Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC
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Would still like to see more 100% crops comparing f/2.8 to f/4.5 or so, and would love to see some comparison shots between the VC and non-VC versions. Although f/2.8 is sharp, it's definitely not as sharp as f/4.5... but maybe i should stop looking at pics at 200%, heheh 
Overall though, the IQ of this lens is very very nice indeed.
Overall though, the IQ of this lens is very very nice indeed.
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I've just had a very nice surprise.
Stuart from Digital Depot has emailed me to say mine is in stock
I'll go and pick it up tomorrow and post some sample shots asap
Can't wait to hear what you think of it... I'm still weighing up this and the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS
hashcake
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I've just got back from Digital Depot.
A few quick test shots
VC on, flash not used.
F/2.8 @ 50mm 1/30th ISO 800
F/2.8 @ 50mm 17mm 1/50th ISO 400
F/2.8 @ 42mm 1/20th ISO 800
F/5.6 @ 50mm 1/20th ISO 800
F/4 @ 17mm 1/15th ISO 400
A few quick test shots
VC on, flash not used.
F/2.8 @ 50mm 1/30th ISO 800
F/2.8 @ 50mm 17mm 1/50th ISO 400
F/2.8 @ 42mm 1/20th ISO 800
F/5.6 @ 50mm 1/20th ISO 800
F/4 @ 17mm 1/15th ISO 400
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1/30th - so was that with VC on?
Looks good to me... but you do need to wash that mug out!!
I'm getting the feeling that this is a good alternative to the Canon; think I might have to go for this one instead.
hashcake
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1/30th - so was that with VC on?
Looks good to me... but you do need to wash that mug out!!
I'm getting the feeling that this is a good alternative to the Canon; think I might have to go for this one instead.
The mug was clean, in my haste to get up stairs I spilt some coffee.Yes, VC was used with all the shots.
So far I am impressed with the lens and I am glad I went for it rather than the Canon 17-55mm.
f/2.8 was the reason I was interested in this lens.
Stuart @ digital depot will do a very good price on this lens for you
Just tell him I sent you.
hashcake
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I've not played with the canon 17-55 IS.
I've seen shots taken with the non VC Tamron that were on par with IQ of shots taken with the Canon 17-55 IS.
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I've taken some shots with my tamron which are superb when the lighting was just right. it's my go-to lens for most things
just wanted something even faster, quieter, sharper etc as I can't justify a body upgrade atm from my 40D
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And to be more specific, Darran, I've found that the softness at f/2.8 is most pronounced at 50mm, so if you can do a test of a single subject at 50mm f/2.8 and at 50mm f/4.5, then, if poss, the same subject again at 30mm f/2.8 & 30mm f/4.5 it'd be interesting to see if this backs up my diagnosis; I'll try and post some 100% crops later this evening that illustrate the same.
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And to be more specific, Darran, I've found that the softness at f/2.8 is most pronounced at 50mm, so if you can do a test of a single subject at 50mm f/2.8 and at 50mm f/4.5, then, if poss, the same subject again at 30mm f/2.8 & 30mm f/4.5 it'd be interesting to see if this backs up my diagnosis; I'll try and post some 100% crops later this evening that illustrate the same.
I'll try to get the same posted up tonight as I don't seem to have noticed this to the degree you have Nifkin
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Actually, scratch that, I don't think I'll be posting anything; just at work and got my camera out to take some test shots, and when I turn the zoom barrel (starting from 17mm) it stops at a point between 24 and 35 and won't budge Have tried it a number of times and it's not moving; obviously don't want to force it, but there's definitely something jamming inside there 
Ah, well... guess it'll be back to my trusty Sigma 30 for a while... just off to call Clifton Cameras... :shrug: :thumbsdown:
Have tried it a number of times and it's not moving; obviously don't want to force it, but there's definitely something jamming inside there Ah, well... guess it'll be back to my trusty Sigma 30 for a while... just off to call Clifton Cameras... :shrug: :thumbsdown:
hashcake
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Actually, scratch that, I don't think I'll be posting anything; just at work and got my camera out to take some test shots, and when I turn the zoom barrel (starting from 17mm) it stops at a point between 24 and 35 and won't budge
Ah, well... guess it'll be back to my trusty Sigma 30 for a while... just off to call Clifton Cameras... :shrug: :thumbsdown:
Ouch, what a pain :thumbsdown:
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Yip, looks like I could be without my main zoom for anything up to four weeks whilst Tamron do something about it :razz: Seeing as today is the 7th working day since I received the lens, which means I am still within the cooling off period under distance sales regs, I may just get a full refund and make off to Kerso and get myself the Canon 17-55...
