Tamron 90mm- shall I buy it?

ladysue · 19 Jun 2010

Does anyone have the Tamron 90mmSP AF F2.8 Di Macro or know about it? I am seriously thinking of buying it but as I have very limited funds and probably wont be able to buy any more lenses I dont want to get the wrong thing. I have a D60, an 18-55 kit lens and a 55-200 AF lens.I want it to take macro shots of bees and bugs and flowers and I understand it would be quite good too for portait shots of my grandkids.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts on this.
Sue

tiler65 · 19 Jun 2010

Mine is great (canon version) good for portraits too, if you have the room.

Bazza155 · 19 Jun 2010

I have the Tamron and love it...I would also have a look at the Sigma 105mm 2.8.

SamuelHearn · 19 Jun 2010

I would say yes, it's an excellent lens.

chivers67 · 19 Jun 2010

Buy - you know it makes sense

Tracer · 19 Jun 2010

It comes up in the classifieds from time to time - just make sure you get the later model with the focus motor.

There is a helpful review here, at the bottom of the page.

ladysue · 19 Jun 2010

tiler65 said:
Mine is great (canon version) good for portraits too, if you have the room.

Thanks. I want something that will do portraits too as I wont be able to buy a nifty fifty if I buy this.

Bazza155 said:
I have the Tamron and love it...I would also have a look at the Sigma 105mm 2.8.

Thanks. I looked at reviews for the Sigma. One reviewer had both and said if he had to choose he would keep the Tamron.

SamuelHearn said:
I would say yes, it's an excellent lens.

Thank you

chivers67 said:
Buy - you know it makes sense

Thank you. I think I will.

Tracer said:
It comes up in the classifieds from time to time - just make sure you get the later model with the focus motor.

There is a helpful review here, at the bottom of the page.

I need to make sure it will autofocus with my D60. Although I have heard that autofocus is not so much use with Macro. Thanks for the comments. I looked at that review.

foggy4ever · 19 Jun 2010

Hi Sue, I've just sold my Tamron and it was a fantastic lens but I just didn't use it enough. I had the AF model and used it in manual mode for all my macro shots. I did use it a couple of times as a portrait lens and it produces some great results. As you have the D60 if you want auto focus as you know you will need the motor driven version. I haven't seen to many reviews of that version although there are plenty of reviews of thier other lenses that state the motor is slow and noisy.

ShrubMonkey · 19 Jun 2010

I bought one for my Canon 350D back in the day and still use it today on my 5D2, slow, noisy but gives great results, for the money it's a winner!

Taken on my old 350D, through glass in a dark zoo enclosure:

One taken on my 5D2:

cambsno · 19 Jun 2010

I had one, great lens with stunning IQ but slow af found I didn't use it that much, too long for most indoor shots. You can't beat a 50mm for portraits. As a macro you can't beat it.

mishu · 19 Jun 2010

Hi Sue,

Tamron 90 is a very good lens and you can't go wrong with it. In the same time, considering your secondary interest for portraits, I wonder if Tamron 60mm f2 is not a better option for you. On DX bodies 90mm is quite long for portraits while 60mm translates to 90mm which is the perfect portrait focal distance. In the same time, this last one is faster and will blur in a better way the backgrounds at portraits. The only disadvantage is the shorter working distance for shy bugs...

ladysue · 19 Jun 2010

foggy4ever said:
Hi Sue, I've just sold my Tamron and it was a fantastic lens but I just didn't use it enough. I had the AF model and used it in manual mode for all my macro shots. I did use it a couple of times as a portrait lens and it produces some great results. As you have the D60 if you want auto focus as you know you will need the motor driven version. I haven't seen to many reviews of that version although there are plenty of reviews of thier other lenses that state the motor is slow and noisy.

Thank you Scott. I think that I will get the Tamron as most people say good things about it. I will probably learn to do manual focus as most people say it is better for Macro.I have been lazy up til now and always use AF on my camera.

ShrubMonkey said:
I bought one for my Canon 350D back in the day and still use it today on my 5D2, slow, noisy but gives great results, for the money it's a winner!

Taken on my old 350D, through glass in a dark zoo enclosure:

One taken on my 5D2:

Thank you Julian. Those pictures are good. Thank you for posting them. Its good to see what it can do.

cambsno said:
I had one, great lens with stunning IQ but slow af found I didn't use it that much, too long for most indoor shots. You can't beat a 50mm for portraits. As a macro you can't beat it.

Thank you Simon. I want it mainly for Macro. If it does good portrait shots that will be a big bonus but I mainly take just pics of my grandkids so use the kit lens.

mishu said:
Hi Sue,

Tamron 90 is a very good lens and you can't go wrong with it. In the same time, considering your secondary interest for portraits, I wonder if Tamron 60mm f2 is not a better option for you. On DX bodies 90mm is quite long for portraits while 60mm translates to 90mm which is the perfect portrait focal distance. In the same time, this last one is faster and will blur in a better way the backgrounds at portraits. The only disadvantage is the shorter working distance for shy bugs...

Thank you Mihai. I think I will plump for the Tamron as people have been very positive about it.I will consider the 60mm but I think it will be too close to bugs.