Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of the Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 ultrawide zoom for Sony FE and Nikon Z | This episode is sponsored by SmartWings. Find out more at https://tinyurl.com/WELCOME5sw (use code WELCOME5 for 5% off) | Read the Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/TAM35-100VXDda | Purchase the Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4g0IvMf | Adorama https://prf.hn/l/xE0ObYn/ | Amazon https://amzn.to/4beSZ92 | Camera Canada https://tidd.ly/44RjaiA | Amazon Canadahttps://amzn.to/4bhGmdr | Amazon UK https://link.amazon/B05GFi1GE | Amazon Germany https://link.amazon/B0c7Bzrzp
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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Intro and Concept
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[music]
0:06
[music]
0:10
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. Back in 2015,
0:13
Tamron took on the first party brands
0:15
with the release of their 15 to 30mm
0:18
f2.8
0:19
um VC lens at that point. And it was
0:22
that lens in many ways was a winner. It
0:24
added image stabilization. It had really
0:28
great image quality, but it was also
0:30
huge and heavy, weighed in at about,00
0:32
grams. Despite that, however, I love the
0:35
lens because of the images that I could
0:36
produce and the fact that it was a lens
0:39
that I could afford. Fast forward to
0:42
2026 and Tamron is delivering an even
0:45
more ambitious project here in their new
0:48
12 to 20 millimeter f2.8. It's a more
0:50
extreme focal length and it also marks a
0:53
huge departure for Tamron in terms of
0:55
their design language and also feature
0:58
set that they're embracing on
0:59
mirrorless. It has far more controls, a
1:02
deeper level of customization, and in
1:04
the case of each of at least one of
1:06
these features offers something that
1:08
I've never seen before on any lens
1:10
before. And so today we're going to
1:12
explore whether this more extreme lens
1:15
is going to have the same kind of
1:16
revolutionary effect that their 15 to 30
1:19
mm lens did. I'm filming on the lens
1:21
right now and I do want to say a big
1:22
thank you to Tamron USA for sending me a
1:25
loaner uh of this lens as always.
1:28
However, they have had no input in the
1:30
review itself and this is a fully
1:32
independent review. We'll dive into all
1:35
the details in just a moment. This lens
1:37
will be available for both uh Sony
1:39
E-mount where it goes right up against
1:41
the expensive but fantastic 12 to 24
1:44
millimeter f/2.8 G Master and also on
1:47
Nikon Zmount where it contends with
1:49
Nikon's 14 to 24 millimeter f2.8 S-line
1:54
lens. In both cases, those lenses are
1:56
far more expensive than the Tamron.
1:58
However, the Tamron is fairly pricey for
2:01
a Tamron. So, is it worth those prices?
2:03
Well, we'll jump into it and explore
2:05
right after a word from our sponsor.
2:07
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2:09
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Thanks again to SmartWings for
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sponsoring this video. All right, we'll
3:07
start by taking a look at price tag
3:09
here. And so $1699 USD for the E-mount
3:13
version, $1799 for the Zmount version.
3:16
That compares to $3,248
3:19
for the Sony G Master 12 to 24
3:22
millimeter. And then it is right under
3:24
$2,700 MSRP for the the Nicor 14 to 24mm
3:29
f/2.8 Sline lens. So while this is an
3:32
expensive lens for a Tamron, still it
3:34
represents a fairly strong value and
3:36
that's particularly true when compared
3:37
to the G Master lens. Now, one of the
3:40
big departures here is in terms of the
3:42
design language, and that's true when it
3:45
comes just to the basic look of the
3:47
lens, but also to the sheer amount of
3:49
controls that are on this lens, which
3:52
are definitely way above anything that
3:54
we've seen from a Tamron lens
3:56
previously, just in general. There are a
3:58
total of six switches. There are two
4:00
custom function buttons. There is an
4:03
aperture ring that can be clicked or
4:04
decllicked. On Nikon, it's going to be a
4:07
customizable control ring rather than a
4:09
dedicated aperture ring. But when it
4:11
comes to aperture control here, for
4:13
example, we have the ability to have
4:15
this clicked with, you know, 1/3 stops.
4:18
We have the option to declick the
4:20
aperture for smooth aperture racking. We
4:23
have an iris lock switch that will allow
4:25
you to either lock into or out of the
4:28
aperture ring. If you don't like an
4:29
aperture ring, you can lock out of it.
4:31
If you only want to be in the aperture
4:32
ring, you can lock into it to make sure
4:34
you don't inadvertently go into the
4:36
automatic mode. So, that is obviously
4:38
nice. We have something unique to Tamron
4:41
in this three-position custom switch,
4:43
which through their Tamron lens utility,
4:45
you can actually assign three different
4:47
values that will be accessed through
4:49
these custom buttons, which can be
4:50
really useful because it's just, you
4:52
know, expanding the usefulness there.
