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Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 RXD for Canon RF Review | Better on Canon?
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Jan 8, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of Tamron's first Canon RF mount lens - the 11-20mm F2.8 Di III-a RXD. | This episode is sponsored by Fantom Tracker. Visit store.fantomwallet.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off. | Read the Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/RF11-20da | Visit the Image Gallery: https://tinyurl.com/RF11-20pics | Purchase the Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 RF @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4ikQ6p0 | Adorama https://howl.link/ue24lv5llvqjo | Amazon https://amzn.to/4fbwC3B | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4s43s | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3ZVcuhP | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/4grH5Je | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/4iu4ivZ Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:06
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
0:11
to give you my review of the Tamron 11
0:14
to 20 mm f2.8 rxd lens for Canon RF
0:19
Mount this is another I think important
0:22
moment is this year we have finally seen
0:25
a little bit of cracks in Canon's policy
0:28
when it comes to the RF Mount the we
0:30
have already seen a few APS SE lenses
0:32
coming to RF or technically RFS Mount
0:36
now you're able to mount that on a
0:39
full-frame camera as I have done here
0:41
however you only going to be able to use
0:43
that in apsc mode and so Canon is still
0:46
very very explicit and that no one is
0:48
getting into their fullframe RF
0:50
protocols yet even if you're using an
0:53
apsc type lens however this is the first
0:56
Tamron that we have seen come to the RF
0:58
platform and so it's great to see it
1:01
come here now the lens itself in terms
1:03
of its basic design it's been with us
1:05
for about 3 years and I reviewed it
1:06
first on Sony then on Fuji X Mount and
1:09
of course now on RF Mount as well so
1:12
this Tamron 11 to 20 MIM joins the sigma
1:16
10 to 18 mm f2.8 DM as what I think are
1:20
the two premium wide angle zooms that
1:23
you're now going to be able to choose
1:24
from on the RFS Mount
1:27
platform now there is an an existing
1:30
Canon RFS 10 to 18 mm F 4.5 to 6.3 lens
1:36
that is out there but obviously that's
1:37
more of a Plastic Fantastic much much
1:39
slower in terms of the aperture um as
1:42
it's as close as one and a third stop
1:45
slower and then goes on the other end to
1:48
two and a third stops lower so a pretty
1:50
radical difference so these really are
1:52
to me the premium the solid choices now
1:56
neither one of them are cheap both of
1:57
them are
1:58
$659 so the ton coming at the exact same
2:01
price as the sigma and that's about
2:03
twice what you're going to pay for
2:05
Canon's budget lens so the question that
2:07
we're here to answer is this a lens that
2:10
is worth considering first of all over
2:12
the Canon I personally think the answer
2:14
is yes you know your mileage may vary on
2:16
that but probably more importantly if
2:17
you're considering spending the
2:19
additional money is the new Tamron worth
2:21
considering over the sigma 10 to 18
2:24
millimeter that goes a little bit wider
2:26
we'll explore all of that right after a
2:28
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and use code dustin2 for 20% off so the
3:20
first thing that's important to discuss
3:22
is that this lens while it's going to
3:24
it's the same Optical design it's going
3:26
to handle in many ways the same ways it
3:28
is slightly different in performance on
3:30
Canon due to the fact that Canon's crop
3:32
factor is 1.6 times versus 1.5 times so
3:37
while on either Sony or Fuji we have got
3:39
a 16 to 30 mm fullframe equivalent focal
3:43
length on Canon we have got a 17.6 to 32
3:49
mm fullframe equivalency so not as wide
3:51
on the wide end and obviously a little
3:53
bit longer on the telephoto end when it
3:56
comes to wide angle lenses I think we
3:58
would all say that we probably would
4:00
prefer having a little bit more on the
4:01
wide end than having a little bit more
4:03
on the telephoto end but of course your
4:04
mileage may vary on that this is still a
4:07
very useful Zoom range as you can see
4:09
allowing you to go from quite wide to um
4:13
you know a little bit tighter but still
4:15
wide angle of view with a number of
4:17
