Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras It’s never been easier to capture great action shots than with the Tamron AF 70-300mm macro lens. Delivering superior image quality for both digital SLRs and 35mm film cameras, this flexible lens lets you zoom in extra close when shooting moving subjects, such as athletes on the field or children running or playing. When used with a digital camera, the lens does even better, producing a super-telephoto 35mm equivalent of 465mm–unbeatable in almost any other lens.

Macro Switch
The lens offers an easy-to-use macro switch that lets you alternate between the 180mm and 300mm focal lengths, letting you enjoy true macro photography with a telephoto effect at a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2. The minimum focus distance, meanwhile, is 59 inches from the subject in normal shooting ranges, but when you flip the switch, you can get as close as 37.4 inches. And as an added bonus, the lens boasts a nine-blade circular diaphragm that provides beautiful soft-focus imagery for a professional result. Now you can showcase all your photographic talent with close-up shots of small flowers and insects in parks or in the wild, or any other beautiful small object you discover.

Coatings
Tamron has also adopted various countermeasures against ghosting and flare, common problems in digital photography. The lens employs internal surface coating and new multilayer coating technology to minimize reflections that occur when light enters through the front element, while also reducing image-degrading effects caused by the imagers themselves. The strictest quality control standards were also applied to increase resolution performance and prevent flare due to aberrations, resulting in a telephoto zoom lens ideal for photography with digital SLR cameras. This is one lens you can use with confidence.

• Lens construction: 9 groups and 13 elements
• Diagonal angle of view: 34 to 8 degrees (at 21 to 15 feet)
• Type of zooming: Rotation
• Diaphragm blade number: 9
• Minimum aperture: f/32
• Minimum focus distance: 59 inches in normal setting; 37.4 inches in macro mode
• Macro magnification ratio: 1:2
• Filter diameter: 62mm
• Accessory: Lens hood
• Dimensions: 3 inches in diameter and 4.6 inches long
• Weight: 15.3 ounces

Customer Review: excellent zoom lens
As I am not an accomplished photographer, I know little about all of the technical terms associated with photography. I do know, however, the tamron af 70-3– f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro zoom lens for my Sony A-200 SLR Camera works wonderfully. Since I don’t know what I am doing (yet) it has been basically a point and shoot experience that has worked out well.
Customer Review: Excellent lens for the price
This is an excellent lens for its price. It’s plastic-bodied, but of good quality plastic, miles better than any kit lens. The use of plastic also means it’s light and thus easy to carry, where a heavier lens might get left at home. There are no rattles or wobbles even at the (quite long) maximum extension.

Flaws? It’s slow to focus, which means that it may not be the best for fast-paced action, but this also helps with focus accuracy. The front of the lens rotates during focussing, which means that polarizing filters can’t easily be used. Like all consumer zooms of this class, it’s not all that fast, although it has a wider aperture at 70mm than most kit lenses.

Image quality on my Maxxum 7D is high, with excellent contrast and detail and accurate, vivid colors. The only real flaw is noticeable but not too objectionable chromatic aberration (CA).

Unlike many lenses advertised as having a “Macro” mode, this one is actually useful, permitting up to half life size at a reasonable subject distance. It’s not quite true Macro, but is good enough for many purposes.

Fully retracted and with the hood reversed, the lens is usefully small, fitting in my camera bag without problems when mounted on the camera.

I’d strongly recommend this against competing lenses, especially Sony’s comparitively mediocre offering.

Tags: Sony Digital Camera, Sony Camera

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Sony Digital Camera. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.