The Tamron 35-150 f-2.8 Lens: Pretty Close to Perfect

Tamron - known for being budget friendly - is selling a camera lens in the same price range as the big boys? How did this happen? 

I always figured I would stick with prime lenses.  I love my Sigma 85mm f1.4 and my Samyang 135mm f1.8. I was planning to buy a 35mm and a 50mm and then I would have the whole range that I would need to cover just about anything.  

At some point while shooting my toddler in my home studio during the winter - I realized that a zoom lens was really what I needed.  Kids move fast - physically and emotionally - and I don’t exactly have the time to change the lens out to get the shot.  

I love a longer focal length but a 70-200mm wasn’t going to be super helpful in the studio since I already had an 85mm and a 135mm.  It’s tight in my studio so I knew I needed a wider lens but I’ll be honest - a 28-70mm f2.8 just sounded so boring.  I knew I would only use it indoors since it’s just not my preferred focal length and it’s not a dreamy prime lens with an f1.4 aperture.  And then I saw a review for the newish Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 - wedding and portrait photographers rejoice - the range this lens has is PERFECTION. But how does it perform?

You can get all of the technical (geeky) stuff on someone else’s page - I don’t do those fancy (super geeky) sharpness or distortion tests but I absolutely love that people out there do them!  I love Dustin Abbott’s reviews personally but there are tons of them online and on YT.  https://dustinabbott.net/2021/11/tamron-35-150mm-f2-2-8-vxd-a058-review/ 

First things first - this lens is ridiculously heavy.  I really wanted to get past that much faster than I have been able to - but it basically gives me tennis elbow every single time I use it.  I still think I will toughen up at some point but it really is heavy. Yes, I’m old and weak apparently.  

I have heard many people say that this lens has some lens flare issues - I haven’t personally seen that but I also don’t shoot in golden hour very often - that’s my dinner time. 

Beyond those two potential issues - I have nothing bad to say about this lens.  I got it in February (it was a birthday present - thanks mom) and it has not come off of my camera since. I absolutely love it. The sharpness is out of this world.  The range is literal perfection for indoors and outdoors. My poor 85mm f1.4 is probably feeling pretty lonely right about now.  

The aperture on the Tamron is really nice too - it offers a f2 at 35mm, f2.2 at 50mm, f2.5 at 70mm and f2.8 at 85-150mm. Most zooms don’t go down to f2 so that’s a special perk for the wider end of the lens. I use f5.6 or so indoors but I do love to shoot wide open outdoors. 

The bokeh is lovely but I really don’t get all weird and emotional about bokeh like some photographers - I reckon that I don't have the artistic eye needed to really notice what shape all of the bokeh balls in the background are - round, cats eye, oval - hell, I have no idea…but it looks nice and round to me. 

So, back to my first point.  It’s an expensive lens ($1,900) but I don’t really consider that a downside.  It really is an amazing lens and really does compete with the big boys, which are still several hundred dollars more expensive, very well.  I have not tested it in fast situations like sports or fast moving animals but I have not had any issues with autofocus or sharpness at all.  

I added some photos using this lens.  The first one was shot at 90mm at f2.8.  The second was shot at 35mm and f2 - you can see that the eye closest to the camera is in focus but that’s about it.  The studio shot was shot at 62mm and f5.6. All are edited using various presets - I will do another blog about that soon.