Tamron's Kick Ass 17-50mm Lens Review

Shot w/ Tamron 17-50mm @ 17mm -1/400-f/10-ISO 400


"TAMRON SP AF- 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD ASPHERICAL Lens Review"

Here is my quick review of the TAMRON SP AF- 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD ASPHERICAL Lens. I won't get into the technical details since most any review you find will cover those but I'll simply use MY method of review which is the no nonsense straight worded type where I say YEA or NEA and what I like and dislike about a product. To start off this review I'll say you won't be hearing many CONS on this one so right off the bat I'm gonna tell you that I LOVE this lens !

Using the zoom it's action is smooth and positive in feel and so far shows no signs of 'zoom creep' at all. Holding it straight down to the ground it doesn't move which is a hug plus when taking close ups of ground flowers or off a mountain top to the trails below. The front element does not rotate when focusing or zooming in or out making it great for use with circular polarizer's and other filters that need to stay put. They great thing about this lens is that it gives you a constant f/2.8 Aperture across it's entire zoom length giving you fast glass no matter where you take this lens in it's zoom range, NICE!

The build is SOLID but not heavy made of some kind of high tech composite plastic material so it feels Dense without all the weight. It's well balanced and when mounted on my D300 makes the body feel like a precision instrument and not front heavy. I like the black coating finished with a gold ring which has the lens info printed on it.

This Tamron has it's own built in AF motor in it making it usable on camera's such as the Nikon D40 that do not have a lens AF motor built into the body. Some reviews I read stated that this lens is NOISY, I say it's not silent like a $1500 Nikon lens but it certainly isn't NOISY by any means and I kinda like the sound it makes to be quite honest. It's a smooth ZIP ZIP sound and lets you know it's working in my opinion. I can say that it wouldn't be a problem for most users and it certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker for 98.5 % of those wanting a great lens and a dynamite price if they had any sense to them.

The Auto Focus is fast and precise in day light and almost as fast in low light as long as your using the focus assist light on your camera. My copy did not need any fine tuning and had no back or forward focusing problems at all, I couldn't say that for all my $1000+ Nikon lenses I own! Bottom line is that I trust this puppy in any low light conditions for weddings & parties and will give you great shots of the dance floor using available light (which is what I love to shoot for creativity).

It's bokeh is very nice at f/2.8 and gives a nice DOF effect. When stopped down to f/5.6 you get a clear corner to corner sharpness and when I say SHARP I mean RAZOR SHARP. This glass is light years above what you should get for $449 and rivals the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 in many ways in my opinion. Everything I have shot with this lens so far has been incredibly sharp & in focus and to my surprise has a minimum focus range of just over 10" which is awesome for getting sharp close ups. Using the manual focus ring is precise and easy to use with it's rubber covered ribbed ring as well.

The lens is shipped with a nice bayonet "petal" type hood which keeps lens flare pretty much non exsistant when used properly and also comes with front & rear lens caps. One of my only CONS to this lens is that it doesn't come with a soft lens case. Pretty disappointing since my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di 1:1 Macro lens came with a beautiful Leather type soft case and I was expecting to have another one of those beauties in my bag next to it LOL. Since this is about the only Bad thing I can say about this lens I think we're doing pretty good wouldn't ya say ?

So in a nut shell I give this lens HIGH marks and would rate it a 9.5/10 across the board for Value, Sharpness, Build, Speed & Low Light performance. I just absolutely love it and very happy I added this to my gear bag, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite pieces of glass and for $449 from B&H Photo you can't possibly go wrong, this lens is a definite KEEPER in my book ! So if your looking for a great wide angle zoom for landscapes, portraits, indoor work and low light jobs gives this one a try, I bet you'll fall in love with it mighty quick !

* Comments & Questions Welcome *

~Bill Pador~

8/28/09