Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Review

Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Handling and Features

As it typical for fast aperture wide-angle lenses with a large, bulbous front element, this is quite a substantial piece of glass. With a weight of 1.1kg it certainly isn't the lightest lens available, but this does add to the feeling of quality when the robust build, with weather sealing is taken into account. High-quality plastics have been used for much of the lens barrel's construction and the wide rubberised zoom ring well damped providing a really smooth zoom action. The lens balances well with the Canon EOS 5D Mk III body used for testing, but may be a little too large and heavy for some of the most compact digital SLR bodies available.

As this lens incorporates Tamron's USD silent focusing motor, focusing is very quick and virtually silent. Manual focusing is a pleasure as the narrow focus ring is well damped, which makes it easy to apply fine adjustments and the distance scale on the top can be useful if used with a hyperfocal calculator. Manual adjustments can be made at any time, whether in Auto or Manual focus mode. A minimum focus distance of 28cm is fairly typical for a lens of this type.

With care, sharp images are possible hand-held at shutter speeds as low as 1/8sec at 30mm, around half the time. This is roughly two stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for sharp handheld images would permit. The VC system also provides a very steady viewfinder image, which can help with accurate composition.

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