Seems Tamron have their own "holy trinity" now...

Richdog

Richdog

Richdog

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With the release of the new 15-30, Tamron really do seem to have the "budget-conscious pro" segment of the market sealed up now:

Tamron 15-30 2.8 VC http://www.tamron.eu/uk/lenses/sp-15-30mm-f28-di-vc-usd/

Tamron 24-70 2.8 VC http://www.tamron.eu/uk/lenses/sp-24-70mm-f28-di-vc-usd/

Tamron 70-200 2.8 VC http://www.tamron.eu/uk/lenses/sp-70-200mm-f28-di-vc-usd/

The 24-70 2.8 VC and 70-200 2.8 VC have been getting rave reviews for optical performance, with the only real niggles generally coming down to focus calibration issues. VC is reported as being the best in the business. All are also weather sealed.

Each lens also costs around 60-70% of the CanoNikon versions.

The new 15-30 is already getting feedback saying it is optically as good as the Nikon 14-24, though official reviews have yet to trickle in.

Seems like there are some real 3rd party options around no matter what level you shoot at. I have the 24-70 arriving next week and am really looking forward to seeing how it performs. :)
 
I am waiting for solid reviews on the 15-30mm. I am doubtful it can be as good as the Nikon, which really shocked the photographic world because the performance instantly made people's collections of very expensive prime lenses from Zeiss, Contax, Canon and Nikon useless overnight. It is one of the sharpest zooms ever made let a lone it does that at such a difficult focal range for DSLRs.
One possibility is Nikon shared some design with Tamron. they have done that before on several lenses including the UWA 10-24mm, Tamrons version is nearly identical to Nikons. For some reason if nikon gave Tamron some design IP then this lens might be a killer. There are probably some aspects that the Tamorn does better like flare or distortion but it is the sharpness and microcontrast into the corners that really sets the nikon apart. Central sharpness could be similar.



The biggest critique of the Nikon is the size, weight, bulbous front element and more expensive filter options. Unfortunately the tamron is bigger, heavier, has the same front element option and may have zero filter options to begin with. Hopefully all the companies that made solutions for the Nikon will make a Tamron version.

If it is close to the nikon, especially when stopped down I might buy it. The extra reach comes in handy and the money saved can go to a nice Nikon 20mm f/1.8 prime that i smaller, lighter and has easy filters.
 
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Well the Nikon is an amazing lens, but not perfect, and it's certainly possible for 3rd parties to at least match the quality. I'm also interested to see some reviews and see it put through its paces. If its good, then I will aim for this set of three lenses... though I'm still slightly hesitant on the Tamron 70-200 vs getting the Nikon 2nd hand.
 
Richdog said:
Well the Nikon is an amazing lens, but not perfect, and it's certainly possible for 3rd parties to at least match the quality. I'm also interested to see some reviews and see it put through its paces. If its good, then I will aim for this set of three lenses... though I'm still slightly hesitant on the Tamron 70-200 vs getting the Nikon 2nd hand.
Click to expand...

They might be able to improve on some characteristics such as distortion because Nikon made a purposeful trade-off between distortion and sharpness into the corners. Distortion can be corrected in software, softness can't, and for the target market of landscape photographers distortion is meaningless. What also tends to happen if a lens is designed to correct distortion is although the magnitude of distortion is reduced the distortion function becomes much more complex with higher frequency patterns such as mustache distortion which software finds much harder to to solve (you can't use light room for instance). Sometimes a higher degree of distortion that is simpler and linear is preferable.

If the tamrin gets close to the cornwr sharpness that iwll make it a phenomenal lens with some nice additions like 24-300mm and VC. The lack of filter options compared with hte Nikon would be an issue though until 3rd parties start making something like they did for the Nikon.
 
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