different framing options there along
4:18
the way now the size of the lens it is
4:21
73 mm in diameter and or 2.9 in and it
4:25
has uh tamron's very common 67 mm front
4:29
filter thread which they've tried to
4:30
share over as many lenses as possible so
4:33
I really do appreciate that because
4:35
obviously being able to share filters is
4:37
huge it's going to save you money but
4:39
also save you room in packing those
4:41
filters along the lens itself is 86 mm
4:44
or 3.4 in in length and it weighs in at
4:48
335 G now that is a little bit heavier
4:51
than the sigma and definitely
4:53
considerably heavier than the small
4:55
light plasticky Canon lens however this
4:58
is a nice build quality with the two
5:01
lenses side by side I would say that in
5:03
some ways I prefer the sigma's materials
5:06
but I prefer the Tamron in terms of
5:09
actually what's inside and as we're
5:10
going to see much more thorough weather
5:12
ceiling for example is
5:14
present now typically these lenses have
5:17
been pretty much the same as they've
5:18
been ported over but there is two key
5:20
upgrades that have been made in this
5:22
Canon RF version the first of those is
5:24
that finally we have an AF MF switch and
5:26
so that actually expands the feature set
5:29
to beyond what we see on the sigma for
5:31
example that you and I I I vastly prefer
5:34
having that direct control over
5:36
switching between autofocus and manual
5:38
focus the other thing that we do have
5:40
here that is unique is that there is a
5:42
weather sealed USB C Port that is here
5:46
now I hooked it up to tamron's free lens
5:48
utility software which you can get
5:50
either for uh your computer but also you
5:52
can get for Android devices
5:54
unfortunately the only thing you seem to
5:56
be able to control is just doing
5:58
firmware updates in some Tamron lenses
6:00
you have a lot more customization you
6:03
know tweaks that you can make to the
6:04
lens performance none of those seem to
6:06
be available here however it's a quick
6:08
and easy way to do firmware updates in
6:10
the future so I'll take that that's
6:13
better than nothing now the other thing
6:15
as far as the physical handling you will
6:17
see a little bit of an inner barrel zoom
6:20
out as you come towards the wide end 11
6:23
mm at 20 mm it is fully retracted
6:27
weather ceiling as mentioned is a little
6:28
bit more thorough we have seven
6:30
different seal Points Plus that weather
6:32
sealed USBC um Port now we also have
6:36
seven rounded aperture blades inside so
6:39
that has both the purpose of trying to
6:41
keep a circular shape when you're
6:42
stopping down through say f5.6 as you
6:45
will stop down further it will change to
6:48
where you're starting to get actually I
6:50
think quite attractive Sun stars that
6:52
will have 14 points and to me they come
6:55
to nice heads and so they're a little
6:57
bit more attractive than what I've seen
6:59
on some competing lenses so I appreciate
7:02
that we have a varied minimum Focus
7:04
distance on this lens you can get as
7:07
close as 15 cm on the wide end now
7:10
remember that the lens extends a little
7:12
bit at 11 mm and then also that is
7:16
measured from this point right here in
7:18
the camera that's where the sensor is so
7:20
from the sensor to the front of the lens
7:22
by the time you add on the lens Hood you
7:25
are uh you've eaten up pretty much all
7:27
of that 15 cm not leaving harl space
7:30
beyond that so you have to get very very
7:31
close to your subject it also
7:33
exaggerates any kind of distortion so
7:34
you don't get a flat plan of focus at
7:36
all I don't find that minimum Focus
7:38
distance on the tele or the wide end I
7:40
should say particularly useful though it
7:41
will give you a much higher 0.25 times
7:45
magnification now on the telephoto end
7:48
you can focus as closely as 24 cm much
7:50
easier to perform get a much flatter
7:52
plan of focus however the magnification
7:55
level drops all the way down to 0.13
7:58
Times now what I find is that if you
8:00
shoot somewhere around between 14 and 16
8:03
mm you can get a little bit of a
8:04
compromise a little flatter plane of
8:06
focus not quite as high a level of
8:09
magnification but a little bit more
8:10
working room so anyway just your mileage
8:13
may vary on that it really depends on
8:14
the subject how close you can get to it
8:16
without shading it all of those factors
8:18
but nice to have a decent magnification
8:20
level it also means that if you are
8:22
filming for example and you're at 11 mm
8:26
