Through the lens

In this case I'm talking about a Tamron 18-270 zoom.  I acquired this lens from a friend that bought it for his wife.  She quickly found the major flaw for the casual shooter.  This lens is heavy.  If you mount this monster to your average DSLR it becomes very "lens heavy".  This is not a problem for me, but the average hobbyist may not like it. 

On to the performance.  I love this lens.  It has quickly become my go to glass for events.  I can easily take wide crowd shots or zoom in on the action. 

I took this picture of Senator Marco Rubio the other day at a rally.  I was probably 100 feet from the stage and this is cropped only slightly. 

Same rally, I was standing in the same spot.  This is pulled all the way back to 18mm to show the crowd and the venue.

It's not a do-all lens and it has some drawbacks.  It's not full frame so if you have a FX sensor it's not for you.  It is slow - at f 3.5-6.3 you are somewhat limited.  On the plus side, it focuses fast and smoothly, zooms quietly and smoothly, and just feels substantial.  The vibration control works well.  I haven't noticed much "softness" even in close zooms.

Here is a test I did with a tripod and a coffee can.  This is totally straight out of the camera with no post processing.  this is at 18mm.

The only thing that moved for this shot was the zoom.  This is 270mm.













So if you are looking for a DX lens that can do it all...well that may not exist, but, the Tamron 18-270 does a pretty good job.  Street price is about $650 which is not bad for all that glass.  If you don't need something quite so extreme, then look at a 28-80 which can be had for a lot less money. 


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