Tamron 18-250mm lens. Worth it?

Hawk Teflon

Hawk Teflon

Veteran
I'm looking to purchase a lens that can capture from a distance (photos, mainly), and I was looking at the Tamron 18-250mm lens. That covers a huge array of focal lengths, but I didn't know if anyone here has used it. I wouldn't be using the 250 for video for the most part, but I will for photos. Is this a good lens, or should I continue looking?

Oh, if it makes any difference, I'm on the T2i.

Thanks in advance.
 
If you are going to shoot outdoors in daylight all of the time it would be a good choice. However, if you want to shoot at dusk/dawn and indoors, you should spend the extra money for an f 2.8 constant aperture lens.

For video, if you zoom in and out with a lens like this Tamron 18-250, the aperture changes with the zoom and causes the exposure to change and flicker as well. You might be much less frustrated with a constant aperture lens.

A 70-200 f4 or f2.8 lens will give you better glass (lesss distortion and chromatic aberration) and good low light performance. You can get a 1.4 lens extender to extend the telephoto range also.
 
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Be careful with these ultra wide range zooms. They tend to be heavily compromised optically speaking in order to get that extreme range.

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As Chris says, inexpensive long range zooms are optically compromised - you will probably find heavy chromatic abberation at wider stops, softness mid-frame and at the edges. A much better choice would be the Canon 70-200mm f/4 - preferably the IS version if it's in your budget. It's sharp wide open at f/4. If you have cash to blow then the 70-200mm IS 2.8 MkII is unbelieveable - comparably very sharp wide open at 2.8 - as sharp as most primes! These are all Canon L series glass so going to cost a bit. If you're on a budget then I guess any lens will do...

Look for reviews and comparison charts online.

Here's a chart of the 70-200mm. Unfortunately the Tamron isn't available for comparison on that site:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...=0&APIComp=0&LensComp=0&CameraComp=0&Lens=404
 
I would greatly reccommend 70-200s nikon or canon as excellent lenses for both stills and video use

however we a talking a 800 Line camera here (in movie mode)

If you are doing ENG changing lenses is a major compromise

I wonder how a lens like this (18-200) actually works for video..

S
 
Wow, I ... cannot afford a $1900 lens. I bet it IS great, but there's no way I can justify it.

What is "chromatic aberration"?

Ok, I was reading through some threads here (found a sub-thread dedicated to 7D lenses), and it looks like the Canon 55-250 is better, and cheaper. Odd.
 
Just get the Canon Efs 55-250mm. It is one of the highest rated and optically best lenses made for these cameras. The lack of a constant aperture and speed is the reason it is not expensive but many people shooting have showed that this lens can capture great material. IF you are in a situation where you do not have enough naturally daylight provide some artificial light. If there is no way for you to provide light that is a limitation that you will have to learn to work around with, just like anything in life.
 
I have recently purchased this lens and I really do like it. I l already have a collection of lenses that span all of the focal lengths i want. Some focal lenghts I have more than one, some for high image quality, some for speed, some for poor conditions etc. The problem is carrying around 15 or so lenses is a PITA. So i picked up the 18-250. It covers all of the FL I could want in one lens. With the starting FL of 18mm I can get wide on a APS-C camera and the ending FL of 250 I can get stuff pretty far a way of fill a frame with a close up detail. The advantage one single lens covers all of the focal lengths i want. Disadvantages: its heavy, its slow and there is some image quality loss with the extreme FL range. To counter the disadvantages yeah its heavy but its still lighter than a bag of lenses. Yeah its slow but not much slower than other zooms including the standard kit zooms so it really isnt as slow as some people imagine for indoor use. Is there a hit in Image quality, yeah but who really truly notices and if you miss a shot while changing lenses chromatic aberration doesn't really mean much.

so far I have found the lens more than acceptable. and no one yet has even mentioned anything about CA. It focuses fast and has allowed me to go out in certain situations with only one lens. Next week I'm on vacation and this will be my primary lens. Traveling with two preschoolers and trying to manage lenses or trying to cover them with only a couple of primes would probably be trying.

That being said you have to have the right reason for purchasing this type of lens ... in some circles this is called a "walkabout" lens. its for vacations and photo walkabouts where you don't know what you will find. if you find something cool to take a photo of your covered in FL. its a much more casual lens. you can walk around take photos and not worry about gear. I now keep this on when i put the camera on the shelf so its ready to grab at a moments notice. if you are looking for pristine lenses with low light capabilities then you probably need to step away
 
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