Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Lens Review

Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Handling and features

High quality plastics have been used for much of the lens barrel's construction and the wide rubberised zoom ring is smooth and well damped. It weighs just under 1500g with the detachable tripod mount attached, which is fairly typical for an f/2.8 lens sporting optical stabilisation covering this range. It balances well on the Canon EOS 5D MkII used for testing, even without a vertical battery grip attached. Owners of DSLR cameras that are more compact may find the lens a little too heavy to use comfortably with their camera.

As this lens incorporates Tamron's USD silent focusing motor, focusing is quick and very accurate. Focusing speeds are a shade slower than equivalent lenses from Nikon and Canon, but they are not too far behind in all but the darkest conditions. Manual focusing is a pleasure as the narrow focus ring is well damped, which makes it easy to apply fine adjustments. Manual adjustments can be made at any time, whether in Auto or Manual focus mode. A minimum focus distance of 1.3m is fairly typical for a lens of this type.

Both focusing and zoom are performed internally, so the lens does not extend and the 77mm filter ring doesn't rotate, which makes this lens ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters.

With care, sharp images are possible hand-held at shutter speeds as low as 1/13sec at 200mm, approximately half the time. This is roughly four stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for sharp hand held images would permit. The VC system also provides a very steady viewfinder image, which can help with accurate composition and focusing.

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