Lens News

The 70-200mm focal length has been the standard tele-zoom choice for many years, offering near normal to a good tele range that suits many practical purposes. Yet, quite a few stock-in-trade 70-200mm lenses had been slow or lost significant aperture as soon as you left the shortest zoom setting, making them a real challenge for handheld, low-light, or even max focal length shooting. Certainly, improvements in sensors and processors in terms of the high ISO/image quality ratio have helped. If you’re too slow on shutter speed with a variable aperture zoom you can always jack up the sensitivity. But that’s not always a great choice and it seems to force you to compromise image quality just to make up for the lens losing “speed” just when you need it most.

I’ve always preferred longer focal-length macro lenses in the 90-100mm range because they give you more breathing room between the camera and skittish subjects than does standard (50/60mm) macros. No wonder, then, that one of my earliest lenses was the original Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 macro, which I first paired with a Minolta SR-T 102. I burned plenty of Kodachrome with that glass.

There was time when those seeking super-wide lenses for APS-C size sensor cameras didn’t have much choice, but new light gathering systems that distribute light evenly from lens to sensor, as well as new optical formulas from camera makers and independent lens manufacturers, have changed that point of view. The latest in this welcome new class of glass is from Tamron, with their 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 offering. Priced at around $500 (street) and weighing in at about 14 oz., the Tamron 10-24mm is useable for cameras that require “motor in the lens” operation, such as the Nikon D40X, on which this lens was tested.  The DiII designation tells you that this lens is for digital SLRs with APS-C sensors.

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Tamron unveiled another new lens this morning: the SP 90mm F/2.8 Di VC USD 1:1 MACRO (Model F017). The new SP 90mm F/2.8 Di VC USD 1:1 MACRO (Model F017) is the follow-up to the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro from 2012, and has been updated with several key features.

Tamron has annouced two intriguing new prime lenses: the Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD and a 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD. Both lenses offer close focus (7.9 and 11.4 in. respectively) and both are compatible with full-frame and APS-C sensor DSLR cameras.

The new Tamron SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) joins a growing community of wide-zoom lenses. In contrast to an earlier version of this lens, which is available in several mounts, this APS-C Tamron optic (designated Model B005/$649 street price) is only available in Nikon DX (with built-in motor) and Canon mounts. Given that I mated this lens to a Nikon D300, that effectively...