Tamron 18-200mm F/35-63 Di-ii Vc Af Zoom Lens Review

Over the years we've seen zoom lenses become longer and longer. The eighteen-200mm that seemed ambitious a while dorsum is at present pedestrian, thanks to lenses like the Sigma xviii-300mm Gimmicky and the Tamron 18-400mm f/3.five-6.3 Di VC HLD ($649). The Tamron reaches farther than whatsoever other APS-C all-in-one zoom we've seen. If you're an SLR owner and want a one-lens solution for trips and other situations where you don't want to alter lenses, the 18-400mm is a solid performer and our Editors' Selection for superzooms.

Design

The 18-400mm ($641.00 at Amazon United kingdom) is fairly long, simply matches well with the APS-C SLR bodies it's likely to exist paired with. It measures 4.ix by three.1 inches (HD) at its shortest, simply extends when zoomed, to about nine inches when set up to the 400mm position. It's fairly hefty, at one.6 pounds, and supports 72mm front filters.

How large the lens feels depends on what you compare it with. Nikon's shorter 18-140mm zoom measures iii.8 by 3 inches and weighs merely over a pound. Canon's pro-grade 100-400mm is 7.6 by 3.7 inches and iii.6 pounds, but it captures more light and is designed to piece of work with full-frame cameras.

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The Tamron xviii-400mm pairs only with APS-C cameras—that's the Insubordinate and EOS 77D, 80D, and 7D Marker II for current Catechism bodies, and the D3000, D5000, D7000, and D500 series among current Nikon bodies. Tamron doesn't sell the eighteen-400mm in whatever other mounts, so if you lot're using a Sony or Pentax SLR, you won't be able to use the xviii-400mm.

The lens barrel is blackness polycarbonate. Information technology'south not protected against dust, but in that location are internal seals with moisture protection, and then you can feel comfortable using information technology in pelting when paired with a sealed body like the 7D Mark Two or D500. You don't become whatever sort of carrying pouch with the lens, but yous do get the standard forepart and rear caps, forth with a reversible lens hood.

The zoom action is smooth, although it's not effortless. At that place's some torque required to twist the barrel, especially when moving beyond the 100mm position. The zoom ring is covered in textured rubber, so it'due south comfy to turn even though information technology requires a trivial effort. Information technology has set markings at 18, 35, 50, lxx, 100, 200, 300, and 400mm, and can exist locked in place at 18mm for storage.

In addition to the lock switch, the butt has two other controls—AF/MF and VC On/Off. The manual focus ring sits at the front of the barrel. It's very narrow, and finished in textured plastic. Information technology turns when the autofocus system engages, which is something you demand to get used to—you may need to take some care to not rest your hand on that function of the lens when shooting. You demand to set the lens to manual focus in club to plow information technology manually, but you lot'll discover that the focus throw is very, very short. It makes manual focus adjustment a catchy proposition. This lens is not a slap-up choice if yous're a fan of manual focus.

It is a solid option for macro shots. The long focal length, coupled with a 17.7-inch (0.45-meter) minimum focus distance means that information technology delivers ane:2.9 macro magnification when zoomed all the mode in and focused as close as possible. We mostly utilise 1:2 as our macro cutoff for prime lenses, simply zooms that manage i:iii magnification fit the neb as well.

Optical stabilization makes it possible to handhold sharp shots at longer focal lengths. It's rated to deliver 2.5 stops of compensation past CIPA. I saw slightly better results in my handheld testing, almost iii stops—I got consistently well-baked images at i/lxxx-second with the lens at its 400mm position. The general rule of thumb is that requires a 1/600-second exposure without stabilization. Shots at 1/xl-2nd were hitting or miss, but when I took fourth dimension and care to actually steady myself at that place was no visible blur.

Image Quality

I tested the 18-400mm with the xx.9MP Nikon D500 ($641.00 at Amazon United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland) . We await lenses with farthermost zoom ratios to come with some caveats in performance, and while that'southward true of the eighteen-400mm, it's not as much every bit you might expect.

