Built Quality of Tamron 28-75mm f2.8

I've read good reviews on the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8. I've no doubt

about is optical quality. However, can those who own this lens

comment on its built quality? Does dust get in easily? Does the lens

creep?

Any chance you can visit a camera shop and check the lens out in your hands? Build quality is very difficult to gain an opinion on.

And how much dust is considered a lot of dust to everyone? The glass is fine (I have a used model, for a Nikon) and the images are pretty good: but how much dust can it take to become a problem on the images captured on film....?

The lens is very well built and does not creep. Mine is two months old and it works perfectly.

 

I saw no dust getting in, but there is more snow than dust around here... :-)))

I am quite pleased with build quality of the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Dust has not been an issue at all so far. The lens is very nicely finished. The lens barrel appears to be some kind of composite - somewhere between metal and plastic. In other words the plastic gives one the impression that it is metal, I think "magnesium" is the term that many camera manufacturers use. Large rubber zoom ring with no zoom creep whatsoever. There is even a switch which allows you to lock the lens at 28mm. Not really necessary for the above reasons, but a nice feature nonetheless. Silkscreened fancy gold lettering between the zoom ring and the focus ring. And the lenshood, which is included, is petal shaped and of course, reverse mounts for storing.

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I am extremely happy with the sharpness of this lens and am particularly impressed with the background blur. Makes it well suited for portraits. Focus is surprisingly fast and acurate. The only thing that kind of bothers me is the AF motor is a little noisy. As a Canon shooter, I've been a spoiled by USM. Hope this helps.

The build quality is superb. It is a polycarb lens with a very stiff barrel. It is not metal, and therfore not Magnesium (which is a type of metal, which oddly enough lights on fire). It is light and solid.

 

Before buying I compared it to a Canon 28-70L and a 24-70L. The 24-70L won, but the Tamron ended in the middle.

 

I live in San Diego California, and go to Riverside California, both deserts, one by the sea. No dust problems after three months.

 

I have not had the lens creep. It does lock at 28mm though. Which is cool.

I own a tamron 28-105mm f2.8. It is quite good at 28-70mm at

f5.6-f11., and progressively worsens after 70mm, and if shot

outside of f5.6- f11. Is this tamron 28-75 f2.8 better than my lens

now? Mine weighs 2 lbs, how much does this one weight in

comparsion? thanks for the input, john

I still have more shootin' to do but so far I am very impressed with this lens. In addition to the above qualities I am especially impressed with AF speed on my Elan 7E. I almost exclusively use eye-controlled focus and the lens is very responsive, even in complete darkness. Overall, I found that using MF isn't even necessary in almost any situation, that's how fast and accurate its autofocus is. There is noticeable pincushion distortion at 75mm, which is somewhat correctable with PanoTools. I am about to get more rolls processed and, if I don't forget, I'll post my results here.

 

For now, if you are interested, check these two images that I shot with this lens. Note focal length and aperture setting.

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/2226739&size=lg

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/2216935&size=lg

P.S. I did some research in Pop Photo lens test archives and came up with this (see attached). The distortion numbers for this lens are not bad at all, especially barrel.

Attachment didn't attach. Pop Photo's findings were .6% barrel at 28,

.86% pincushion at 50, and 1.28% pincushion at 75. Compare the Canon

24-70: > 1% barrel at 24, .4% pincushion at 50, and 1.7% pincushion

at 70mm.

Thanks, Bill,

 

Here are the links to the tests of Canon, Tamron, Tokina & Sigma; all constant f/2.8 mid-range zooms.

 

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM AF:

 

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/782003105411.pdf

 

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di AF:

 

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/8212003124116.pdf

 

Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8 ATX Pro SV AF:

 

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/572003105657.pdf

 

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DF AF:

 

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/311200313351.pdf

On build quality:

 

I have great respect for Tamron SP series build quality. 3 years ago I dropped my Tamron 90 2.8 macro during my treakking in Nepal. The metal mount hit a stone with a big "TUCK" sound. One side of the metal mount carves in a little to my surprise, the lens still functions until today.

 

On weight and size:

 

I bought the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 in Singapore a few weeks ago primarily because I need a fast lens with reasonable weight during my travelling. My Canon 24-85 f3.5-4.5 is lighter but too slow sometimes. Both are of 67mm filter size :-) I plan to sell 24-85 away later and wait for a Canon 70-200 f4L IS or a super-lightweight Tamron 70-200 f2.8 XR.

 

The following is a comparison of weight/filter size of wide to mid-tele zoom:

 

Tamron 28-75 f2.8 XR DI is 510g with 67mm filter size,

Canon 24-70 f2.8 is 950g with 77mm filter size,

Tokina 28-70 f2.8 Pro SV is 715g with 77mm filter zie,

Sigma 24-70 EX is 700g with 82mm filter size

 

On AF:

 

Much faster than my Tamron 90 2.8 macro, as fast as the canon 24-85

 

One annoying thing, the zoom direction is opposite that of Canon 24-85 ...