you're you're not going to have to worry
8:27
about getting too close we autofocus
8:30
stops because you'll know when you
8:31
actually have hit your subject you've
8:33
gotten too close so speaking of
8:35
autofocus how does it survive the port
8:38
that's kind of the major difference um
8:40
when I'm looking at lenses on multiple
8:42
platforms the primary difference is
8:44
going to be the actual performance so we
8:46
have tamron's rxd Focus motor here which
8:48
stands for Rapid extra silence stepping
8:51
drive a fancy way of saying a nice STM
8:54
or stepping motor here on Canon it is
8:57
probably the best that I I've seen on on
8:59
any of the platforms definitely far
9:00
better than Fuji autofocus as you can
9:02
see here it's fast it's quiet it's
9:04
accurate moving back and forth whether
9:07
I'm focusing inside or I'm focusing
9:09
outside high levels of confidence when
9:12
locking onto the eye though of course
9:13
with wide angle lenses if you get more
9:15
than say you know 6 to8 feet away 2
9:19
meter range you get beyond that the eye
9:22
doesn't occupy enough of the whole um
9:25
kind of frame to actually get the you
9:27
know the the Box locking on it get
9:29
probably more of a face lock instead
9:31
doesn't really matter because depth of
9:33
field is grown to where everything's
9:34
going to be focused there anyway so
9:36
don't worry about that however just so
9:38
you know in the situations where I was
9:40
looking for iaf to work it worked very
9:43
very well so I mean zero complaints when
9:46
it comes to Stills autofocus was fast
9:48
quiet accurate all the things you would
9:50
want it to be I would say that the
9:52
performance was as good or better than
9:54
native lenses that I have tested here
9:57
nothing to complain about likewise the
9:59
major Improvement relative to Fuji in
10:02
particular is that the video AF
10:04
performance is much better focus pools
10:06
as you can see are just perfectly
10:09
confident back and forth no visible
10:10
steps none of those issues you'll also
10:13
see that Focus breathing is quite low
10:16
and so there's nothing jarring about
10:18
these Focus changes it's basically you
10:20
know just with a very very slight you
10:22
know change of perspective it's
10:24
basically just going from one Focus
10:25
point to another my hand test was also
10:28
good um because my face occupies a
10:32
relatively small part of the frame or
10:33
should say my hand occupies relatively
10:35
small part of the frame I wasn't always
10:37
able to successfully block off a focus
10:40
from kind of trying to stay locked on my
10:42
face but when it was able to see the
10:44
difference it did a very good job of
10:46
transitioning from my hand to my face
10:49
and so on so Focus feels very much like
10:53
a native lens whether you're talking
10:54
about Stills or you're talking about
10:57
video and I would say that the fol motor
10:59
is much better than what I have found in
11:02
Canon's cheaper lenses that have a Canon
11:04
branded STM Focus motor how about image
11:07
quality now the bottom line here is I've
11:10
already reviewed the Optics twice and
11:12
the Optics are the same here it's look
11:15
looks nicely detailed on Canon but I
11:17
don't actually own a Canon apsc camera
11:20
so I'm reviewing on the apsc mode of the
11:22
R5 so bottom line is that 17 megapixels
11:26
is nothing compared to the 40 megapixels
11:29
that I reviewed it on Fuji and if the
11:31
lens could hold up relatively well on
11:34
the Fuji platform then it's going to
11:35
hold up much more easily on any of the
11:38
Canon models including the 32 1 12
11:40
megapixel sensor that's available on the
11:42
r s and other similar bodies so I'm not
11:46
going to spend a lot of time discussing
11:48
the resolution here I will link the both
11:50
the Fuji and the Sony reviews and so you
11:53
can go back look at the higher
11:55
resolution of Fuji if you're looking at
11:58
the 32 and a half megapixel sensor if
12:00
you're using a 24 megapixel sensor then
12:02
look at the Sony because that'll give
12:04
you those two metrics a little bit more
12:05
accurately now one thing that I will
12:07
quickly look at is the Distortion and
12:10
vignette now the Distortion does not
12:12
change the Distortion is going to be the
12:13
same across these platforms and so in
12:15
this case on the wide end it's a plus n
12:17
that's Barrel Distortion with a plus n
12:19
to correct for it and then on the
12:21
telephoto end it changes to a pen
12:24
cushion style of distortion and a minus5
12:26
corrects that in both cases the