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have left a masssage on their voicemail, so don't know yet; I just assumed that there's still an unspecified wait for new stock, but I'll see and report back. I was without a main zoom for weeks before getting this one, so can't be doing without it on the run up to Xmas... am off on holiday in a couple of weeks! boo hoo! sniff
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Coolio. I'll get onto them then. If they can turn it around in a matter of days I'll be happy! If they give me a new lens I'm gonna get testing at wider apertures to see if the problem is a quirk of the design, or just my copy!
Will be back with an update shortly....
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I am really liking this lens.
f/2.8 @ 50mm 1/10
I didn't want to resize the original image to 800x600 but I'm quite pleased with the sharpness on the eyes.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4130767967_43aa9146fa_o.jpg
This was cropped @ 100% but I needed to resize it.
I would never normally crop a photo as tight as No 2 and although you can see the softness, I'm still more than pleased.
I've done very little pp on these and the sharpening is what CS4 decided to do automatically.
I wanted this lens for it's f/2.8 capability for indoor, low light shots.
Perhaps the Canon 17-55 can produce sharper shots but for me, the cost of it doesn't warrant the need.
f/2.8 @ 50mm 1/10
I didn't want to resize the original image to 800x600 but I'm quite pleased with the sharpness on the eyes.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4130767967_43aa9146fa_o.jpg
This was cropped @ 100% but I needed to resize it.
I would never normally crop a photo as tight as No 2 and although you can see the softness, I'm still more than pleased.
I've done very little pp on these and the sharpening is what CS4 decided to do automatically.
I wanted this lens for it's f/2.8 capability for indoor, low light shots.
Perhaps the Canon 17-55 can produce sharper shots but for me, the cost of it doesn't warrant the need.
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Looking good Hash (even if they have been sharpened up a bit, which is cheating, btw )
Essentially, any lens is going to be a tad softer wide open, it's just the difference between the sharpness wide open and that of a couple of stops down that matters; whether the degree of difference is within acceptable limits. That's why I'd still like to see 100% crops of an identical subject taken at both f/2.8 and f/4.5, as I had done, as this will really give us an idea of the performance limits of this lens, instead of comparing one person's shots to another's. Seeing as this lens is so new, I think this could be useful to many. And if anybody out there has the non-VC version, perhaps they could do the same test, then we can really make a comparison between the two lenses.
)Essentially, any lens is going to be a tad softer wide open, it's just the difference between the sharpness wide open and that of a couple of stops down that matters; whether the degree of difference is within acceptable limits. That's why I'd still like to see 100% crops of an identical subject taken at both f/2.8 and f/4.5, as I had done, as this will really give us an idea of the performance limits of this lens, instead of comparing one person's shots to another's. Seeing as this lens is so new, I think this could be useful to many. And if anybody out there has the non-VC version, perhaps they could do the same test, then we can really make a comparison between the two lenses.
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All are 100% crop and straight out of the camera with VC on.
Ambient light only, no flash.
One point of interest is that I had all the focal points switched on but in each photo, I need to to recompose each shot to make sure the same focal points were used.
f/2.8 1/50th @ 30mm
f/2.8 1/50th @ 50mm
f/4.5 1/30th @ 30mm
f/4.5 1/30th @ 50mm
Ambient light only, no flash.
One point of interest is that I had all the focal points switched on but in each photo, I need to to recompose each shot to make sure the same focal points were used.
f/2.8 1/50th @ 30mm
f/2.8 1/50th @ 50mm
f/4.5 1/30th @ 30mm
f/4.5 1/30th @ 50mm
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Woah! Thanks jnO & Hash, just whatthe doctor ordered!
I have to say, your copies are markedly sharper than mine at f/2.8. In fact, from those 100% crops the difference in sharpness between 2.8 and 4.5 is negligable as to be non-existent!
There was a post on the POTN forum by a guy in the US who was having the same issue as me (softness at 2.8 that's most pronounced at 50mm), and it seems that it could be down to a touch of halation when wide open, which could possibly be caused by a badly aligned element... well, something was definitely badly aligned in my copy, which is why the zoom barrel jammed!
