The lens is the heaviest one I own, but I does everything I need it to do. Wide angle to zoom is very impressive. The vibration control helps a lot to stable my shake at long distant shots. If I were shooting video with my d90 I'd use the VC, but with a separate microphone. You can hear the gyro vibrating in the recordings. I may have received a lens a little past it's prime. The Zoom barrel seems a bit sloppy. I have bought other Tamron lenses that were much tighter. It's hard to tell if that is why it may be not as crisp as I wish. Other times, I guess I get lucky and it takes a perfect picture. Keep the Fstop at 10 and shutter around 160th second. The auto focus is very fast. 200 bucks well saved (off the price of new), but I'll still keep my past lenses as a back up. This lens is all you need to shoot practically anything.Read full review
I like the overall features of the lens. The quality of images from the lens looks very good. I got it to replace the 18-200 Tamron lens I have and been very pleased with. It is my go to lens for many uses. I especially like that the lens does not creep when hanging on your side. The 18-200 needed to be locked if you were carrying it or it would extend all the way to 200, this lens does not do that. The only thing negative I have noticed is a slow focus in low light or low contrast situations. It is remedied by shifting to an area with contrast but it is frustrating at times. This is the only thing that kept me from giving it an excellent rating.
The lens is certainly not a professional lens, but for enthusiastic amateurs looking to branch into telephoto, but not have to change lenses to get to 18mm "almost wide angle" that most kit lenses max out at, it is just the thing. I have it on my Nikon D5100, and couldn't be more pleased with its versatility and generally all-round great shots throughout the focus range. Things get a bit dicey at 270 and 18 extremes, but basic post-shoot tools can fix the imperfections. At less than 20 ounces, it is not heavy. A reviewer or two thought is was extra heavy, but at just over an extra pound on top of your camera, I find it no trouble at all and no apparent "walk-around strain" on the camera mounting, with just a modicum of care. The Vibration Correction works very well. Even at maximum 270, I was able to hand hold a long shot of the cranes on top of the new New York Trade Center on a dull day without any apparent adverse affects that I can find. http://365project.org/frankhymus/365/2012-10-27 I have had no problem with Auto Focus, even with 3D tracking of fast moving planes and helicopters. The only possible complaint is that the bulk interferes with the built-in flash at wide angles (18-24 mm). And not the hole in your pocket that Nikkor equivalent lenses would leave.Read full review
The convenience factor of having this lens is great - you don't have to switch between two lenses - the quality is good for what I need, which is amateur photography - I don't have the skills yet to address the more technical aspects - the lens is known for getting stuck when you get to 200mm-270mm - it means you have to use a little more force to move it higher which can be frustrating but I think I can get used to it but if you're looking through the lens while you're trying to get that high, it's annoying b/c you don't know if you've really reached 270 or not.
As most items, I wish the expense was less. However, the picture quality is unmatched. We bought our Nikon D3100 last month & the store tried to sell this lens to us for 650.00. I just couldn't justify that kind of expense so I took a chance on ebay. I've purchased items from ebay numerous times & have always been leary w/ electronics. I was very pleased to see I could purchase a gently used one for 1/2 the price. The lens is awesome. I've only used it once, for my son's baseball game & about 75% of the pics I took are not only usable but look great. Very pleased w/ this lens & look forward to REALLY learing how to use it to it's full advantage.
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