Camera Labs

Hi guys.
I had a chance to test these lenses last Saturday. The body I used was the canon 5d m2. Here are my first impressions. Both lenses are on par with the build quality, Canon may have a slight edge(better weather sealing), but the Tamron felt better in my hands. Sharpness: The Tamron is very very sharp! The Canon is sharp but Tamron has the lead. Contrast: There must have been something wrong with the Canon i tested, or Canon has done this intentionally so people can adjust the contrast later on. Resolution and detail: The Canon is the winner with near twice the resolving power! Auto focus: Tamron is impressive, not super fast, but nails the focus every time. The Canon, was the focus king though, with one exception, the focus was all over the place! I needed to refocus three times on most of the shots for the focus to lock on the subject. Overall, I would buy the Tamron. More than half price less, + VC, oh and i forgot to say, what happened with Canon's bokeh?? All I saw was gausian blur, and there was nothing wrong with the tamron, i've read people complaining about its bokeh... Actually it was one of the best bokehs i've seen on a 24-70mm range lens. I'm getting mine on the 5th next month
Hope this helps people decide on which lens to buy, if they had any doubt about the Tamron -Go for it!

P.S. I have only a few sample images (same theme) with both lenses i'll upload them latter on today.

The new tamron is certainly an exciting lens. The fact that it is constant 2.8 and has IS on paper makes it a tempting lens. I'm surprised that the tamron is shaper than canons latest 24-70mm since I heard that was meant to be very sharp. I still wish Canon had put IS in their version and for that reason I don't really think there is much competition. Although Tamron lenses have been known for focusing issues in the past so the reliability of the Canon would probably be better.

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

I've heard more about focusing issues with Sigma than with Tamron - and in this case you even get a ring USM with the lens. I'm looking forward to seeing the samples.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

The original comments on sharpness and resolution kinda oppose each other. Care to clarify on how each of those are defined in this case?

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Camera JPEG engine, set to standard. No sort of post-processing. 100% crops. Full image resolution is lowered in photoshop, but the crops are unchanged at full resolution.
Here is the Canon image:
http://s1073.photobucket.com/albums/w38 ... G_0023.jpg
as you can see the bokeh is a bit wacky
crop at full res.:
http://s1073.photobucket.com/albums/w38 ... 23crop.jpg
Settings: I shot at 70 mm but the info shows 61mm for some reason... ISO 640. 1/60sec

note: The resolution has automatically been lowered by photobucket and the images look MUCH softer. The images have a blue cast because i forgot my WB trimming On. The Canon's stand was 2-3x brighter than the Tamron's.

The Tamron image:
http://s1073.photobucket.com/albums/w38 ... G_0012.jpg
crop:
http://s1073.photobucket.com/albums/w38 ... 12crop.jpg
Settings: ISO 800 1/60sec 70mm