Tamron 28-300mm f/4 : Good all-rounder
Iโve been a big fan of Tamron lenses for a while now. I regularly use my 28-75mm in and out of the studioโportraits, landscapes and still life. I also adore my 70-300mm for nature and portraits out of the studio. So when I was shipped the brand new Tamron 28-300mm I was super keen to try it out, Sadly I only had it for a week and the weather was horrible for most of that week. But I did venture outside briefly, as well as use it in the studio.
Tamronโs 28-300mm is a fairly small tele-zoom lens and easily fits in your hand and camera bag. Sadly the wide aperture is f/4 and only at 28mm, and f/7.1 at 300mm. While perhaps many nature or landscape photographers may choose a smaller aperture, as a portrait photographer (who sometimes does landscape and nature) I prefer something a little wider at both ends of the zoom.
Note: Tamron sent the 28-300mm f/4 kit to review and return. However, this is a completely independent review. All thoughts about this lens are my own.
Pros
It is smaller and more compact than the Tamron 70-300mm lens. and relatively lightweight
Same 67mm diameter as most Tamron lenses โ so my filters all fit
Zoom function was very smooth and quiet
Has the lock function, which is missing with the 70-300mm lens, this means the zoom function wont get lose over time
Cons
Starts at f/4 (at 28mm) and drops to f/7.1 at 300mm
Not a particularly sharp focus, it does focus, but itโs a little on the soft side
Fairly bad chromatic aberration when shooting high-contrast
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ Technical specifications
All technical specifications have been taken from Tamronโs website.
Model: A074
Focal Length: 28-300mm
Maximum Aperture: f/4 (at 28mm) f/7.1 (at 300mm)
Angle of View: (diagonal) 75ยฐ23โฒ- 8ยฐ15โฒ
Optical Construction: 20 elements in 13 groups ??
Minimum Object Distance: 0.19m (7.48โณ) (WIDE) / 0.99m (39.0โณ) (TELE)
Maximum Magnification: Ratio1:2.7 (WIDE MOD) / 1:3.7 (TELE)
Aperture Blades: 9 (circular Diaphragm)
Filter Size: ฯ67mm
Maximum Diameter: ฯ77mm
Length: 126mm (4.96โณ)
Weight: 610g (21.5oz)
Minimum Aperture: f/22 (at 28mm โ or an incredible f/40 at 300mm)
Standard Accessory: Flower-shaped hood (HA074), Lens caps
Mount: Sony E-mount
Connector Type: USB Type-C
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ Ergonomics and build quality
Lovely smooth zoom function, the autofocus was OK, but not as sharp as I would like, but it did have beautiful color. The bokeh is very soft, almost non-existant and compression was pretty good. As it is smaller than the 70-300mm, I found it easy to use. Having a lower aperture was a bit disappointing, especially on the zoom. It felt sturdy and the grip was good. The zoom ring moved well, not sticky or stiff. The lock function means you can lock it in at 28mm.
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ In the field
I tried this lens between rain showers in the garden, sadly in poor light conditions. Up close I found it was pretty good, focus is not as sharp as my f/2.8 28-75mm but it did quite well. These were all at f/7.1, ISO 1600 โ 2000.
I then went to a local wetlands and captured some waterbirds, general landscapes/nature images and then the flying fox colony that live there. I am not a huge nature photographer, but I do like to dabble. Iโm not brilliant at birds in flight either, but the AF Continous on the Sony A7RV helps dramatically. So I guess I was a little disappointed with some of the images I captured. Grainy, with loads of chromatic aberration, especially in high contrast areas. I managed a starburst and there was lots of flaring and chromatic aberration at f/16 too. I felt many of my landscapes were flat. Granted it was not the best shooting conditions. I did get some great shots, but nothing that made my day.
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ In the studio
I captured some still life in the studio with artificial constant light, where it performed quite well. These were all captured at f/4, ISO200, 1/125secs
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ Autofocus performance
The autofocus didnโt quite hit the mark, I was using my Sony A7RV with both single and continuous focus, which I have found incredibly accurate on all my lenses, just wasnโt quite there on this lens while trying to capture the flying foxes. I really couldnโt get much of a bokeh happening either. In the studio it was OK, but I still found chromatic aberration there too (check out the silver walking stick handle).
There is a USB-C socket making it compatible with the Tamron lens utility. However, I didnโt actually try it myself. I assume it is similar to the function on the 70-180mm lens.
There is no AF/MF switch but it has a lock feature at 28mm, which stops the lens from becoming loose and moving around while not in use. The lens hood can also be reverse mounted for transport.
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ Image quality and characteristics
Distortion control and vignetting
I found some slight lens distortion, especially at 300mm. But no real vignetting. The Tamron 28-300mm had a slight pincushion effect, which could easily be corrected in Lightroom.
Chromatic aberrations, flares, and ghosting
Particularly when shooting into the sun (or even studio lighting) I found there was magenta and blue chromatic aberrations, flares and even some ghosting in some of the images. I did manage a starburst at f/16, which had all of the for mentioned, even with the lens hood. I found it was much better when shooting with the sun behind me.
Sharpness
I found that even un-cropped or zoomed-in sharpness was not that great, also found some artefacts in high-contrast images. I found the focus worse at the end of the tele function (300mm). The minimum focal distance at both ends is was OK.
Bokeh
The bokeh is almost non-existant. Not as good as my other Tamron lenses, it didnโt have the circular bokeh effect of say my 50mm prime. I usually like the bokeh and compression when using the 180mm โ 300mm zoom on subjects a little further away, so I was a bit disappointed. Although I never got the opportunity to really try portraits outdoors.
Color rendition
I found the color rendition of this lens to be fairly accurate (in good light), with no real color casts, regardless of indoors with artificial or outdoors with natural light.
Tamron 28-300mm f/4 โ Final thoughts
Out of the studio, I think this is a good all-rounder lens. The focal range would make it ideal as a travel lens. I think for beginners just getting into photography and are looking for an alternative to the โkitโ lens, this could be worth investing in.
Our verdict
Tamron 28-300mm f/4
โ โ โ โ โ 3.5/5
Tamron lenses always offer value for money and this lens is no different, a fairly good price for the specs on offer. I think for beginners just getting into photography and are looking for an alternative to the โkitโ lens, this could be worth investing in. The focal range would make for a good intermediate travel lens.
