CHRIS NICCOLLS posted a full review of the newly announced Tamron 17-50mm F4 Di III VXD Lens (Amazon/ B&H/Adorama) at petapixel. It is Not a Perfect Lens, But Still a Good One.
This lens weighs only 460g, which is very impressive. This light weight may be due to the plastic lens barrel, but they don’t see any reliability issues. The lens barrel is sealed.
Lenses can be customized using the USB-C terminal.
We wish the lens barrel had an AF/MF switch.
When shooting against backlight, a slight ghost appears when stopped down, but there is no noticeable decrease in contrast. Rays of light are less dramatic and tend to be blurry and lack sharpness. This lens allows you to get very close and achieves a magnification of over 1:4 at 50mm. They were impressed with the sharpness during close-up shots. AF is quick and crisp thanks to VXD.
There are some concerns regarding resolution. First of all, the resolution is slightly better around 50mm than around 17mm. This lens is always sharp in the center of the frame even wide open, but the problem is in the corners, and at 17mm the corners are quite soft. If you stop down the aperture, it will improve considerably, but it will never produce a stunning image. This is the same with the 50mm, and this is a lens that you always want to use with the aperture stopped down. Many growth rings can be seen in the bokeh, giving it a strong bubble bokeh. Fortunately, the transition from the in-focus area to the out-of-focus area looks quite smooth.
This lens is lightweight and the focus ring can be set linearly, making it ideal as a gimbal-mounted lens for video shooting. Focus breathing is also corrected quite well.
| SUPPORT LENSRUMORS, BUY FROM ONE OF OUR AFFILIATE RETAILERS, THANKS ! | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tamron 17-50mm f/4 Di III VXD Lens (Sony FE) | check Price | Amazon/ B&H/Adorama |
- Full-Frame | Constant Max Aperture: f/4
- Ultra-Wide to Normal Zoom Lens
- VXD Linear Motor Focus Mechanism
- Internal Zoom & Focus
- Moisture-Resistant Construction
- Fluorine Coating