12:28
Distortion pattern is not overly complex
12:30
and it corrects just fine and I will
12:33
point out by the way that there is much
12:35
less Distortion and vignette by the way
12:38
um here on the Tamron Lens and what
12:40
there was on the sigma 10 to 18 millimet
12:42
so if that's a factor for you the Tamron
12:44
is the better performer of the two now
12:47
what is unique across the different
12:48
mounts is the amount of vignette that is
12:50
present and so what I found is that
12:52
there is considerably more vignette on
12:54
the Canon version than what I saw on
12:55
Sony and somewhat less than what I saw
12:58
on Fuji and so in this case on the wide
13:00
end it took a plus 71 to correct for the
13:03
vignette and then on the telephone end a
13:05
plus 54 and by the way again both of
13:08
these figures are much lower than what I
13:09
saw with the sigma 10 to8 on Canon RF
13:13
and so definitely some Advantage there
13:15
actually was quite pleased with the
13:17
overall look of images and the
13:18
performance I found that longitudinal
13:21
style chromatic aberration were well
13:22
controlled only minimal amounts of
13:24
lateral style chromatic aberration and I
13:27
think I actually liked images is better
13:29
than what I saw on Sigma now ironically
13:32
I actually liked I would say on Sony I
13:35
actually probably slightly preferred the
13:37
sigma 10 to 18 MIM on Sony my opinion is
13:40
the opposite here on Canon I don't know
13:42
what it is but it seems like tamron's
13:44
colors are in this particular lens
13:46
compared to the sigma just seemed to be
13:48
a little bit better match for Canon's
13:51
color science I actually felt like the
13:53
images and the color rendition looked
13:55
better and uh was just better executed
13:58
so I actually prefer the Tamron here
14:00
also one other thing that was
14:01
interesting is I don't know if there's
14:03
been a silent update to the Coatings but
14:05
I wasn't actually blown away by the
14:06
flare resistance on Sony and while it's
14:09
not Flawless here on Canon I feel like
14:11
it's better and so I actually saw fairly
14:15
decent results as you can see here to
14:17
where there's a minor bit of ghosting
14:19
there but overall FL resistance actually
14:21
seems quite good and I felt like
14:22
contrast held up really well in images
14:25
um in addition to that I also looking
14:28
back to older test the coma performance
14:30
on this lens is overall quite good not a
14:32
lot of comatic distortion in the corners
14:34
of the frame and so my conclusion is
14:37
this this is I would consider to be a
14:40
very successful Port um from the Sony
14:44
initially and then to this Canon RF
14:46
platform it's great to have this lens
14:49
here for one thing it just feels like a
14:51
very natural fit um in terms of the
14:53
ergonomics it feels like a very natural
14:55
fit when it comes to the autofocus very
14:58
much like a native lens and obviously
15:00
this is a much more Superior instrument
15:03
optically compared to the native Canon
15:06
lens that's available in this kind of
15:08
rough focal length here in this case
15:11
relative to Sigma that we've got less
15:13
Distortion in vignette we've got more
15:15
weather ceiling I believe we've got
15:16
Superior um autofocus we've got an AF MF
15:19
switch overall I would say that this is
15:22
just a better lens in my opinion and so
15:24
it's well worth consideration if you're
15:26
looking for a wide angle Zoom for your
15:29
Canon RFS or Canon RF based apsc camera
15:34
and I'm just delighted to see this lens
15:36
and to see Tamron starting to start to
15:38
release some lenses here and of course
15:40
what I really want to see is Tamron on
15:42
Canon's fullframe RF protocols hopefully
15:44
that's coming in
15:46
2025 but what I S see here does give me
15:48
hope that if and when Tamron lindes come
15:51
they are going to be a fantastic fit on
15:54
Canon's systems and that may be just why
15:57
Canon has held them at arms length until
15:59
this point I'm Dustin Abbott and if you
16:01
want more information you can check out
16:03
my full text review that is linked in
16:05
the description down below I'm not going
16:07
to do a deep dive into the optical
16:08
performance because I've done that
16:10
several times already if you want more
16:12
information about that you can check out
16:14
either the video reviews on Fuji or on
16:17
Sony or you can check out the text
16:19
review for more information there as
16:21
always thanks for watching have a great
16:23
day and let the light in