Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I used this lens to cover the Detroit Lions, Detroit Piston, Detroit Red Wings the Oakland University Grizzlies and University of Michigan basketball games for Sportz Detroit Magazine. The lens was very easy to use and the quality of pictures were superb! It was as though the pictures took themselves and all I needed to do was focus on the action. I'm extremely happy with the lens and highly recommend it to others

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I use this lens for indoor photo for motocross. Wish it was a little faster than the more expensive brands, but for the money I have been pleased.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I'm happy with the results. The only thing that bothers me is that the zoom in/zoom out is completely opposite from Canon lenses.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

Family guy photographer but like to dabble in some advanced photo techniques. Use for sports can candid close-up work

This camera with the 2.8 is extremely good indoors for a telephoto lens. A rare find at this excellent price.

It is a little heavier than lenses 2-3 times expensive but not a big deal. Get a monopod

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I purchased this lens for sports photography, it performed better than our 18-270 Tamron under the lights at a football game, have yet to try it indoors.
Pros,
The 2.8 is great.
Cons,
Yes it is heavy but as I said the 2.8 is great and with that much glass you will have that.
I.S. would be nice

But over all a great lens.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

Perfect lens for Friday night football shoots. The price is great, the quality is great. I don't really notice the so-called noise and slow focus. It worked perfectly for me. I would recommend this lens to friends. Got this one for my wife, I may get another for me.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I am the mother of 4 children. My husband and I bought this lens to take pics of the kids playing sports. The clarity of my pics is amazing! It takes great action shots with no blur. The auto focus makes it very easy to use. I think this lens is an exceptional value.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I purchased this lens 5 years ago and love it. I used it specifically to take sport pictures inside gym. It has been awesome. I have taken unforgetable pictures of athletes hovering inches above the gym floor fully extended. Outstanding!!! I would recommend this lens to any person.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I had been looking around comparing lenses between the Sigma, Canon and Tamron 70-200's. This lens is great, it shoots amazing images and has a solid build. Throughout my research one thing kept coming up, and that was the slow focus, and is also the only reason it got 4 stars instead of 5. I mainly shoot video with my 7D so I wasn't really worried about having a fast focus, since I have to do it manually anyway. The photos I took of scenery were amazing but in acting it was just a little to slow. So in the end if you are shooting mostly still objects go with this lens you won't be disappointed, if your shooting action you might want to stray towards the Sigma.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

This is a pro lens with stunning optical performance for a fraction of the price of Canon analogues. I'd read many reviews and tests stating that this lens outperforms Canon and Nikon 70-200's - now I can see it for myself.
If you're ok with no optical stab and "ultrasonic motor", think no more. Highly recommended.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

very good lens the zoom is perfect combined with fast apeture for sports photgorphy which is what I usally do. However i did for the first time get an error message that said the connection with my camera body and lense was faulty. so I had to send it in for repair. but they fixed it for free and my problem should be resolved. but other than that it is a great buy for a semi pro or even just an avid photographer.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I purchased the Tamron lens specifically for shooting video indoor projects/commercials etc where we did not have a lot of access to light greater than 200W tungsten lights. Really enjoy this lens greatly. I have rented Canon L series in the past and recommend the Tamron lens to those that enjoy the L series lens with the same range. The focus on images that are even closer to the actual lens is better, which I was surprised. Granted the Tamron does not have the stabilizer function, but with a great tripod etc., it's a fantastic lens for its price.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

If you are like me, you are interested in creating great photographs but you do not make a living by selling them. If that is the case, this is a great lens for you and you will be very happy with it. Before buying this lens I looked at all the options and read all the reviews. I fought back the urge to pay twice as much for L glass, and I weighed the pros and cons of image stabilization vs a faster lens. The bottom line is I am extremely happy with this lens and I would make the same decision again. Below is a summary of why I chose this lens over the various canon 70-200mm L lenses:

Canon f/2.8L IS II
This is the ultimate lens in this category and if I was making a living from my photographs, it is the lens I would buy. That is not my life, however, so it was not worth the $2,500.

Canon f/2.8L IS
Mostly the same as above with an older IS system. Still costs $2,000 so it was still out of the question for me.

Canon f/2.8L
This was a little tougher because it is the L lens equivalent of this Tamron lens. The reality for me was that this lens still costs about twice as much ($1,400) for very minor improvements in sharpness and a quieter USM motor (the AF motor on the Tamron is not loud, it is just louder than a USM motor). It also has weather proofing, but since I do not allow my lenses to get wet that does not matter to me. I have owned L glass in the past and they are great lenses, but they are not twice as great by any means. My experience is that you pay about twice as much for about a 5% improvement in image quality.

Canon f/4L IS
At $1,300, the trade-off with this lens is losing 1 stop of light to gain image stabilization. It was not a trade I decided to make because when you have to choose between them, available light is still more important than image stabilization. A faster shutter speed will stop camera shake, but IS will not stop a moving subject in low light (it will compensate for you moving the camera, but it will not compensate for your subject moving - only shutter speed will do that). An f/2.8 lens will give you a shutter speed that is twice as fast as an f/4 lens. There is an overlap in the benefits of shutter speed and image stabilization, but for me faster shutter speed is a benefit a greater percentage of the time. The f2.8 IS II lens listed above is the best because it has everything: f/2.8 aperture, image stabilization, and L glass; but that's also why it costs so much.

