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Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 RXD (Sony FE): First Look | 4K
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Jul 26, 2023
Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 RXD (Sony FE): First Look | The Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 (A036) is Tamron's first lens developed specifically for Sony FE (full frame mirrorless). This is an exciting lens because it provides a high quality yet more affordable alternative to Sony's very expensive 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master lens. Visit the Image Gallery: http://bit.ly/2875RXDig | Purchase the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 RXD @ B&H Photo: https://bhpho.to/2xkmSUO | Amazon: https://amzn.to/2L2DtyE | Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/2H0VAT1 | Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2soYBqX | Ebay: http://bit.ly/2875RXD Keywords: Tamron 28-75, Tamron 28-75 Sony, Tamron 28-75mm, Tamron, 28-75mm, f/2.8 RXD, Sony, FE, Tamron 28-75 Review, Tamron 28-75 Sony Review, Dustin Abbott, Review, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD, A036, Autofocus, Eye AF, Image Quality, Sharpness, Resolution, Color, Bokeh, Real World, Sample Images, Video, Video Test, Comparison, Sony 24-70, G Master
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here to take a first look at a lens that I know a lot of you have been really excited about
0:12
And myself included, because this represents the very first Tamron lens that has been designed from the ground up for Sony FE
0:21
And so back when I first talked about this lens during the WPPI convention in February, I was very interested in this approach as opposed to Sigma's
0:31
I'm excited about the fact that the Sigma Art Series lenses are being retrofitted for Sony FE
0:38
The downside to the Sigma approach is that they are basically the same size, in some cases even a bit larger and heavier
0:45
And so as a result, they're not going to be as natural a fit in terms of the balance and the size on Sony FE
0:53
Tamron obviously elected to release far fewer lenses. This is the only one at this point
1:00
However, it does provide something that has been, frankly, fairly lacking on Sony systems
1:07
And that is quality lenses at more reasonable price points. Some of Sony's very best lenses are some of the very best lenses at their particular focal length
1:18
And it's my hope that before this review period is out, I will be able to get in a Sony 24-70mm f2.8 G Master lens to benchmark this against
1:30
But, you know, of course the significant difference is that the G Master lens in the U.S. market runs at about $2,200
1:38
This Tamron lens is being released at $800. And so obviously a hugely different price point
1:46
In fact, even the Sony lens that has only an f4 maximum aperture, it comes in at about $1,100
1:56
And so this certainly is a very appealing price point and provides the option for Sony shooters to get a lens that
2:05
while it doesn't cover the same focal length identically, it covers it similarly with a same
2:11
kind of maximum aperture. And so byproduct of that is that it's going to be a really compelling
2:18
option for those that are maybe moving into the Sony system and are looking for a general purpose
2:23
quality zoom, but aren't interested in paying massive amounts of money. You know, in the case
2:28
of the G Master lens, I've got this mounted on a Sony a7 III. Well, the G Master lens costs more
2:34
than what the a7 III does. And so maybe you're just a new a7 III purchaser, for example, and
2:40
you're not interested in laying out that kind of cash. Well, this new Tamron lens may just be a
2:45
great option for you. Now we'll be looking of course more at the image quality in a future
2:50
episode. And so stay tuned for that. But the Tamron does offer up a number of unique things
2:55
So let's just detail some of those today. First of all, while this is not being labeled as an SP
3:02
lens or super performance lens, which is kind of Tamron's premium line. At the same time
3:09
I don't think that this is being released and I don't, you know, they may handle, you know
3:13
Canon Nikon lenses and Sony mount lenses differently. But this does seem to have a lot
3:20
of the similar design elements to say the G2 lenses in that, you know, rather than the engineered
3:27
plastics This is a metal barrel you know and it seems like a lightweight aluminum like there are others The finish seems to be maybe a just slightly more matte finish than what the kind of semi finish on some of the SP Primes
3:40
But the image or the lens itself, construction-wise, is very, very nice
3:44
And you have got very nice feeling rings. And of course, you know, as all of these mirrorless lenses, this is the manual focus ring
3:53