4:54
So, for example, on the first one, you
4:56
could just have whatever the camera
4:57
control is, but then you can assign two
4:59
separate values. And that includes a
5:02
fair number of different options,
5:03
including one that is quite unique that
5:06
I've never seen before, and that is an
5:07
advanced time-lapse recording option
5:10
where you can actually set what the
5:12
limits of the focus changes are going to
5:14
be during a time-lapse recording. And
5:17
and so, just to get more precise control
5:19
over that. And that also points to a
5:21
little bit more integration with the
5:22
camera body, which is interesting to me
5:24
as well. This and other customizations
5:27
can be accessed through this weather
5:28
sealed USB C port that is here. You can
5:32
connect to the lens utility and you can
5:34
assign different values to the way that
5:36
the focus ring is going to control in
5:38
terms whether it's linear or nonlinear,
5:39
what direction, how far the focus row is
5:42
going to be. There's a fairly deep
5:43
amount of customization available there
5:45
along with obviously the ability to do
5:47
firmware updates. This also is
5:49
compatible with Tamron Link which
5:51
essentially gives you Bluetooth remote
5:53
control over the lens function so you
5:55
can access it through your phone. So
5:56
again, more customization available
5:58
there. We've got a traditional AFMF
6:01
switch here as well. And then we have a
6:04
couple of unique things. We have not
6:05
only a zoom lock that will allow you to
6:07
lock the zoom um whether it's at the 12
6:10
or the 20 millm position, but one thing
6:12
I do like is that with just a little bit
6:15
more of a firm click, you can actually
6:17
it will automatically release and so you
6:18
don't get stuck missing a shot. The
6:21
actual zoom ring itself obviously is
6:23
because this is internally zooming, it
6:25
does move back and forth, but within the
6:27
housing, it's a nice short focus throw.
6:30
It is very, very smooth. And so you can
6:31
do some zooming while uh focusing or
6:34
while videoing. And so I find that to be
6:36
very useful. And then a feature I've
6:38
never seen before is a manual focus
6:40
lock. And so this is particularly useful
6:42
for something like astrophotography
6:43
where while it's still light, for
6:45
example, you could set proper infinity
6:47
focus, you could lock that in. And so
6:49
when you go out in the dark and you're
6:51
fumbling around a bit, you don't uh
6:54
don't have to worry about moving the
6:55
manual focus position. And so you're
6:57
going to maintain proper uh infinity
6:59
focus. And so again, very very smart
7:01
feature there. So while there's a lot of
7:03
different switches on here, um all of
7:06
them do have an appropriate function to
7:08
them. The lens size here, it is 90 mm in
7:11
diameter at its widest or 3.54 in. It is
7:15
right under 120 mm in length or 4.7 in.
7:21
And it weighs in at 570 g or 1.3 lb. And
7:25
so that makes it 80 g lighter than the
7:27
Nikon 14 to 24. But more significantly
7:30
versus the Sony 12 to 24mm G Master, it
7:33
is uh 277 g less. Now with a fixed uh
7:38
front lens hood and this bulbous front
7:40
element, it means that traditional front
7:42
filtering is out, unfortunately, which I
7:45
really miss. And so our only option is
7:47
actually gel filtering in the end, which
7:49
is yuck. Hopefully there will be
7:51
somebody that comes up, some third party
7:53
maybe, that will have a better rear
7:55
filter holder as I've seen with previous
7:57
lenses. They'll give us a little bit
7:58
more flexibility with that. Inside we
8:01
have 12 aperture blades. And while
8:04
that's less significant for creating a
8:06
circular aperture shape, which it does,
8:08
uh I think more importantly is that you
8:10
actually have a really cool looking
8:12
12-bladed sunst star with the lens
8:14
stopped down. As with many Tamron zoom
8:17
lenses, we have dual minimum focus
8:18
distances. It can focus as closely as 18
8:21
cm on the 12mm end, 28 cm on the 20 mm
8:26
end. The lower magnification is on the
8:28
20 millimeter end just 0.11 times. You
8:31
do get a higher 0.17 times magnification
8:34
on the 12 millimeter side. However, it
8:37
means you have to get pretty much right
8:38
on top of your subject and so it's not
8:40
necessarily easy to access. One final
8:43
thing is along with the design language
8:45
being updated, we also have updated
8:47
packaging. They've gone to an eco style
8:49
packaging, but at least looks cool with
8:52
some updated kind of fonts and logos
8:54
that are stylish. Also interesting is
8:56
that rather than a just a like a little
9:00
padded sock or pouch for the case, we
9:03
actually have a lens wrap. Um, which is
9:06
a I think actually a better way to
9:07
actually protect it. These have become,
9:09
you know, quite popular because they're
9:11
very grippy kind of microfiber that will
9:12
wrap around it and will stay locked into
9:14
place. At least this is going to be
9:16
useful for some application as whereas a
9:18
lot of people probably never actually
9:20
use those little lens pouches that came
9:21
before. All told, this is an interesting
9:24
move for Tamron with far more features
9:26
and a really nice level of build.
