My First Shoot with the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8
Tuesday afternoon I was walking by Kevin Agren’s office (he’s our Director of Sales), and he asks if I ever got a chance to try the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom he had gotten us as a loaner. I told him I had actually tried it out on a shoot I did back in December for an upcoming book (one of the images from that shoot is shown above), and that I really liked it, (even more so after I looked up the price—-around $725, whereas most of the f/2.8 glass I had been using for the past few years was more in the $1,800 to $2,300 range, which any way you look at it, is a lot for a lens).
The shot you see above was taken with that Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8, and during the shoot I switched back and forth between it and my usual Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 and just looking at the images in Lightroom, at a 1:1 view, neither Brad nor I could see a visible difference between the two (I haven’t printed any out at large size yet, and that’s where the rubber may meet the road, but at least on screen, even zoomed in tight, I was very impressed with the image quality and overall sharpness).
Of course, Kevin was thrilled to hear how much I liked it (especially since they’re an advertiser, and Kevin knows, if I didn’t like it, I’d have to say so—really loudly), but beyond that, I know I lot of shooters would love to have some nice fast glass like this, but can’t really justify spending $2,300 or more for Nikon and Canon brand glass. This lens might just be the ticket to getting some fast glass, and then putting the $1,700 or so you save toward a new camera body or some other fast glass.
Lighting Specs From the Shoot
By the way; here are the lighting specs on the shot above. The main light isn’t natural light. There wasn’t enough light coming into the house (a combination of a cloudy day, and a large overhang over the front porch), so we put a single Elinchrom Quadra battery-powered strobe with a large softbox just outside the window, out on the porch, aiming in toward the subject. I tried to match the light from the strobe with the ambient light in the room for a natural look. I was in the house, sitting on the floor aiming upward, and I triggered the strobe using an Elinchrom Skyport wireless transmitter (I could control the power of the strobe from my camera position using the Skyport, which kept me from having to jump up and go outside every two minutes).
First Impressions
Overall, I liked it. The lens feels surprisingly well built (especially for the money. Sometimes lenses in this price range can tend to have a ‘cheezy-plasticy’ feel, but this one didn’t at all), yet it also feels fairly lightweight, which I love.
I had read earlier reviews that said they felt it focused a little show, or had a noisy auto focus motor, but I didn’t really notice either during my shoot (that doesn’t mean they’re not true—I just didn’t notice it in my use). The image quality seems very good, and images taken with it are very nice and crisp—-no complaints there whatsoever.
It does have a Macro feature, but I didn’t get a chance to try it, and since I have a dedicated Macro lens, it’s unlikely that I would use the Macro feature anyway—I would get this lens because it’s fast and the price is just so right. So there you have it—my first impressions of the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 (a version is available for most popular camera brands). Here’s a link to it on B&H Photo or Adorama. It’s around $730 or so.
If any of you out there have the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8—let me know what your experience with it has been. I’d really love to hear from you.