Product Description

Thanks to this Lens from Tamron you can take photos in macro mode with a traditional or digital SLR and still get the same effect as with a tele-zoom. Made from elements designed to increase image definition and reduce chromatic aberrations it also benefits from internal surface processing for impressive anti-glare results. With this Lens you get an unbeatable value-for-money product with multiple photo possibilities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18790 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Tamron
• Model: A17E
• Released on: 2007-10-24
• Dimensions: 1.76 pounds

Features

• 70-300mm Optical Focal Length Zoom
• Aperture f4 (at 70mm) f5.6 (at 300mm)
• Filter Thread - 62mm
• Weight - 435gr
• Dimensions - 76.6x116.5mm

Customer Reviews

Good value
At this price it would be unfair to expect perfection and, admittedly, at the 300mm end at wide apertures it's a bit soft but so are most other brands in this price range. Zooming was a little stiff to start with but soon eased and the macro facility is very good. (What switch kludge?).
Focusing is fast and accurate if just a little noisier than Sony's own brand and it's over £15 cheaper. Only the soft focus at 300mm and slightly higher noise level stops me from giving this lens five stars in this price bracket.

Tamron AF 70-300
The lens itself feels pretty good build quality and for the money, the optics are good too. As other reviewers have rightly pointed out, it is a little bit soft at the longer focal lengths (200-300mm), with some noticeable cyan fringe chromatic abberations. Lets face it, for £130 (or there about) you are not going to get top quality optics. If you are on a budget, as I was, you will not be disappointed with this lens. Just dont expect to be able to take razor sharp images at longer focal lengths with the clarity of a high quality apochromatic "pro" lens. In relatively low light conditions, you will find that the lens "hunts" so you have to switch to manual focus occasionally (esp if you stop down to f/8-f/11 to sharpen up at longer focal lengths). It maybe a touch noisy during auto-focusing but not too intrusive. The lens barrel rotates during focus so using circular-polarising filters can be a little troublesome but this can be overcome by focusing then switching to MF and adjusting your filter.

Pro's
Good focal length for mid-range nature photography.
Reasonably fast (f/5.6 at 200-300) for a cheap lens
Sharp under 200mm
Light weight
Good build quality

Con's
slightly soft over 200mm (can be rectified by stopping down to around f/8-f/11) or in CS3 post-production
Some noticable cyan chromatic abberation

You get what you pay for....
Tamron appear to have updated the cosmetics on this lens, and even though it's only the focus/zoom rings, it certainly makes the lens look better quality and gives it similar ergonomics to the rest of their lens line - which I generally like. Kudos for that.
Unfortunately the optics aren't great. It needs stopping down to sharpen things up and it's too fuzzy for my liking after 200mm. Build quality is not exactly solid and the macro on it is a blighter to get into/out of.
If you want something cheap and serviceable, this'll do you. If image quality is important, look elsewhere!

**UPDATE** Shortly after I wrote this review, the zoom mechanism broke, which in turn took the AF mechanism with it. I took the lens apart to investigate (not worth repairing!) and all that keeps the zoom operating as it should is a tiny piece of very flimsy looking plastic. Once this had snapped, it had jammed the AF motor and burned it out.
I obviously DON'T recommend it at all now!!