9:29
Obviously, deep weather sealing all
9:31
throughout the lens itself. This is a
9:33
professional-grade lens designed for
9:35
professional use. So, let's talk
9:37
autofocus. Tamron, particularly here on
9:40
Sony, has been able to deliver really
9:42
excellent autofocus in large part
9:44
because Tamron, while still a third
9:46
party on Sony, it isn't completely
9:49
divorced from uh Sony's own kind of
9:52
infrastructure. In fact, Sony does own a
9:54
a partnership stake in Tamron and from
9:57
what I understand right now is looking
9:58
to acquire them all together. But
10:00
because of that, I have always felt like
10:02
Tamron lenses focus really well on Sony,
10:04
though there are still some of those
10:05
thirdparty limitations that we'll talk
10:07
about in just a second. Autofocus here
10:09
comes from their VXD or voice coil
10:13
extreme drive focus system, which is
10:15
their premium voice coil motor that
10:17
delivers quick and quiet and accurate
10:21
autofocus. Now, of course, ultra wide
10:23
angle lenses like this, they tend to not
10:25
put as much stress on autofocus systems
10:28
for the simple reason that a lot is in
10:30
focus most of the time. Right now, I'm
10:32
shooting at the maximum aperture of
10:33
f/2.8 and at the longest focal length of
10:36
20 millimeters. And yet, still, you
10:38
probably can tell looking at the
10:40
background that things are really not
10:42
all that out of focus. And at the
10:44
moment, I'm only about 2 meters away
10:46
from the camera. That being said,
10:48
autofocus is very snappy going back and
10:51
forth, essentially instantaneous whether
10:53
I was testing indoors or out ofdoors.
10:56
And I always found in all of my real
10:57
world shooting that focus was very, very
11:00
quick. The autofocus motor is
11:02
essentially silent even when your ear is
11:04
right up next to the lens barrel. And so
11:06
there's going to be no concerns about a
11:08
microphone ever picking that up. I found
11:11
when taking shots at a, you know, closer
11:13
focus distance where I could actually
11:15
have some separation from the
11:16
background, I found that when Nala was
11:18
rolling around, autofocus picked up her
11:20
eye very quickly. No problems with that.
11:22
And you can see that these shots are
11:25
intensely sharp and very, very well
11:28
focused. I didn't shoot anything
11:29
particularly demanding as far as sports.
11:32
I did take some group shots. And of
11:34
course, the nice thing about a lens like
11:35
this is even though we were operating in
11:37
a tight space, I was able to fit a group
11:39
of around 20 people all within a shot.
11:42
And so that obviously is nice as well.
11:44
But I didn't really run into any
11:46
situation where autofocus wasn't, you
11:48
know, kind of up to the task. The one
11:50
limitation that we will run into here is
11:52
that even on I'm filming on the Alpha 1
11:55
Mark III right now and it's capable of
11:57
30 frames per second as are a number of
11:59
other uh Sony cameras and faster still
12:02
in the case of the A9 Mark III. You're
12:04
going to still run into that third party
12:05
limitation with autofocus of getting
12:08
just 15 frames per second. And so, you
12:10
know, unfortunately that does make this
12:13
lens a little less useful for sports as
12:16
compared to the G Master lens. That
12:18
limitation is not going to exist on
12:21
Nikon, however, and so if you're
12:23
shooting there, you won't have to worry
12:24
about any kind of artificial limitation.