Anyway, spoke to Clifton Cameras this morning, and they said I can send it straight back for a replacement, which is far better than having to wait 3 weeks for Tamron to recalibrate it!
Anyway, I'm glad you guy's shots have come up trumps; I was hoping that would be the case, instead of having to accept that the performance exhibited by mine was the norm for the lens; if that had been the case, I would still be hankering after the EF-S 17-55!!!
I have to say, your copies are markedly sharper than mine at f/2.8. In fact, from those 100% crops the difference in sharpness between 2.8 and 4.5 is negligable as to be non-existent!
There was a post on the POTN forum by a guy in the US who was having the same issue as me (softness at 2.8 that's most pronounced at 50mm), and it seems that it could be down to a touch of halation when wide open, which could possibly be caused by a badly aligned element... well, something was definitely badly aligned in my copy, which is why the zoom barrel jammed!
Anyway, spoke to Clifton Cameras this morning, and they said I can send it straight back for a replacement, which is far better than having to wait 3 weeks for Tamron to recalibrate it!
Anyway, I'm glad you guy's shots have come up trumps; I was hoping that would be the case, instead of having to accept that the performance exhibited by mine was the norm for the lens; if that had been the case, I would still be hankering after the EF-S 17-55!!!
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That's good to hear
Post some photos when you get the replacement lens.
Lets hope the next one is a lot better.
It was worth the wait for this lens and it's the 2nd Tamron lens that has impressed me.
A year ago I honestly thought I would only buy Canon lenses.
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I've been fine tuning my Nikon fit 17-50 VC today on my D300 and noticed (or the lens has developed) a stiff point when zooming, between about 20mm to 17mm. It kind of jumps between 20 and 17mm because of the stiff point. Interestingly, if I take the lens of the body the stiffness almost disappears. Any ideas / has anybody else noticed this?
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*Update* After returning my bad copy of the lens to Clifton Cameras at the weekend, I got a call from Mark from the shop today, who explained that they'd had a number of returns of this lens from other customers due to defects; so many, in fact, that they'd spoken to the importers, who had agreed to take back Clifton's entire stock of the lens and replace them with a new batch. This, Mark and I hope, will go some way to preventing me receiving another duff copy when Clifton despatch a replacement to me. Anyway, Mark tells me that they should be receiving the new batch from Intro 2020 tomorrow, which means my new copy will reach me by Wednesday! Woot!
Can I just add that I've been very pleased with Clifton Camera's customer service so far
Can I just add that I've been very pleased with Clifton Camera's customer service so far
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Mark at the shop was very helpful, he rang me twice today to keep me updated, but he didn't tell me whether the problems experienced were all down to one issue, or what percentage of those sold were returned. Seems to me, if we take into account the queries we had over the Nikon version's IQ earlier in this thread, that there may be major QC issues with this lens.
Well... I guess I just have to wait and see; I guess, on balance, it's more likely that my second will be a sharp copy, but, on the off-chance it isn't, and I have to pay for RMSD to return the lens again, I'm going to be trotting down to Intro 2020 to ask for some compensation!
Ultimately, I'm of the opinion that, if the second one don't fix it, then this aint the lens for me, and off to the EF-S 17-55 I will swan! :bonk:
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Mark at the shop was very helpful, he rang me twice today to keep me updated, but he didn't tell me whether the problems experienced were all down to one issue, or what percentage of those sold were returned. Seems to me, if we take into account the queries we had over the Nikon version's IQ earlier in this thread, that there may be major QC issues with this lens.
Well... I guess I just have to wait and see; I guess, on balance, it's more likely that my second will be a sharp copy, but, on the off-chance it isn't, and I have to pay for RMSD to return the lens again, I'm going to be trotting down to Intro 2020 to ask for some compensation!
Ultimately, I'm of the opinion that, if the second one don't fix it, then this aint the lens for me, and off to the EF-S 17-55 I will swan! :bonk:
I sent my Nikon fit version back to Clifton on Friday after them agreeing to replace it, but have not heard back yet.
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You probably will do tomorrow; Mark only contacted me coz I'd sent a nagging email this morning!
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Interestingly I got the "we have not had any problems with this lens" from the girl I talked to...
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Called to see where the replacement had got to today and had another pleasant conversation with them. Apparently they have now had 5 returned and are rejecting the whole batch with the new shipment due in today.
I have a new camera and can't use it...