At 18mm f/3.5, the lens delivers potent sharpness from edge to edge. It scores two,335 lines on Imatest's middle-weighted evaluation score, but operation is very good from heart (2,423 lines) to edge (two,235 lines). Stopping downwardly to f/5.6 delivers a modest resolution bump (2,457 lines), and the lens delivers excellent results at f/8 (ii,862 lines) and f/11 (2,846 lines). We see a slight drib at f/16 (2,389 lines), and a huge one at f/22 (1,492 lines). Diffraction is at fault here—the opening of the iris is then mall at f/22 that calorie-free scatters and harms epitome quality significantly. This is true at every tested focal length.

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At 35mm the maximum aperture is f/iv. The average score is still very good (2,253 lines), but we practice see a drop at the periphery, to i,904 lines. That'southward nevertheless better than the i,800 lines we want to come across at a minimum, but not by much. Edges get a lot improve at f/5.6 (two,435 lines), as does the average score (2,728 lines). Peak performance is at f/viii (two,887 lines) and f/11 (2,842 lines). We come across the expected dip at f/16 (2,326 lines) and f/22 (1,721 lines).

On the whole, image quality remains solid at 70mm f/4.8 (two,194 lines), merely nosotros do run into a farther drop in edge performance, to 1,532 lines. Edges get a picayune better at f/five.half dozen (ane,646 lines), and the average improves to 2,296 lines. For the best edge-to-border quality, shoot at f/8 (2,913 lines average, two,289 lines edges) or f/11 (2,692 lines average, ii,332 lines edges). You can still get good results at f/16 (2,348 lines), but at that place'due south a large drop at f/22 (one,744 lines).

The maximum aperture is f/5.3 at 100mm, close plenty to f/five.6 that results are nearly identical—2,241 lines on average with good operation through most of the frame and edges that take a dip to 1,571 lines. At f/8 the lens delivers very skillful sharpness from center to edge, with a 2,629-line boilerplate score and edges that elevation 2,100 lines. Resolution is like at f/11 (2,665 lines), and nosotros see a drop at f/16 (2,352 lines) and f/22 (i,757 lines).

There'southward not much difference at 200mm. The maximum aperture is f/6 at this point, only image quality is still good wide open up, with an average score of 2,072 lines. Edges are soft (one,595 lines), but at 200mm depth of field will blur them away completely, unless you lot're shooting a perfectly flat subject and filling the frame with it. You lot'll want to stop down to f/8 to go more particular out of photos (2,303 lines), and be happy to know that the border issue resolves itself as the outermost portions of the frame improve to 1,914 lines. Images are sharper at f/11 (2,655 lines) and edges are excellent besides (2,464 lines). At that place'southward simply a small-scale drop in quality at f/16 (2,333 lines), and even at f/22 the lens is decent, 1,844 lines. You can narrow the aperture beyond f/22 when zoomed this far, to f/38, but we didn't examination the lens at those extremes.

Information technology's at the 300mm position where we see some of the 18-400mm's more apparent flaws. At f/half-dozen.3 the lens is a just-OK performer, notching 1,915 lines on the heart-weighted test. Edge quality won't bear upon most shots due to depth of field, but it'south non good, at one,336 lines. Chromatic aberration has a lot to do with that low score; we come across heavy purple fringing toward the edges of the frame at 300mm, at every tested aperture. It does diminish as yous finish down, but information technology never goes abroad. You tin can see it in a real-globe shot in the pixel-level crop below.

At f/8 the resolution enjoys a bump to 2,139 lines, with edges that are a fleck amend (one,614 lines), but still brought downward past fuzzy chromatic aberration. They get crisper at f/11 (ii,169 lines), every bit does the rest of the frame—ii,438 lines. There'due south a drop at f/16 (2,140 lines) and f/22 (i,687 lines).

