The Tamron 70-180 mm f/2.8 is a short to medium telephoto zoom lens available for Sony E-mount cameras. It can be used with both full-frame and APS-C camera bodies. Mounted on an APS-C body, the lens becomes equivalent to a 105-270 mm f/4.2 lens.
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Focal length | 70-180 mm |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.8 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/22 |
| Weight | 1.78 lb / 810 g |
| Length | 5.87″ / 149 mm |
| Diameter | 3.19″ / 81 mm |
| Filter size | 67mm |
| Maximum extended length | 7″ / 177.7 mm |
| Minimum focus distance | 10.63″ / 27 cm |
| Number of aperture blades | 9, rounded |
| Street price | $1,099.00 |
Build Quality
The lens body is plastic, but appears to be solidly-made. It has a lock to prevent the lens from zooming. The lens showed no tendency to extend when pointed down, so I doubt most photographers will need to lock the zoom. The manual focus ring is well-damped, but has no distance markings. Filter threads are 67 mm in diameter, matching Tamron’s 28-75 mm and 17-28 mm lenses. The lens has gaskets to provide additional water and dust resistance.
Image Quality
I found image quality to be quite good. Wide-open images had a little softness in the corners, but stopping down sharpened them up, nicely. I found the autofocus to be quick and accurate, even in low light. The lens uses Tamron’s VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor in its autofocus system, and I was pleased with its performance. Bokeh was very nice, thanks to the nine, rounded aperture blades.
Features
The lens has a fixed maximum aperture of f/2.8 at all focal lengths. The aperture is wide enough to provide nice bokeh and also allows selective focus techniques, making it an excellent choice for portraiture and for zoo photography. Often times, it is possible to open the aperture up and zoom in on a zoo animal and throw the mesh/bars completely out of focus so that they disappear from the image. It’s become my favorite lens for zoo photography. The focus ring has no distance markings. Focus distance does display in the camera viewfinder, in manual focus mode, but hyperfocal distance information is not available to the user.
One feature it lacks is optical stabilization. This really limits the lens’s usefulness for handheld video when mounted on a body that doesn’t have in-body image stabilization. It’s not so much of a problem for still photography, and it works well with a stabilized body, but you will want your camera mounted on a good video tripod if you’re shooting video with a non-stabilized body, such as the A6400.
Click to enlarge.
Comparisons and Conclusions
The lens most compared with the Tamron is the Sony 70-200 mm f/2.8 G-Master lens. At $2800, the Sony is more than twice as expensive. At 2.3 lb / 1045 g, the Sony is 29% heavier. And at 200 mm minimum length, it is a third longer than the Tamron. The image quality and autofocus comparisons I’ve seen rate the two lenses as about equal. What the Sony does offer are Image Stabilization, 20 mm more focal length at max, and the Sony comes with a tripod collar. You can get tripod collars for the Tamron, but it’s an extra expense.
If you’re mostly a still photographer, or if you have camera bodies with in-body stabilization, and/or a good video tripod, there isn’t much reason to spend the extra $1,700 for the Sony. Compared to the Sony, the Tamron is one of the best values you’ll ever find in this lens class.