached and started shooting a few photographs of me standing in our living room. I did hear that the shutter speed was quite slow so I asked her to take her time and just click off a few images and let's see what we could capture.

In the following image - you can see that I look quite sharp - easily sharp enough for a 4 x 6 print. Now prepare to be amazed! Look at the shooting specs on this image.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 109mm, F7.1 @ 0.6 second handheld, ISO 6400

About 2/3's second at 7.1 - that's over half of a second handheld, by LaDawn who is truly not a professional photographer, and I think the image captured looks pretty darn good. I have to admit I was really amazed when I saw this image. I'm not suggesting that you routinely go out and shoot at exposures longer than a half a second counting on them the be tack sharp. But, that there are times when, in a pinch, you could get away with it using Tamron's new lens.

Shooting Macro Shots: Another really nice feature of the Tamron lens that really surprised me was just how close it could focus. I racked out the lens to 300mm and proceeded to take some close-up photographs of some flowers in our garden. The lens was only about 10 inches away from the subject but, as you can see both in the full view and the super close view, there is plenty of detail in the image. That's an indication to me that we could also use this lens to do a great series of scene setters as part of our wedding coverage.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F8.0 @ 1/320 second handheld, ISO 1600

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F9.0 @ 1/500 second handheld, ISO 1600

I even clicked off a quick photograph of LaDawn and my wedding and engagement bands. I had no idea my wedding ring was so beat up - a wedding photographer's hands take such a beating you know.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 300mm, F16 @ 1/50 second handheld, ISO 1600

HDR: And finally, during last week's Master Class I did decided to give the HDR feature on my Canon 5D Mark III a try. I framed up the city and clicked off the image you see below of the city skyline. The camera captures three sequential shots and then matches up the pixels of each of those photographs, works it's HDR magic, and gave me this final result. Even handheld at 1/80 second and once again at F5 .6 - a fairly high ISO 6400 we have one of my favorite images I've taken so far this year.

Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 42mm, F5.6 @ 1/80 second handheld, ISO 6400

To see more from David Ziser visit http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/