I received my new Tamron 18-270mm Di-II VC (well almost new,bought it one month old with original receipt on ebay for CA$550 after customs and taxes) this afternoon, so took it out for some trial shots this evening. This is my first upgrade and i've never tried any other gear but my Nikon D60 18-55 kit
Here are few shots...straight from my SD card on to DPS..
a close up under fluorescent light..
a well lit building in low light condition
another low light shot from quite a distance
Pushing it to extreme 270mm , 1600 ISO, f6.3,no flash, indoor shot taken from first floor of the building looking at the ground.. distance approx 40ft from the subject
so here's "my" first impression
- Seems to serve my purpose of having good zoom.
- VC is good, considering i've very shaky hands (all shots were hand held)
- Both my wrists are aching after about 50+ shots having shot with only 18-55 kit lens, in other words it feels heavy without practice. And Nikon D60 is too small for this lens, its difficult to grip with one hand if the lens is extended. adds good weight to your kit.
-zoom ring movement is hard especially in the mid range, i'd read about this in the reviews so that's true. Amount of Zoom you get as i saw it is very good.
- Noisy, you can very clearly hear the focus ring moving, VC motor and internal focusing
but not a real problem.
- No issues found with auto focus in low light as i'd read before i'll put it to some more testing to confirm this.
- Length at 18mm is very close to nikon 18-55mm kit lens that's very convenient. Fits into my Karrimor waist pouch(slightly oversized one,i use it when i've to carry only my camera and other small stuff) even with the hood on!!! so easy storage.
- Close up shots will require some practice switching from a small lens. I kept going beyond the shortest focusing distance in an attempt to get a good close up.
- Gives very nice shallow DoF without any effort. should be very useful for portraits and table top shots.
- Felt the need for a Tripod/monopod instantly.
That's as much i can say after one hour usage, I hope that helps few readers thinking about this lens, i'll try to come up with a detailed review if i get the time to do it before i drop the idea of writing one;-)
Here's a link to the whole set
Picasa Web Albums - AC - Tamron 18-270...
comments, suggestions, questions and tips from users of Tamron lens are welcome.