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Tamron SP 10-24 Di II Hands-on Review

January 1, 2009 | Gadgets & Reviews | 19 Comments | 35,773 views

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II

I had a chance to borrow a Tamron 10-24mm lens from a friend. I base my observations through my first hand experience on using this lens, this is not an intensive review but my own personal review of this lens. I have intentionally used it for a few hours of actual shooting for this review and since this is an ultra-wide lens, this should be good for landscapes which I wasn’t disappointed with the Tamron 10-24mm’s performance.

Tamron 10-24 on Nikon D40

This new Tamron lens covers the broadest zoom range under the ultra-wide class, from 10mm wide to 24mm. This lets you enjoy a field of view wide enough to cramp in a scene when doing landscapes and wide-angle photography as well as near normal at the zoom end. The equivalent focal length for the 35mm format is about 16-38mm.

Tamron engineered this lens to have a minimum focus distance of 9.4″ or 0.24m. It gives you freedom to produce photos with a distinct ultra-wide perspective at the 10mm wide end.

Exterior design is solid and feels good to the hands. Its black matte finish on the lens barrel also gives the Tamron 10-24 its refined and sleek appearance. It also feels even and smooth when twisting the zoom ring.

Tamron 10-24 / Canon EF 10-22

Compared to the Canon EF 10-22mm, the Tamron 10-24mm is shorter when at the wide end and almost the same length when zoomed. The only thing I don’t like with it is that the Tamron 10-24mm Di extends the lens barrel when you zoom. This could sometimes suck dust and dirt into the lens and personally I don’t like moving parts. As for the Canon users, the zoom direction twists the opposite as compared to Canon lenses, which you may need to get used to. This feature does not affect Nikon users as the zoom twist direction is the same with Nikorr lenses.

Tamron 10-24

Tamron 10-24

As for the real world use, I have tried shooting landscapes and it handles flare pretty well. Chromatic aberration is also controlled. Straight from the camera images are contrastry and sharp enough.

Some conclusions:

Cons:

Sharpness is not really what I am expecting but is good enough. The Tamron 10-24mm is not designed for fullframe, only for APS-C sensors. As for the price, it’s still a bit costly at around Php 23K+

Pros:

This lens is a good alternative for an ultra-wide, especially if you are a Nikon user in which Nikkor ultra-wides are insanely expensive. For an ultra-wide, chromatic aberration and lens flare is almost non-existent. The Tamron 10-24mm Di II is a capable lens for those who like to shoot landscapes or needing an alternative 3rd party ultra-wide lens.

Below are some samples straight from the camera, only resized for web:

Specs:

The lens also comes with a glare-reducing flower-shaped lens hood. Using lens hood provides a shade against light rays that enter from the rectangular frame outside the image field that may produce glare and ghosting and can reduce the lens’ contrast.

Tamron 10-24

Tamron 10-24

My thanks to Dino Kintanar for letting me borrow his Nikon D40 and his Tamron 10-24mm Di II

Update Jan 2, 2009: Additional landscape photos taken with the Tamron 10-24mm here

Update Jan 8, 2009: As requested, I have uploaded high resolution samples taken with a Nikon D40 body. Click the thumbnails below

Update Feb. 5, 2009: Uploaded more samples with exif

Update June 1, 2009 : Tamron has announced that the availability of Tamron 10-24mm wide-angle zoom for  Sony and Pentax mounts. The company says that the lens, will be available in Japan beginning June 12th.

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