TAMRON - 16-300 mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Nikon F Cameras - Black - B016N

Product Information

A generous helping of chromatic aberration is to be expected with a superzoom. There's strong magenta/green towards the edges at wide-angle, reducing to low levels through 50-100mm, before returning with a vengeance from 200-300mm. Canon DSLRs won't correct for it in JPEGs (Nikon DSLRs will try to) but it can be neutralized very effectively in your average Raw conversion software, provided you don't mind putting in a little time on a computer. Vignetting A fear of dust on imaging sensors was another massive plus point for bridge cameras, as they never had to expose their innards to the elements. Also, people generally liked the convenience, while swallowing the disadvantages of the bridge camera’s inevitably smaller sensor. That means the maximum aperture, or maximum amount of light that passes through the lens to the sensor, reduces as you zoom in. At 300mm, for example, this lens’s maximum aperture of f/6.3 lets in around 1.5 stops’ less light than at 16mm f/3.5. The maximum aperture ultimately has an impact on the shutter speeds you can use for an accurate exposure, so if you’re planning to shoot sports or wildlife, for example, where long focal lengths and fast shutter speeds are essential, then you’re going to need very good light to use this lens. That said, the 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro does feature Tamron’s lens-based Vibration Compensation (VC) image stabilization technology, which enables the use of slower shutter speeds at the telephoto end of the zoom without images suffering from the effects of camera shake. Deeper finger grips on the lens cap– I know, this is an extremely small and neurotic detail. In any case, it seems that Tamron has improved their lens caps with more pinchable clips making them easier to attach and remove from the lens. This feature also reduces the chance of fumbling a cap removal.

I have just acquired of these lenses for my EOS 70D. I have been trying out some shots at 300mm. Very close up, macro, I get good sharp results, but further away (say 2m) it gets much softer in comparison (both centre frame). I have used a tripod, indoors to avoid any breeze, using contrast based focus and also manual focus (which allows a x10 on the LCD for precise adjustment, though auto is very good). I have tried from F6.3 up to F22, with best results at F8. ISO 100 and speed adjusted accordingly (but on tripod). VC mode off as on tripod. I have viewed both jpg and raw (no difference really). See attached in both macro and at 2m (ish), though I may need to post enlarged. The Nikon and Canon versions of the lens have Tamron’s Vibration Compensation (VC) system, and these and the Sony-fitted model (which will be introduced at some time in the future) feature the so-far excellent Piezo Drive (PZD) near-silent and fast AF motor. This lens gives the equivalent of 24.8mm wide-angle zooming to 465mm, on Nikon and Sony APS-C crop cameras, and 25.6mm to 480mm on a Canon camera, in 35mm terms. Previously the most optical zoom you could get in an APS-C super-zoom DSLR lens started at 18mm (27/28mm equivalent Nikon/Canon) and zoomed to either 200mm (Canon) 250mm (Sigma), 270mm (Tamron), or 300mm (Nikon). The smaller lens on top is the Tamron 16-300mm. And the giant lens below is the Tamron 150-600mm. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Tamron 150–600mm telephoto lens. However, it is big, bulky, and heavy. In this photo, you can see it is more than double the size of the 16-300 mm Tamron, and much, much harder to carry around and shoot handheld.The build quality is good and the focusing was fast and accurate at all ranges. Nevertheless, this superzoom lens has two main problems:

From architecture and portraits to close-ups and landscapes, this lens does a great job. Optical distortions are noticeable in the middle of the range, but these are easily fixable during post-processing. All in all, the Tamron 16-300mm is a nice upgrade from other cheaper kit lens. It offers stunning image quality and all-in-one versatility that travelers so much desire. The lens is not especially small until one considers the focal range it covers, but it has a deceptive look of a lens that should be small. In fact, when collapsed to 16mm, it is not much longer or broader than we might expect a 90mm f/2.8 macro lens to be, and, apart from the dual rings, it does not look especially unlike one. Its ability to double its physical length when set to the 300mm mark is quite surprising, because this 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 macro lens does not look like a mega-zoom lens. I was expecting something a little more brash and bulbous, more along the lines of the 150-600mm optic from Tamron’s SP series that I tested in AP 12 April. This model, by contrast, is ‘quietly designed’ and features a remarkably narrow barrel with a 67mm-diameter lens cap. It is designed to look small, and it does.In the DSLR sector, Tamron faces superzoom rivals in every camp, and some of the designs are notably similar. Alphabetically, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS looks a little behind the curve these days, though it's a proven good performer. Nikon has a history of occasional cooperation with Tamron and matches the long-end reach with its Nikkor 18-300mm F3.5-6.3G AF-S DX ED VR. The Pentax SMC DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 ED SDM bears more than a passing resemblance to the superseded Tamron 18-270mm. Not to be outdone, Sigma joins the up-to-300mm superzoom club with its revamped 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM C, and Sony has the DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3. Angle of view Image: Shot approximately halfway through the focal range at f/8, this image shows plenty of details in the horses’ hair There's a distance scale that runs from the closest distance of 39cm to infinity, but no depth of field scale. The rear element is surrounded by a metal lens mount and hides 16 elements in 12 groups. That's a lot of glass for the light to go through and is under continuous threat of dispersion. There are seven aperture blades for the aperture range which has a minimum of f/22-f/40.

I had expected to write at length on the subjects of vignetting and curvilinear distortions, but on the darkening of corners the lens has rather disappointed me. While some fall-off in illumination is detectable in technical subjects, in the real-life situations in which I’d expect this lens to be used that darkening is not really noticeable. APS-C - equivalent to 24.8 - 465mm on crop cameras (25.6 - 480mm on a Canon), available for Nikon, Canon and Sony lens mounts.

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There is no denying that any lens capable of shooting in a wide range of conditions will always be in high demand and verypopular. So called “all-in-one lenses” are most definitely a great way to be flexible in more situations without lugging around a lot of gear. A petal-shaped hood is supplied with the lens, which does a decent job of shielding the front element from extraneous light that may cause flare or loss on contrast. At 300mm, shooting into the light does result in a slight loss of contrast, but otherwise, this lens is fairly resistant to flare.