Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Review

Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Performance

Sharpness is generally excellent throughout. Starting at 70mm, at the centre results are excellent from f/2.8 to f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16 and drop a little but remain good at f/22. The edges are very good at f/2.8 and f/4, excellent at f/5.6 and f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16. The edges at f/22 do suffer from diffraction and are quite soft.

The centre at 100mm is excellent from f/2.8 through to f/11, and at f/4 is actually pushing towards the point where it could be described as outstanding. At f/16 sharpness is very good, and still good at f/22. The edges at excellent from f/2.8 to f/11. very good at f/16 and become soft at f/22.

135mm sees excellent central sharpness from f/2.8 to f/8, very good results at f/11 and f/16 and still a good level at f/22. The edges are excellent from f/2.8 to f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16 and become soft at f/22.

Results at 200mm are maintained extremely well. At the centre, we have excellent sharpness from f/2.8 to f/8, it is very good at f/11 and f/16 and good at f/22. The edges are excellent from f/2.8 to f/5.6, very good from f/8 to f/16 but are again quite soft at f/22.

The overall picture is one of a lens with extremely even sharpness, with edges closely matching the centre, with a very high level of performance.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is almost perfectly corrected at the centre of the image field, at all focal lengths. Correction is not quite so perfect at the edges, but not far behind and definitely a credit to the lens designers. CA is not readily observable in images and can be corrected in software. It is unlikley that additional software correction will be needed for most subject matter.

No flare was observed throughout the review period. Admittedly the weather conditions were appalling throughout the review, meaning that no direct sun was available to shoot towards, but light sources and high contrast edges could induce no flare whatsoever.

Most zoom lenses show distortion, some returning quite high figures, but this new Tamron lens has a very impressive set of results. At 70mm, barrel distortion is -0.962%. This changes to pincushion distortion as we zoom, measuring +0.139% at 100mm, +0.749% at 135mm and +1.39% at 200mm. These figures are unlikely to be noticed and in any event could be reduced still further in software if desired.

Bokeh is the quality of the out of focus areas in an image. This is of course easier to notice in a telephoto lens and probably especially important for portraiture, flower studies and any other applications where the subject is sharp but the background rendered out of focus. Tamron have succeeded in making a very sharp lens with very pleasant bokeh and with smooth gradations throughout.

The VC system makes a very ambitious claim of 5 stops advantage, but in reality it can perhaps even exceed that slightly. At 200mm I was able to make a sharp image at ¼ sec, which is ridiculous by conventional standards, where received wisdom would suggest 1/200 sec is the absolute minimum without VC. There are of course many applications where a tripod is still needed, especially macro photography where the point of focus is critical, and in these circumstances the instruction are clear in stating VC should be switched off.

Value For Money

The Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 is priced at £1349. It is possible that the first version of this lens, the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD, might still be available at £1099 and there are also lower priced options. The Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM is £729, and the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro is £549.

Other marques offer similar specifications, such as the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR at £2649. The previous model, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, may still be available at £1999. The Sony G Master FE 70-200mm f/2.8 OSS lens is priced at £2499 and the Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G at £1249.

There are other examples to measure VFM against, such as the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G SSM II for Alpha DSLRs (£2799), the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM (£1848) and the HD Pentax-D FA* 70-200mm f/2.8 ED DC AW (£1699).

Offering as it does top-of-the-line performance on a par with the most expensive lenses, at a much lower price, then the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 looks a very attractive proposition.

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