Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD Reviews
God's lens.
By Dark
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-06-18
A game changing lens that successfully breaks the "holy trinity" and makes it some what irrelevant...progress in the lens industry is much appreciated as it's fallen way behind compared to the RDTE of camera body development.
The water proof USB-C is brilliant and demonstrates how little RDTE money Canon, Sony, Fuji, and Nikon have actually put towards their lenses. These big manufacturers are still producing the same old DSLR lenses with minimal improvements and claiming they are revolutionary mirrorless lenses. It's ridiculous the minimal effort we continue to let the get away with as consumers. Not a single one of them with their millions in budget thought for a second to incorporate a waterproof USB-C? A rather obvious choice for connectivity? No instead they want to sell you docks and or use memory card in body upgrades. It's ridiculous when you think about it. Stop rewarding them with your money.
Back to the lens...
The lens hasn't left my a7R4 since I bought it. Everything you've heard about it's PQ, focus speed, aperture speed, bokeh, lack of CA, etc.. is very true. It's just excellent in performance.
What's NOT true are some of the complaints, most notably the complaint on weight.
It's 13 oz lighter than most 70-200mm lenses, no one complains about the 70-200mm weight because it's understood you're getting great range, aperture, and build quality. So why complain here? Because someone put it in your head, that's why.
My wife weighs 115 lbs soaking wet and has no issue carrying this for hours at a time shooting my kid's athletic events in 90 degree heat and humidity. If you're having issues with the weight, hmm...go get checked out.
The lens is a game changer, I will never buy a 24-70 or 70-200mm ever again. They are irrelevant to my mirrorless journey, and I pray there is improvement in supply for this lens because it's insanely excellent and other need to see for themselves what real progress in lenses looks like.
The best lens ever created.
By Dark
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-28
Literally.
First, the people complaining about weight it weighs 13oz less than Sony's 70-200, I don't see people complaining about the weight of that lens. It weighs just 10oz more than the Sony 24-70GM. So the complaints about weight are really, really silly!
Second, when I moved from DSLR to mirrorless in 2017, I was promised revolutionary technology. That revolution in lenses has largely been absent, as Sony and now C/N release what is essentially mirrorless versions of DSLR lenses. They are fully committed to their safe space/box (14-24-70-200), and in doing so they aren't really innovating. Tamron is different though, they have made significant strides to reshape the box. The 35-150 is truly a game changer, and I'm sure the next round of lenses in the next few years will be playing catch up.
Third, I won't bother you with PQ and bokeh an all that, the lenses performance is well documented online. It's better then GM in PQ. Chromatic Aberration is non-existent. Focuses is instantaneous and accurate. The customization is next level for a lens, and once again Tamron goes the next step by incorporating a water proof USB-C. Brilliant.
Finally, I'm never returning to the boring "Trinity".
So big and heavy, ended up sticking with Tamron 28-70 2.8
By Daryl
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-25
While this thing does take amazing photos, I'm ultimately giving it 3-stars because I was hoping this would replace my Tamron 28-70. While the extra zoom range was nice, it wasn't enough to make up for the uncomfortable clunkiness of this heavy lens.
When I had to choose a lens for an outing, I'd gravitate to the 28-70. The picture quality was nearly identical, and the 28-70 was just a more enjoyable experience. I ended up returning this.
I am a hobbyist who shoots portraits of my family and shooting pictures & video of my mobile DJ business in low light conditions.
best all around lens in my opinion
By Michael
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-24
This lens is a bit heavier than others you might take around with you, but I think you will be taking amazing shots with this and it is the one lens to take with you for a day of professional photography.
If it has short comings, I haven't experienced it on my shoots. That's the thing. it's expensive and wonderful and will probably do everything you need on a shoot. Portraits look amazing, nature looks amazing. Price is high but 2-2.8 means every shot I have been taking is professional level. Get a lens like this, you have no excuse coming home with beautiful pictures. I think I need to program the focus ring as aperture so i can see how that improves my performance.
Great at many things.
