TAMRON - 16-300 mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Canon EF-S - Black - B016E

Product Information

A: The Tamron 16-300mm comes in three fits; Nikon, Canon, and Sony. The Sony version doesn’t have VC stabilization since all Sony cameras have built-in image stabilization. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM– This might be good if you want a lens on a tight budget. Some of its features include two low-ultra dispersion elements, four-stop image stabilizer, fast and accurate autofocus, and comprehensive weather seals. The contrast and sharpness are perfect throughout the zoom range. That means the maximum aperture, or maximum amount of light that passes through the lens to the sensor, reduces as you zoom in. At 300mm, for example, this lens’s maximum aperture of f/6.3 lets in around 1.5 stops’ less light than at 16mm f/3.5. The maximum aperture ultimately has an impact on the shutter speeds you can use for an accurate exposure, so if you’re planning to shoot sports or wildlife, for example, where long focal lengths and fast shutter speeds are essential, then you’re going to need very good light to use this lens. That said, the 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro does feature Tamron’s lens-based Vibration Compensation (VC) image stabilization technology, which enables the use of slower shutter speeds at the telephoto end of the zoom without images suffering from the effects of camera shake. Like most lenses nowadays, this one is made from high-grade plastic. The 16-300mm can also hold up in rainy condition as it comes with a sealing gasket. Image stabilization Tamron has possibly hit a home run with the image stabilization system on this lens. Referred to as Vibration Control by Tamron, the image stabilization on this lens is outstanding. The smaller lens on top is the Tamron 16-300mm. And the giant lens below is the Tamron 150-600mm. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Tamron 150–600mm telephoto lens. However, it is big, bulky, and heavy. In this photo, you can see it is more than double the size of the 16-300 mm Tamron, and much, much harder to carry around and shoot handheld.Before we take a look at some of the tests that we performed, a word about having the right expectations. All around lenses are always a sort of a compromise and typically the longer ones have more flaws than the shorter ones. The Tamron 16-300mm is the most ambitious all around lens to date and so we should keep that in mind when looking at its optical performance. There's a distance scale that runs from the closest distance of 39cm to infinity, but no depth of field scale. The rear element is surrounded by a metal lens mount and hides 16 elements in 12 groups. That's a lot of glass for the light to go through and is under continuous threat of dispersion. There are seven aperture blades for the aperture range which has a minimum of f/22-f/40. Any lens that is capable of taking good shots in a variety of conditions will always be a hit and high in demand. All-in-one lenses offer more flexibility than any other kind, eliminating the need to lug around too much gear.

Superzooms are not the best choice for bokeh fans, with modest maximum aperturesusually creating quitedeep depth-of-field.But with the Tamron's longer focal length, the narrower field-of-view gives good subject isolation, greatly enhancing the bokeh effect at 300mm, particularly at closer shooting distances. Finally at 300mm, overall performance is reduced a little, but the lens still holds up very well, especially when the huge zoom range is taken into consideration. At f/6.3, sharpness approaches very good levels in the centre of the frameand is fairly good towards the edges. The performance towards the edges of the frame doesn't improve by much with stopping down, but sharpness does reach excellent levels in the centre between f/8 and f/11. Beyond the 50mm mark, the bending switches to the other way – inwards in the middle – and we enjoy pincushion distortion, the slimming properties of which chubby faces appreciate so much.

Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro review – Build and handling

We give Tamron some credit for providing the lens movement a boost by releasing the Zoom Wide Angle Telephoto 28-200mm in 1992. It was specially designed for 35mm cameras (see our full list of the best 35mm film cameras) and universally regarded as the first high-ratio zoom lens. Since then, interchangeable lenses have been released, with the latest ones offering a whopping 33x zoom range. The travel lens/superzoom category is a fairly hotly contested category in the crop sensor market. This stands to reason; a person can enter the DSLR crop sensor market at a fairly reasonable price. Even an entry level full frame camera, by comparison, will cost at least three times as much. It is that investment factor that tends to influence the type of lenses that buyers in each of these categories gravitate towards. Crop sensor shooters are far more likely to seek an “all-in-one” solution.