Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 VC

Officially the Tamron 28-300 f/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Asp Macro lens. Yeah, we agree, the initials are getting ridiculous. But Tamron has joined the Vibration Control supertelephoto lens market with this 10.5x zoom. With 18 elements in 13 groups, including low dispersion elements, the lens can focus as close as 13 inches and provides an all-in-one lens package for those times when you don’t want to be bothered with changing lenses. The initial reviews are very positive.

Roger’s take This is a well built lens with a nice range. My initial shoot shows it to be very similar in image quality to the Sigma 18-200 OS, with an excellent vibration control system. Is it L-quality sharpness? No, of course not, it is a compromise lens. But it’s quite good, and provides images that make great 5×7 prints and decent 8×10s – and you have a one-lens solution that gets reasonably wide and very long with an image stabilization system that allows you to hand hold at the telephoto end.

It doesn’t have a wide enough aperture to do ‘stop motion’ sports photography, but it is small enough to pass through security at those sporting venues that won’t allow ‘professional’ lenses in the stands.

In choosing between the Sigma 18-200, Canon 18-200 and the Tamron 28-300, I think it simply comes down to which range you prefer: the fairly wide angle the Sigma and Canon provide, or the extra telephoto range of the Tammy.