Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD review: A uniquely versatile pro-worthy alternative
By Kevin Carter - Friday, February 08, 2013 Lens Review| Introduction | Measurements | Comparisons | Conclusion |
Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD Canon
When mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD achieves an overall DxOMark Score of 24, the second highest score in our database for a high-speed (f2.8) standard zoom. Although the Tamron has well-controlled chromatic aberration, it’s the excellent transmission values and high sharpness, measured at an average of 15P-Mpix, that really make this lens stand out.
On the downside, there’s some noticeable vignetting in the corners at the maximum aperture at 24mm and 70mm. It is slightly lower in the mid-focal lengths but it never really goes away completely when stopped down. It just gets less noticeable.
Another shortcoming is distortion. Zoom lenses like this tend to exhibit barrel distortion at the wide end altering to pincushion at the other. While our figures are lower than average at 0.3% for this type of zoom, the Tamron has, in fact, quite heavy barrel distortion at 24mm.
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Added by niisfktn |
February 19
Tamron vs Nikon lens comparison
Cameralabs in review of nikon 24-85 vr mentioned that it compares well with Tamron. I hope your test of nikon 24-85 vr on D3X or D600 coming soon.
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Added by niisfktn |
February 19
Re: Tamron vs Nikon lens comparison
After holiday sales, I got D600 with 24-85mm VR lens and very happy with my choice of full frame DSLR and quality of the lens. Since than I am checking daily your website with hope to get DXOmark scores on that lens on D600 or D3X. There are a lot of those lens used and tested already with conflicting reports from different testing websites on quality of that lens. My friend bought 5D Mark III with 24-70mm 2.8L lens and we went to photo trip together. When we compared and discussed photos from that trip we agreed that overall quality of the equilalent photos is very close. Being an engineer I am waiting for numerical confirmation. I am pretty sure that the scores will be high. I generally agree with your testing results and your test data are are helping me in my future lens selection.
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Added by Emilie_DxOMark |
February 20
Re: Tamron vs Nikon lens comparison
Hello,
Actually the 24-85mm is planned and should be available in march on DxOMark.com :) Best regards, Reply |
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Added by niisfktn |
February 21
Re: Tamron vs Nikon lens comparison
Are you going to test 24-85vr or any other lens on D600?
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Added by Dennis L |
February 15
Just a bit confused
Emilie, says "The reason is that the Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm looses some sharpness in the field, where it is outperformed by the other ones."
Something is being lost in translation. In what field ??? How can a lens that is rated sharp loose sharpness when you take it outside into a field ??? Please clarify. Reply | Read all replies for this comment |
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Added by Emilie_DxOMark |
February 15
Re: Just a bit confused
Hello,
I am sorry, I indeed lost myself in translation :) I meant that the Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm tends to be less sharp in the center of the (visual) field; it's its great weakness comparing to the other lenses. I hope it is clearer! Best, Emilie Reply |
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Added by abortabort |
February 13
24-70 comparison
Just having difficulty figuring out how the Sony CZ 24-70 scores low compared to these 3? Sharpness is higher than all 3, transmission is in line with both Canon and Nikon, distortion is at the top level along with the Tamron, vignetting it beats all 3, and CA is the same as the Canon (right between the other two). This should put is slightly in front of the pack, but then read about the 'blue bar range' for different FL - ok so here it seems about on par or maybe a little better than the Tamron and Nikon, but not as good as the Canon.
So how does it score a 21 when it exceeds certainly at the very least the Nikon (where it equals or beats it in all metrics) and the Nikon gets a 24 overall score? I know these are tested on different cameras, but how does that effect the weightings? Reply | Read all replies for this comment |
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Added by Emilie_DxOMark |
February 13
Re: 24-70 comparison
Hi,
The reason is that the Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm looses some sharpness in the field, where it is outperformed by the other ones. Best, Emilie Reply |
Further readings for the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD review: A uniquely versatile pro-worthy alternative
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