Canon f/4L
The lure of this lens is owning an L lens for about the same price as the Tamron lens. The obvious downside is the f/4 lens is half as fast as the f/2.8 Tamron (the shutter moves half as fast for every 1 stop of light you lose in the lens). I told myself years ago that I would not by slower lenses because I invariably ended up in low-light situations when slower lenses would not get the job done. Additionally, if you ever use a 1.4x teleconverter to make the 70-200mm lens a 98-280mm lens, you lose 1 stop of light which gives you an f/5.6 lens that is very slow. The same holds true for the f/4L IS lens above.

The Tamron lens is a great lens and I have no regrets in buying it. The images are sharp and the color reproduction is great. If you have money to burn and can't fight off the urge to buy an L lens, then knock yourself out. If you don't have money to burn, you can have this great lens for way less money and still be very proud of your results.

Happy shooting!

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I bought this lens as an emergency replacement after I dropped my Canon 70-200 2.8L on a hard concrete floor and damaged it during a shoot. Out of town at 7pm with a 7am call time the next day, I had very limited options but was able to find a camera store that carried this lens. At first I balked at using a Tamron, but they didn't have the Canon, so I went with it. Build quality is definitely not as robust, but it's not bad. I don't mind not having a white lens on my camera, either... AF is noisy and sounds cheap. I thought this was a deal breaker, but when I saw the images I shot with it, the decision on wether to keep the Tamron got a lot harder. The images from this lens are extremely sharp - sharper than my 35 1.2L and definitely sharper than it's Canon equivalent. It's right there with my Zeiss 85. The bokeh at 2.8 was also very, very nice and it handled highlight transitions really well, giving my photos a kind of creamy look. My assistant and I decided to tape over the Tamron logos with gaffer tape and refer to the lens as the "x-5" If Tamron keeps this up and upgrades their AF and build quality a bit, I'd happily pay more for this glass and peel off the tape.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

Like everyone said, it's loud and focuses slow. A little too slow for me (shooting action shots) so I returned it for the Canon.

Aside from the slow focus, it is an awesome, highly recommendable lens. If you don't need the speed you'll be happy.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

Do not know whether images could be good. The auto-focus simply would not work reliably with my Canon 50D. Indoors it actually would focus about 50% of the time but outdoors, in bright sunlight, it would only focus 10% of the time and only then when I focused on something close and then went long. Tried every type of metering and mode in the camera with no luck. Can only speculate that the interface and/or the programming of the lens was faulty.Beware of the positive reviews as this lens is unusable. Sent it back within 1/2 hour of receiving it - what a train wreck. Gave it one star only [...] I guess you get what you pay for.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I spent a lot of useless time trying to decide on what lens to buy in that range. I think debating is clearly my issue that sometimes is not even worth doing. I've read reviews and my major concern was sharpness. When I first opened the box I noticed how great it was with the solid construction. This lens arrived a day before I went on a trip to Washington DC. I took massive amount of pictures and was never tired of carrying around that huge tank! Pictures were sharp, crisp and clear. This lens is superb, no doubt about it! To my surprise it is sharp at f2.8 and SUPER sharp at F4 and up. I see people complaining about focus which is a little louder than the Canon, but that was never my concern. That is a minor issue. It is well built and is very good looking (I hate Canon's white lens, which is another reason I don't like them) Forget that Canon which is TWICE as expensive and don't even go with the IS II that cost nearly as much as my setup which consists of a 60D body, this lens and Canon's top-of-the-line Speedlite 580 EX II.
Also keep in mind it has a six year warranty!

I also own A canon 85mm F/1.8, Canon 50mm F/1.4 and Tokina 12 - 24 mm f/4

I highly recommend getting this lens. None of the other lenses will beat this one for the price and quality!

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

Anyone working outside the comfort and relative safety of a studio needs a good lens that will last the bumps and scrapes that come with location shooting. They also need a lens that will provide good, clean and consistent results in just about any condition. It needs a good warranty. It needs to be inexpensive...just in case. This lens from Tamron fits that set of criteria.

While not the tack sharpest lens on the market, not the status symbol that "L" series lenses can be, it works well and gives results that I really have no business complaining about.

Look, photographic gear is expensive and we need quite a bit of it. Lenses take punishment for location shooters, be they street photographers, travel, landscape, or journalistic. This lens along with the also excellent 28-75 2.8 offered by Tamron are always in my bag, which is always with me.

Expensive gear will never make a great photograph or a great photographer, but quality and consistency will. Save your money. Ignore the hype about new "L" this or IS/VC that. Ignore the magazine advice that you "need" this or that brand name. Ignore this review. Try the lens yourself. If it works for you, use the thing. If not, get something that does. Be a photographer - think for yourself...don't be a status seeking lemming.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I spent so much time trying to decide between the canon, sigma, or tamron 70-200. I guess my main conern was price. Canon's price range was way out of reach and depending if you wanted the IS, pushed it even further out of consideration. I tried to do as much Internet reviews on the sigma and tamron as I could find. I found many positive reviews on the tamron and the main selling feature was the warranty. Much longer than the sigma or canon. There were many complaints on the noise and slow focus on the tamron, but I found them to be very acceptable. I would highly recommend this product to anyone.

Comments about Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens for Canon EOS DSLR Cameras:

I bought the lens for use indoors & outdoors. I used it a lot over the weekend shooting an indoor climbing competition and I am very happy with the lens. I shot the whole day wide open & the image quality is amazing.

I cannot comment on the durability as I only have had it for a little over a week. It does seem to have a high quality build. We'll see how it holds up the coming months.

For my use, I really don't notice the "noisy" micromotor that I've been reading online. The same goes for the "slow" focusing - as long as you have that contrast in sight, it focuses quick. I have been using a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for close to a year now & so I probably just gotten used to how this particular brand of lens behave. Then again, my Canon 50 1.8 isn't any faster than either lens.

So far, it's five stars for me.