It needs an electronic coupling to move anything, and so it'll just spin otherwise
3:58
But it feels nice. It moves nice. And the focus ring is nice and wide
4:03
The barrel extension is quite smooth. Not the absolute smoothest that I've seen, but close
4:12
It moves very, very nicely. And you've got just a single inner barrel
4:16
There's no sense of wobble there at all. And so everything on the lens itself seems nice and tight
4:22
as a lot of recent Tamron lenses it is designed in Japan but its actual manufacturing is at Tamron's
4:31
plant in China and so and I think you'll see a lot of you know future lenses like this and in other
4:37
places it seems like a lot of lens makers camera makers are diversifying and producing you know
4:45
their products at factories that they have created in different countries you know for example the
4:49
A7 III is also made at Sony's Chinese plant. And so anyway, that's the nature of globalism in the
4:56
world in which we live. And so as you can see, there is a very mild amount of barrel extension
5:01
with the zoom. The size, it's actually quite moderate and good in terms of the front diameter
5:08
that terminates in a 67 millimeter front filter thread, nice and common, easy to find. The lens
5:14
itself is only 2.87 inches in diameter or 73 millimeters. And the length, it's kind of a long
5:21
slender lens. You can see the profile here is 4.64 inches or 117.8 millimeters. The weight is a nice
5:30
and moderate 1.21 pounds or 550 grams, making it a, you know, a very nice balance on, you know
5:38
these A7 series bodies. And so that compares favorably to say the G Master lens, which is
5:44
closer to two pounds, 886 grams. And so it is more than 50% heavier. It's also longer in terms
5:53
you know, comparison of 117.8 millimeters here, 136 millimeters in length for the G Master lens
6:01
which by the way, makes it one of the physically largest 24 to 70 millimeter F2.8 zooms out there
6:09
And so it's a much more moderately sized lens, even though it also has an f2.8 constant maximum aperture
6:17
Now, Sony's f4 lens is a little bit smaller than what the Tamron lens is
6:22
It is under 100 millimeters in length, 94.5. It has the exact same diameter, 67 millimeter front filter thread
6:31
The G Master lens has an 82 millimeter front filter thread. The weight of the Sony F4 lens is 94.5 millimeters
6:42
And so, you know, it's a little bit more compact and the weight is 426 grams
6:47
So it's a little bit lighter. I think Tamron has done a nice job of kind of straddling the difference
6:53
And they have given us a lens that is well built while at the same time is not excessively large
7:00
Now a few more things about that build itself This is a fully weather sealed lens which is something that Tamron has really taken to heart and I very happy about because you know it important It adds to the versatility of the lens
7:13
And so it not only has a gasket here at the lens mount, which, you know, has their kind of new
7:19
signature luminous gold accent ring, which looks nice here. I like the actual width of it and how
7:27
it looks there. But also on the front, there are internal seals throughout the lens itself. And then
7:32
on the front, there is a flooring coating that not only helps to resist moisture, you know
7:38
collecting on that and helps to complete the sealing, but it also makes it much easier to
7:43
clean because it is very resistant to things like smudges, fingerprints, oil, et cetera. And so
7:48
you know, very positive there. There are no switches or otherwise dials on the lens itself
7:56
I mean, you have the rings and that is it. And so in terms of turning off autofocus and manual, you know, switching to manual focus
8:05
that's going to have to be done within the body. However, the lens is compatible with all focus modes, including DMF
8:12
And so, you know, like other lenses in DMF, that if you start to focus using the focus ring
8:20
it will automatically magnify the image. And so that's certainly a nice feature there
8:25
in terms of the autofocus itself, and I'll talk more about this later on, but it is incredibly
8:31
incredibly silent. I mean, in operation, you really cannot hear it at all. It has a new focus
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motor that I've never seen from Tamron before, obviously something they've been developing
8:42
specifically for Sony FE. They call it RXD, which stands for Rapid Extra Silent Stepping Drive
8:50
and so rxd is much the preferable way to speak so it's a stepping motor not surprisingly that's
8:56
kind of the format that a lot of mirrorless lenses are but it's a great application here
9:01
in that it is incredibly silent it is also very very fast and so um you make focus switches very
9:08
very quickly and completely silently and so you know for a first kick at the can for autofocus
9:14
