Tamron’s AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II Lens; Page 2

Tamron's AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens is a well-made zoom that delivers tremendous versatility in its focal length range with optical and mechanical performance in excess of its modest price.

The estimated street price of the AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens is $399.95. For more information, contact Tamron USA, Inc., 10 Austin Blvd., Commack, NY 11725; (800) 827-8880, (631) 858-8400; www.tamron.com.

Canon Mount
The Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II lens I tested was in Canon EOS mount but it was not an EF-S (Electro-Focus Short Back Focus) lens so it attaches to many different Canon SLRs. Canon's proprietary EF-S lenses have a rubber ring surrounding the rear element and only fit the EOS Rebel, Digital Rebel, Xt, and 20D. That ring slips deeper into the camera than an EF lens does and will hit the mirror if you attempt to mount an EF-S lens on non-compatible Canon digital or film SLRs. This means that Tamron's Di II lenses will fit a lot more Canon models, including the EOS D30, D60, 10D, 20D, Digital Rebel, and Rebel Xt.

Ya'mie is a Denver Bronco fan for lots of reasons and here shows how Tamron's AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens works great for portraits, too. I used a Canon EOS 20D set at ISO 100 with the lens fully extended to 200mm. Exposure in Shutter Priority mode and using Canon's Speedlite 550EX flash for fill was 1/250 sec at f/9.

I've long been fascinated by Easter Island's stone heads, but haven't yet been able to make the trip, so I'll have to make do with this sculpture I call "the real Easter Island." I zoomed the Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens to 80mm while attached to a Canon EOS D30 that's been modified to capture monochrome infrared images. Exposure was 1/100 sec at f/16 in Aperture Preferred mode at ISO 400. A +1/3 stop exposure compensation was applied. I digitally toned a duplicate layer using PixelGenius' (www.pixelgenius.com) PhotoKit, then used Adobe's Photoshop Eraser tool to erase everything on that layer except the sculpture.

What's up, tiger lily? Tamron's AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens is more properly called "close focusing" than macro because it only gets as close as 17.7", but with a magnification ratio of 1:3.7 (at 200mm) who cares. This photograph was made at 200mm at the closest focusing distance, but since it has a pretty high magnification at that focal length, it gets me really close to this pink tiger lily. Exposure at ISO 800 was 1/125 sec at f/10 in Manual mode. The Canon EOS 20D's built-in, pop-up flash was used. In these kinds of shooting situations Tamron cautions that you should remove the lens hood to avoid flash vignetting, so I did and it did.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Greg Mathews of The Mathews Collection (www.mathewscollection.com) for allowing me to photograph some of the vehicles that appear in this story.

Special thanks also to Jeff Sipes at Bandimere Speedway (www.bandimere.com) for his hospitality.

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