By Eric
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-18
My hope was that this would be a go to lens when I did not want to switch between lenses and it definitely excels at this. Recently did an engagement shoot right before I got this lens with three primes and and twp bodies and I could have easily done just fine with just this lens. Sharp at every focal length I tried and great AF performance. Traded my Tamron 28-75mm and 70-180mm for it and I have no regrets. Now pairs perfectly with my 17-28mm for two body 17mm to 150mm coverage.
I hoped this lens to be a gamechanger for my events, but...
By Axel
Rated 3 out of 5
Date: 2022-04-04
Let's begin with the lens itself. It's built very well from all angles, and you feel how it tightly locks into the mount with its gasket and tight fit. The zoom ring and overall handling indicate a prime experience, and the image quality is IMO better than I have seen from my Sony 24-70 GM (with and without pixel peeping). This is a really good start.
Now onto my personal situation. I shoot lots of events with lots of people, so I was hoping to cut back from two bodies (24-70 and 70-200) like so many of us.
The biggest draw-back for me is the wide end of 35mm ... it's just not wide enough for my work. So I'm still ending up schlepping a second body with my 24GM. Backing up a few extra feet is often not possible.
The second beef I have is the overall weight/size for being my general-use lens. And I'm comparing this to a 24-70 being the most used lens during my events. At the end of the long day, I do (negatively) feel the added heft of the Tamron.
At this time, I am hoping for a smaller and lighter Sony 24-70 GM II to again combine with the new and light 70-200 GM II going forward. I guess the hope of getting something like a 24-150 is too far fetched ;-)
But take this with a grain of salt as it applies to my personal use case that I wanted to share when working on long events. This is an overall excellent lens, both in build quality and, most importantly, image quality. If you can work around that 35mm wide end and the added weight you will have a wonderful lens in your arsenal.
Perfect event lens!
By Mark
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-06-13
What more can you ask for when shooting an event? 35mm for group shots, 150mm for catching action further away. Really exactly what I've been looking for, and luckily I got the day before an event I was shooting. It performed flawlessly. Great lens!
SUM it up in 3 letters.... WOW
By Robert
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2022-05-31
I have used this for photo and video and I absolutely love the range this offers. It is a no-brainer purchase for anyone who doesn't yet have the trifecta (14-24,24-70,70-200) AND for those who already do but want to minimalize.
I give you random musings that I jotted down about this lens from my past 4 projects:
The focus ring behaves well off the bat for manual focus. The large barrel helps. It defaults to an intelligent linear setting. If you're fast on the focus, it will rack fast, and if you're slow, it will crawl. I love that I have the option to change its behavior later via software.
The zoom tension is balanced. I don't feel it's too loose or tight at all. Hoping that throughout its life it will stay this way. Love that there's a lock mechanism to keep the barrel in.
This lens weighs less than my Nikon and Canon 70-200 2.8s. Why are people complaining about how heavy it is?
The bokeh is yummy. 35mm f/2 is beautiful! makes me wish I didn't sell my 35 1.4.
For video, the lack of IS makes smooth pans and tilts slightly harder. Glad I have IBIS and a good tripod head.
I need to try this baby on my RS2...
Lastly, on a related note- my review on my experience of preordering this lens from B&H:
I preordered around Nov 2021, shortly after it launched and 6 months later it arrived at my door. It ended up being worth the wait but I wish there was something B&H can do from a service standpoint for anyone purchasing it via CC/Paypal as they will pay upfront for the cost. Of course, B&H disclosed the policy clearly when I ordered but this experience certainly tested my patience. The feeling of having paid $2k upfront towards something you have no idea when it will arrive, stinks. I reframed it by considering it as a CD investment or crypto staking.
I deliberately waited after launch to hear real feedback from professionals before preordering so I knew I was very likely going to be satisfied but if the real-life performance of this 35-150 didn't live up to the hype, I'm not sure that I would be feeling so great about having $2k in limbo. The moral of the story.... be patient, and be kind.
To the B&H gods... if there was more you could do to communicate the timeframe to pre-orders that would be appreciated. Or if we didn't have to pay up front when using CC/Paypal, that would be appreciated too!