At the 400mm position the chromatic abnormality at the periphery of the frame is more visible. And the center resolution takes a couple steps back too. At f/6.3 the lens shows soft results on boilerplate, i,627 lines, with edges that are just 1,256 lines. In that location's a good leap in the center at f/8, which brings the boilerplate upwards to two,009 lines, but edges are weak (1,464 lines). Once again, depth of field volition hibernate soft edges in many, just not all, photos.

Thankfully, the 18-400mm is non a lost cause at its maximum zoom. But set it to f/eleven and take advantage of the high-ISO capabilities of modern cameras or promise for a brilliant solar day. Resolution improves to 2,375 lines on average, a very adept result, and edges are in the acceptable range, 1,938 lines. Remember that f/11 is your sweet spot, as in that location'due south a driblet in resolution at f/sixteen (2,067 lines) and f/22 (1,631 lines).

You're going to get distortion with any long-zoom design, and the xviii-400mm is not an exception to the rule. There'south a strong amount of barrel distortion at 18mm, 4.three percent, and then straight lines are drawn with a distinct outward curve. Information technology changes to pincushion baloney, an inwards curve, as you zoom. There'due south near 2.5 per centum at 35, 50, and 70mm, and less at 100mm (two.1 percent), and 200, 300, and 400mm (1.5 percent).

If you shoot in Raw format and process images in Lightroom you tin apply a i-click contour correction to remove all of the baloney. Lightroom tin can also remove the effect from JPGs, simply if yous don't use the Adobe software you'll either need to live with the distortion or remove it using different software. This is a tertiary-party lens, so information technology can't take advantage of the automated distortion correction available in Catechism and Nikon cameras.

The Lightroom Raw contour also corrects for peripheral illumination—the vignette effect yous come across in images when the edges of the lens don't assemble every bit much low-cal as the center. The xviii-400mm isn't a bad offender—corners are noticeably dim at 18mm at wider f-stops, with f/3.5 images showing a -3.2EV driblet in illumination versus the center and f/v.6 shots at -1.8EV. At narrower settings it's non an issue in real-globe weather condition.

That's as well true at the tested 35, 50, seventy, and 100mm focal lengths—the difference in effulgence just isn't worth talking about, even with the aperture fully open up. At 200mm f/half dozen we meet a -1.5EV drop, which is pocket-sized only noticeable, and the lens shows about the same divergence at 300mm f/6.iii, and slightly more (-i.7EV) at 400mm f/half-dozen.3. Stopping downwards to f/viii eliminates the vignette.

Conclusions

The Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-vi.3 Di Two VC HLD is the best superzoom lens nosotros've tested to date. It's not without some shortcomings, but it covers an absurd zoom range for a reasonable price, without being too beefy for everyday use. The maximum aperture is relatively narrow, in that location's some baloney, and image quality suffers at the edges and the long cease of the zoom range unless you narrow the f-end. Simply for $650, it covers a longer zoom range than the $579 Sigma eighteen-300mm Contemporary ($641.00 at Amazon Britain) , and is a meliorate optical performer.

Canon owners don't accept a commencement-party alternative—the EF-S 18-200mm ($699.99) is the about like lens it makes. Nikon has a pair of xviii-300mm options, including a strong, but expensive lens in the $ane,000 DX Nikkor eighteen-300mm f/iii.5-five.6G ED VR, and the underperforming $700 DX Nikkor eighteen-300mm f/3.5-six.3G ED VR. If you accept a Nikon SLR, you may desire to consider paying a premium for the eighteen-300mm f/three.v-five.6G ED VR. But for the toll, and the extra telephoto attain, the Tamron eighteen-400mm is our Editors' Choice.

Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD

The Bottom Line

The Tamron 18-400mm f/3.five-6.three Di II VC HLD covers an incredible zoom range, from broad bending to super telephoto, and while information technology doesn't match lenses with shorter ratios in image quality, it betters them in convenience.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tamron-18-400mm-f35-63-di-ii-vc-hld

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