Tamron 70-200mm Macro Lens

James Wiseman · Issue 46, Jan/Feb 2009 · pp. 28–29

Products mentioned: Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 macro lens, Nikkor 70-180 macro zoom, Canon 100mm macro lens, Sigma 150mm macro lens, Seacam housing, Seacam 100mm macro lens gear, 500D diopter

Ever since I first purchased a Canon back in 2005 I’ve been looking for a replacement for the excellent Nikkor 70-180 macro zoon. The Nikkor is fantastic on a DX cropped camera, zooming from around 1:3 to 1:1. I purchased the Tamron lens for use on my FF canon camera, and took it on the 2 week Wetpixel Staff Trip to the Philippines back in May. Hopefully this review will be handy for folks looking for an excellent macro zoom lens. To see how the lens fares as compared to other popular 70-200 zooms, check out the review at DPreview.com: http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/tamron_ 70-200_2p8_c16/ I agree with the conclusions for topsides use. To summarize: The pros: lightweight, solidly built, and excellent optical quality. The cons: slow autofocus (no USM), clunky focus clutch mechanism Underwater performance is also very good when used behind a flat port. Chromatic aberration was minimal…