Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP Aspherical (IF) Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras by Tamron
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Digital camera reviews of Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP Aspherical (IF) Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Digital camera Review: Excellent walk-around lens
Summary: 4 Stars
The Good:
You get a fast (f/2.8) and SHARP lens at a focal length that makes this just about perfect for leaving on the camera full-time. Some reviews make mention of field curvature, which results in blurred corners. I've seen no evidence of this. Center sharpness is excellent, borders are very good, and corners are good. Contrast and color are very good.
The Bad:
Focus speed is average. Focus accuracy will depend largely on the camera body, but on a 350d it is good (low light) to very good (bright light).
The Ugly:
Focus noise is LOUD; it emits a high pitched whine that can detract from shooting. This brings the score down to 4 points.
Summary:
You'll not find a sharper lens at this price. Live with the focus noise and enjoy amazingly sharp photos with nice contrast and color. Construction quality is average, but that's to be expected at this price.
Digital camera Review: Excessive vignetting, take the full frame lens rather!
Summary: 2 Stars
I returned this lens in fast succession as I saw the extent of vignetting, which it causes. Especially with f2.8 the problem is extreme in entire focal length range.
You might verify this finding on several well known online sites, such as Photozone (dot de, not dot com!). The well known author of this site uses Norman Koren's Imatest software. With a Canon EOS-350D aka Rebel XT (1.6 magnification factor) this lens showed 1.0 step darkening in corners. Your mileage may vary, I found this really annoying. By the way, the same lens with a Nikon D200 shows already whopping 1.4 steps darkening of the edges, Nikon has slightly smaller sensors. This means that Tamron calculated too tight the image circle for this lens.
Do yourself a favor and take rather the quite excellent Tamron 17-35 f/2.8 Di full 35mm frame lens! You will like your images much more, and you will be able to use the same lens with a full frame body.
Digital camera Review: FANTASTIC! IT WORTHS EVERY PENNY! NO REGRET! ONLY JOY...
Summary: 5 Stars
Dear photographers friends, I am a Canon guy and this is my first third party lens. I confess that I was afraid of leaving Canon's dome and take the risk however, I CAN SAY WITH 100% OF SURE THAT I AM PRETTY MUCH HAPPY WITH MY TAMRON 17-50MM F/2.8 DI II LD. IT IS AWESOME!!! SHARP, SHARP, SHARP! TACK SHARP!!! And that is not all about this beauty! The F/2.8 aperture throughout all the focal length is wonderful! In my opinion this lens rivals Canon's L series. I have just come from NY where I took a bunch of shot during four days for iStockPhoto and all of them are fantastic! Contrast, sharpness etc is nothing less than perfection. The only thing that is a bit strange is the noise it makes when focusing. Well, it does not bother me at all because I did not buy this lens for wildlife shots. If you intend to photograph wildlife, this lens is not for you because of its makes a loud noise when focusing in automatic focus mode and will certainly scare all the wildlife around you. Otherwise, if you intend to take architecture and portraiture photos then BUY, BUY, BUY this lens without any fear...Digital camera Review: Fantastic lens
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fantastic lens for the price. Since I got it it has been on my Xti(400D) most of the time. I can't comment on the quality issues, as my copy was perfect. It is fully made of plastic, but it is well built and feels robust. (I don't own any L-series lenses to compare).
The cons of these lens are that the focus motors sound quite a bit, and is not the fastest I've seen. It has no IS, but in this focal range you can live without it unless you shoot in very low light conditions. As others pointed, flare could have been controlled better.
Why 5 starts? Because it is _very_ sharp. Sharper than my 28-135IS and even the 50mm f1.8 II. And the colors are good. I've played with the Canon 17-85mm and the image quality of the Tamron is much better. If you don't want/can't spend the almost $1000 the canon 17-55 cost, I certainly recomend this.
Digital camera Review: Fantastic lens!
Summary: 5 Stars
I got one of these lenses for my new Canon T2i and it's wonderful pairing, producing sharp images with great color and contrast. The whole lens has a good solid feel to it, looks great on the camera, and the zoom is smooth acting, not too tight and not too loose. In manual focus mode, the focus ring is nice and smooth too, but the ring itself is a little narrow and can be a little hard to find with your fingers until you get used to it. However, it may just be because I was so used to using the Canon 18-55mm kit lens for many years, which focuses by turning the end of the lens barrel itself. The focus ring on this Tamron lens is just behind the end of the the barrel (between the distance scale and the gold band) and turns independently, which is nice because you don't have to put it in manual focus mode if you want to attach/remove the lens hood or filters.
The auto focus is plenty fast but some people might find the noise of the auto focus motor a little loud and high pitched. Still, for the money, this is a great "always mounted", multi-purpose lens that works well for everything from landscapes to portraits and in a wide variety of lighting conditions. Even close-up shots look great. Unless you have the extra cash for the image-stabilized version, I highly recommend this lens.
Pros: Sharp images, solid build quality, smooth zoom & focus rings, good low-light performance, lens hood included.
Cons: Somewhat noisy auto focus motor, no image-stabilization, focus ring is a little bit narrow. (A pretty minor gripe actually.)