I preordered a Canon 5DS r and I was wondering if the Tamron SP AF Di VC USD 24-70mm f/2.8 XR LD ASL [IF] would be good for that camera?
I plan to use it for wedding pictures.
Answer
I preordered a canon 5dsr but I was wondering if the lens Tamron SP AF Di VC USD 24 - 70 mm will be good with that camera?
Summary: You are liable to be happy with this lens on most counts if you are happy with the 24-70 mm zoom range and f/2.8 constant aperture. According to DxO, you cannot get a sharper zoom in the 2X mm - 7Xmm f/2.8 class, although a number of others are as good. The vibration control feature was unique for f/2.8 lenses when this was introduced, (and may still be?).
When it comes to sharpness and contrast, the 5DSR is liable to be demanding of lenses due to its 50 Mp sensor - but no other lense will do vastly better and many will be substantially worse.
A few days ago, after the usual due deliberation, hand wringing, review reading and wife persuading I purchased a Tamron SP Di USD 24 - 70 mm f/2.8 lens with a Sony mount.
Mine does not have the VC feature (sadly) as Tamron cunningly leave it out of the Sony version (while charging the same price) as they argue (as do other Sony mount lens makers) that the Sony in-body stabilisation does the job instead. Be that as it may, I would very dearly loved to have the VC feature to compare with the Sony stabilisation and to try both together "just to see". A number of the terms at the end of your description do not usually get mentioned with this lens but I'm 99.93% sure it's the same one.
Before purchasing I read a range of reviews (DPReview provided their usual quality analysis), I looked at the DxO Optics analysis (still a review but measurement biased), looked at various sample images. I pored over the MTF graphs but all they told me that it was going to be good. How good they really didn't convey. And I looked for some user comments. That's what really decided me.
For a Sony version lens I usually first look at the Dyxum site, but there is every reason to think that other user reviews will be not too different. Canon and Nikon users will be wowed by the anti-vibration feature on a constant f/2.8 zoom. The Sony version hasn't got it or has it already depending on perspective AND what makes this lens utterly marvellous is independent of the VC feature.
The Dyxum summary page is here
Ratings are out of 5 with 0.5 step gradations available.
Assessment is up to each user but for eg Sharpness, 5 is probably utterly astounding, 4.5 is superb and 4 or less probably means the user wasn't fully happy. There are, so far, only 9 users reviews. Sharpness gained 5 x 5 and 4 x 4.5 for an average of 4.78.
Higher sharpness scores have been known to happen, but at that level it's getting immensely subjective. Overall the 9 users rated it:
overall: 4.62
sharpness: 4.78
color: ... 4.56
build: ...4.67
distortion: ...4.67
flare control:... 4.44
The Dyxum user reviews are here
The lens is not perfect. DxO identify a degree of vignetting in corners at some settings./ I've yet to notice it visibly in any of the 100's of test shots I've taken so far.
There are the usual comments about various degrees of softness in various areas under various combinations of zoom and aperture.
But, as I said, the user reviews clinched the deal.
I did like:
- MASTough: I returned the Sony-(Carl-Zeiss) because of quality! I'm a Sony fan boy, owned Sony's (only) for the past 15 years, and when I got the nerve to purchase the 24-70f28Z I was super excited...until I twisted it on the a99 and there was slop. The slop made extents zoom uncomfortable...you could 'feel' it move. Back it went!
Also
TimonW: ... To sum up, without trying to sound like I'm overstating the facts, this lens alone will be the reason why as a wedding photographer, I can finally shoot Sony at weddings. In the past, I shot with a combination of Sony and Nikon (for tracking purposes and low light). ...
CommonAussie: ... Sharp from wide open with smooth rendering of oof areas. Renders beautifully in the F2.8 - F5.6 range at all focal lengths.
MASTough: ... Sharp photos throughout range at f/2.8
ShineBox: ... I have this lens for my SONY and Canon cameras. This is a great lens and is sharp from whatever aperture I shoot at. Build quality top notch and focus is fast and quiet. What more can you ask for? It is always on my A99 and it is my go to event camera when taking group photos and even portraits. I believe the 28-75 to be just as good except at the borders where this lens shows its quality over the older 28-75.
