Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 - Initial Impressions

Until now, I've been using a miserable excuse for a midrange zoom, a Canon 28-80mm f3.5-5.6. I found a good excuse to convince my parents to allow me to spend even more money, and I was able to find a very lightly used Tamron 17-50 2.8 at B&H, which I promptly ordered. It arrived earlier today, and even though I wasn't able to play around with it too too much since I got home from work late in the day, I have had enough time to form some initial impressions.

First off, it's a lot heavier and better built than the lens I was using previously. Just a little bit bigger, but it's the perfect size for a small DSLR like the XS. Lots of plastic (most everything is plastic except for the lens mount, which is metal), but it's a pretty high quality plastic. I thought this would bother me, since I'm a sucker for build quality, but the build quality on this lens is pretty good - definitely good enough to keep me happy.

Its zoom ring operates the opposite direction from Canon's zoom rings, which is a bit disconcerting at first, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The zoom ring was a bit stiff when I first got it, but it loosened up quickly and stayed at a reasonable level. It comes with a zoom lock button, but I don't think it'll be needed. The included lens hood is pretty decently made, although a little flimsy compared to the hood for my Canon 70-200mm f4L.

The autofocus is very fast, but it produced a very high pitched whine when it rotates. The autofocus path is small (probably around 45 degrees) and the ring rotates quickly, but it's so high-pitched that I would hesitate to use it in any quiet situation. I'm going to be helping with a wedding next week and I'm seriously concerned about the noise of this autofocus being disruptive - if you're thinking about getting this lens, make sure that noise won't be an issue.

It's truly wide-angle on the crop body as well, which is a pleasant experience for me, since I haven't been able to use a wide-angle on my digital camera yet.

All reports say it's tack sharp, and my images so far give no reason to expect otherwise, but I'll do some more in depth testing tomorrow and post the results when I have them.

For those of you who are interested, I took the above shot with two strobes. You can see the setup to the right. I had a Canon 420ex at full power (it's auto only, so when it goes off camera I have to use it at full power) firing into a white sheet of foam paper to diffuse it on the left, and a Vivitar 285 at 1/4th power through an umbrella above and to the right of the lens to create the highlight. I used black pieces of foam paper for the ground and backdrop. The strobes are circled in green, and the position of the lens in blue. Forgive the clutter, I do all these shots in the confines of my room.

More to come tomorrow!