motor in this i think tamron has done a great job from what i've seen so far and that will also make
9:20
at a very compelling video option. So far from what I've seen, IAF works very, very well. Face
9:27
tracking, all of those kinds of things works very well. So lots of positives there. Now there is a
9:33
few unique things about this lens that might be interesting to you. Of course, it doesn't start
9:38
at 28 millimeters or excuse me, 24 millimeters. It starts at 28 millimeters. So that is a mild
9:43
downside in that for some applications, it's not going to go quite as wide as what you might like
9:48
The compensation is you get an extra 5mm of reach on the long end, which might make it a slightly more compelling option for portraiture as a byproduct of that
10:00
Now what's very interesting about this lens is you actually have two different minimum focus distances and two different maximum magnification figures
10:08
Now most lenses, you get your maximum magnification always on the telephoto end
10:13
In this case, however, you actually, while you did get a class leading magnification level
10:19
when it comes to the Sony alternatives at the telephoto end, you can focus down there to 0.39 meters or 15.4 inches
10:29
which is right in the same ballpark as the Sony lenses But there you get a 0 times magnification due to a slightly longer focal length And that compares to a 0 times for the GM lens and for the F4 lens it has a lower 0 times magnification
10:50
But where things get interesting is actually on the wide end, where you can focus down extremely close, down to only 19 centimeters or about 7.5 inches
11:00
and you actually have a magnification of 0.34 times at that point. And so it actually gives
11:08
you two different framing options. In one case, you have a full one third life size magnification
11:13
with a wider framing. And so it's going to give you some interesting options there. But then of
11:18
course, if you move to the telephoto end, you get a one to four magnification, which is still very
11:25
useful. But of course, with, you know, a little more, well, much more narrow angle of view and
11:31
thus a more compressed background, less storytelling, more about just highlighting the
11:35
subject. And so I like that. I am thinking about as a wedding photographer, for example
11:40
and the different options that that might give you in shooting, you know, say things like
11:47
you know, the bridal setup, you know, ring, shoes, flowers, gives you just some different
11:52
alternatives for framing all of that. And so I think that that's really an interesting application
11:57
here of this. It is a fairly complex lens, 15 elements in 12 groups. However, that is less
12:05
complex than the 18 elements in 13 groups for the G Master lens. It has nine rounded aperture blades
12:12
and of course has a constant f2.8 maximum aperture throughout the focal range. Now it does not include
12:19
any kind of OSS, optical steady shot, or image stabilization. Of course, neither does the G
12:26
Master lens. That's compensated for by the fact that if you're shooting with one of the more
12:32
recent Sony bodies, you have in-body image stabilization. And so you're already kind of
12:37
ahead of the curve when it comes to that. All in all, everything that I have done so far
12:42
the lens seems to work just as I hoped that it would. Autofocus is great. Image quality looks
12:47
very very good from early shots and so i think that this is going to be a very compelling
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alternative for those of you that have a smaller budget or would prefer to use what budget you have
12:58
to maybe maybe purchase multiple lenses and so i think it's going to be great when it comes to that
13:04
so stay tuned as i begin to cover the optical performance a little bit more i'm going to be
13:09
waiting a week or so to see if i can possibly get in that g master lens to set that up as a you know
13:16
more of a benchmark comparison. But either way, I will be releasing optical results to you in the
13:21
next couple of weeks. So stay tuned. In the meantime, check back regularly to the image
13:26
gallery. You can find a link in the description down below and you can see the images that I am
13:30
adding there. I'll be shooting on the a7 III and the a7R III and just seeing what we come up with
13:37
there. But so far, things look promising here. You can also there find buying links and this is a
13:43
very competitively priced lens, so certainly worth putting a pre-order in on it right now
13:49
And of course, you can also find the typical links there to become a patron, to follow me on social
13:54
media, sign up for my newsletter. And of course, if you haven't already, please click that subscribe
13:58
button. Thanks for watching. Have a great day
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