Tamron A17NII AF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Nikon+Motor

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Advanced features include ring-type ultrasonic autofocus. Like the similar system fitted in the Nikon Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED, it's fast, ultra-quiet and comes complete with full-time manual override in single or 'one-shot' autofocus mode. things i hate about it are for one the rather stiff zoom ring and when it is at 300mm and MFD of 0.95m A telephoto zoom is often the first lens amateur photographers add to their kit after purchasing an SLR. The ability to reach out and bring distant subjects up close is immensely appealing, and essential for many subjects. The 70-300mm focal length range was a traditional one in the film days, covering a range from relatively short to fairly long focal lengths. In the digital world (with its smaller sensor sizes), this lens roughly translates to a 105-450mm zoom, pretty long by any standard. The Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 AF is very appealingly priced for novice users, and throws in surprising macro capability as a bonus. But how did it handle our battery of tests? Read on for all the results! Minimum object distance is 0.67m (2.2ft.) with a magnification of 1:7.4 and a working distance of 0.50m at 70mm focal length. At 300mm focal length maximum magnification is 1:4.6 which is not bad and results in a working distance of 1.2m. A magnification of 1:10 is achieved at 3.06m. The F-Nikkor 70-300 achieves 1:3.8 at 300mm focal length and 0.97m working distance. The Z-Nikkor 100-400 achieve its maximum magnification of 1:2.5 at 400mm focal length and 0.68m working distance. [0] Given the 300mm maximum reach, the Tamron 70-300mm F4.5-6.3 Di III RXD is a surprisingly lightweight and compact lens.

Chromatic aberration is quite reasonable from 70-180mm, and very good in the vicinity of 100mm. As with blur though, chromatic aberration becomes quite pronounced at 300mm, particularly in the corners of the frame. The 70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 VC USD stops down to quite small apertures, in this case, ƒ/32-ƒ/45, all of which will provide quite soft images, with the exception of ƒ/32 at 70mm, which provides only slightly soft images. My copy has on the Sony DSLR-A300 a center resolution of 1500 to 1800 LPH and corner resolution is typically between 1300 to 1600 LPH, measured in the range of biggest aperture down to F8. One special observation is the good telephoto performance at 300mm and the widest aperture of f5.6: 1650 center, 1550 corner. The worst wide-aperture image quality is at 180mm and f4.5, where the LPH values fall to 1450 center and 1300 corner. Consequently, center resolution is acceptable for a 10MP camera, and corner resolution is just tolerable, with 180mm/f4.5 unsatisfactorily. Here are the focal length/aperture settings that I typically use for my copy:I bought this much because of the 200-300mm range, but this range disappoints me. Its quite soft and have bothersome CA in this range. At 70-200 its quite good for its price. Always stop it down one aperture for best results. At 300mm, a commonly used telephoto zoom focal length, the design delivers excellent resolution from edge-to-edge. Overall, the efficient optical construction (which also contributes to its lightweight) plus Tamron’s BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) Coating with its well-established reputation for anti-reflection properties, combine to enable the photographer to capture extremely clear, crisp images across the entire zoom range. While the lens features an advanced design with excellent core image quality, optical performance can be enhanced even further by employing the lens correction features found on Sony cameras. Unlike most lenses who have macro in their name and don't really offer that much max. magnification this was The Tamron 70-300mm F4.5-6.3 Di III RXD features a high-speed RXD (Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive) motor unit that allows virtually silent auto-focusing, making it well-suited to video use. Use with teleconverters: No, neither the Tamron nor the F-Nikkor can be used with Nikon teleconverters. Only the Z-Nikkor 100-400 can use Nikon’s Z TC-1.4x and Z TC-2.0x. [0]

In use, we found the auto focusing system to be very quiet and satisfyingly fast with the lens mounted on a Sony A7 III camera, although not quite as snappy as the Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS lens. Importantly, full-time manual focus override is also possible and the lens is also fully compatible with the "Direct Manual Focus (DMF)" system feature of Sony cameras that enables the user to instantly switch between autofocus and manual focus. At 300mm the resolution is still more than acceptable at f/5.6. Stopping down to f/8 yields images with good enough resolution to please all but the most demanding photographers. The other standout feature is Tamron's Vibration Correction (VC) system - an optical stabiliser that offers 4-stop performance in fending off camera-shake. Image stabilization: No, the Tamron 70-300 solely relies on the sensor based stabilization of Nikon’s full-frame Z-mount bodies. Both Nikkor lenses have optical stabilization (VR). [0]The Tamron 70-300 VC will work best in this regard when shooting a subject that remains a near-constant distance from the camera under a healthy level of daylight.