Boyzone: ... No hunting and accurate focusing in dim light.. this is the only reason to make me let go my 24-70CZ and get this lens. This is because of 24-70CZ unable to serve me well on in-door event job.. a lot of out focusing and hunting !!
And more.
So - What do I think of it?
I'm astounded.
I read what people said re "sharp at f/2.8" BUT everyone knows that best sharpness is at least slightly stopped down. Right? Well, it MAY be, I haven't yet found out for sure, but it is so sharp at f/2.8 that if it's even sharper anywhere else it would probably be dangerous.
The AF is good, as they all say.
What I found marvellous, and nobody mentioned this as a feature that I noticed, is that the focus ring is completely decoupled mechanically during AF focusing (that's easy enough) BUT is instantly available with no change in feel to fine adjust the focus as if required. You can apply hald pressure on the shutter button while holding the focus ring and as soon as it locks (or before) can adjust the focus manually. With the sony focus peaking feature (anything in focus blazes red in my case when using MF) the speed of getting to a stable MF adjustable focus point is superb.
I have not tried this yet but I'm fairly certain that this will allow eg fine tuning of focus on individual birds in a flock and similar. "A bit hard" with almost any AF system.
But, back to, or to, the question:
I preordered a canon 5dsr but I was wondering if the lens Tamron SP AF Di VC USD 24 - 70 mm will be good with that camera?
The 5DSR 51 Mp sensor is going to give ANY lens a hard time. The Tamron seems liable to do as well as any lens in its class and price range.
If you find the focal length range acceptable and the constant aperture f/2.8 adequate (and you are in trouble if not), then at double the money you may or may not do better.
DxO provide comparisons of the combinations of cameras and lense.
They do not have the 5DSR yet.
Here is a DxO combination for the 5D MkIII & Tamron ...
Of all the "official" results this table probably best tells you what you want to know
Look at which lens is 5th from top, and the price. Look at what's above it. They can come later.
Buy one :-)
Canon 1Dx version of this table - Canon version equals Tamron on sharpness and scores 27 vs 26 overall. And launch prices were $2299 vs $1299
Note that the older Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD at $499 is a bargain if you value sharpness and don't care too much about the VC feature. (VC is excellent for when YOU move, but makes no difference to blur caused by subject motion).
Nikon version:
From their "Best lenses for the Nikon D810" review. Yes, it's not a Canon, and not a 50+ Mp sensor but close enough. A very demanding camera. This is their "best zooms for D810" listed in descending order of overall score and sharpness.
Mine? I love it. Pictures, sometime. I have no doubt.
DPReview reviews for
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II- 87% - "Gold" (unstabilised) and
Value of VC Vibration Compensation?:
My FF Nikon D700 is 2+ stops better in low light performance than my APSC Sony A77. But I have been disappointed in the unstabilised results from the D700 when compared to the Sony in limiting low light situations. If you can stabilise the camera or subject movement dominates shutter speed issues then VC is largely irrelevant. For hand held low light with "well behaved" subjects it matters muchly.
This page in the DPReview Tamron test provides with & without comparisons of 'blurred' shots at 2 focal mengths and various shutter speeds with and without VC.
There are some questionable results there, but a quick comparison suggests that Tamron's VC provides about 4+ stops (!!!!) of improvement at 24mm at very low shutter speeds (eg they got a higher % of "sharp" results at 1 second with VCX that at 1/15s without it.
And about 3+ stops at 70mm - eg 40% sharp at 1/5s with VC versus ~ 20% sharp at 1/40s without VC.
My own experience with Minolta's (and now Sony's) in-body stabilisation is that I can often get acceptable results in the 0.1s - 1s range when I didn't really expect to. You obviously try to use much faster shutter speeds and you'd not want to shoot too many wedding photos at that speed (not none*) but it's a useful tool. You have to try hard, Ninja breathe, adopt 3000 year old sequoia mindset, (slow or stop heartbeat if that feature is available to you), and hope - but it often works very well indeed.
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