12:27
At the end of the day, for stills,
12:28
autofocus is simply fantastic. On the
12:31
video side of things, likewise, I didn't
12:33
run into any issues at all. Again, it's
12:35
a powerful, smooth focus motor, so that
12:38
helps a lot. And again, it it's not
12:41
suffering from a lot of the third party
12:43
hiccups that I run into sometimes. And
12:44
so focus pools are nice and smooth back
12:47
and forth. Focus breathing looks quite
12:49
low from the lens. And so that's
12:51
excellent. One thing I will point out is
12:54
that again as a third party lens, this
12:56
is not compatible with Sony's focus
12:57
breathing compensation. And so
13:00
fortunately focus breathing is low. So
13:01
it's not really any kind of particular
13:03
loss. One area where I will say that
13:05
this lens is very useful for video work
13:07
is the fact that even though it has this
13:10
huge uh angle of view on it, it is
13:13
relatively lightweight and it's that
13:15
internal zooming design. And so that
13:16
means if you're using it on a gimbal,
13:18
for example, number one, you're going to
13:20
be able to use it on a lot of gimbals
13:21
because it's not particularly heavy and
13:24
not particularly large. But on top of
13:26
that, the fact that it never changes
13:29
overall length means that you won't have
13:30
to worry about cal reccalibration issues
13:32
if you change your focal length. So I
13:34
think it will be a very useful v video
13:36
lens for a lot of people because it has
13:38
that amazingly wide angle of view which
13:40
can be even more useful on video than
13:42
what it is for stills in some
13:44
situations. But of course beyond that,
13:46
it also has that ability to maintain a
13:49
constant kind of state of balance. So,
13:51
at the end of the day, this is a very
13:53
useful lens for video work. I found
13:55
that, you know, obviously in
13:57
transitioning from my hand to my eye,
13:58
things like that, it did fine. And I'm
14:00
sure you've noticed here on these
14:01
outdoor segments, no problem with uh
14:04
keeping myself uh in proper focus, which
14:07
of course I would expect nothing less in
14:09
2026 at this point. All's well on the
14:12
video front, and I think that this is a
14:13
lens that will be a very interesting
14:15
option for some of you who are into
14:17
video production. I could see this being
14:19
very useful for a wedding lens, for
14:22
example, uh for the you the ability to
14:25
be able to have some zoom on it, but
14:27
also to get a really really wide angle
14:28
of view for capturing that venue, for
14:31
capturing some flowing movement along
14:33
the way. Should be very useful on that
14:35
front. Okay, let's start by taking a
14:37
look at the optical design. Here we have
14:39
17 elements in 12 groups. And you can
14:41
see that that includes a variety of
14:43
different exotic elements. the 12
14:45
millimeter MTF chart looks really
14:47
fantastic, incredibly sharp in the
14:49
center of the frame, very very high
14:52
through the center of the frame. And uh
14:54
and that's obviously particularly on the
14:56
sagittal axis. And then as we drop down
14:59
here, we see that we're averaging out at
15:01
over 60 uh even in the far corners,
15:04
which is quite good. Now 20 mm also
15:07
starts very sharp. it does start to drop
15:10
a little bit faster uh towards the
15:12
mid-frame and as we get towards the
15:14
corners it's a little less sharp in the
15:16
corners though not bad again averaging
15:18
out to about 55 56% there. Now if we
15:21
take a look for things like distortion
15:23
and vignette we can see at 12 mm if
15:25
there's no profile corrections on that
15:27
there is going to be a you know a
15:30
moderate amount of barrel distortion. We
15:32
can also see if I when I try to manually
15:33
correct it, however, that there is
15:35
somewhat of a mustache pattern there.
15:37
And so it doesn't correct in a nice
15:38
linear fashion fashion if I try to do it
15:41
manually. I only needed a uh between a
15:44
plus 12 and plus 14 to correct. So I've
15:46
seen far far worse on a lot of wide
15:48
angle zooms, but obviously you're not
15:50
going to be necessarily happy with those
15:52
lines if you're shooting architecture,
15:54
for example. Fortunately, the standard
15:56
correction profile is able to do it a
15:58
little bit cleaner. And this is a JPEG
16:00
out of camera. And you're going to have
16:02
both JPEG corrections and video
16:04
corrections in camera. And so this is a
16:06
cleaner, much more usable result. In the
16:08
middle of the zoom range here, 16 mm
16:11
without any kind of correction. We have
16:12
far less vignette. We also have less
16:14
distortion. Pretty mild at this point.
16:17
By 20 mm, however, we do have a bit of
16:19
pin cushion distortion and a little bit
16:21
more vignette. All of that corrects in a
16:23
nice linear fashion. However, without
16:25
any kind of issue, even when I'm doing
16:27
it manually, and obviously the
16:28
correction profile will do it better
16:30
still, even with zero correction, we can
16:32
see that in the center of the frame,
16:34
things don't look too bad. Lines look
16:36
pretty straight. If I recompose with
16:38
that same at the same focal length with
16:40
the bridge near the top, however, you
16:41
can see that that barrel distortion
16:43
starts to show up. I saw very good
16:45
control of fringing, and that's
16:47
something that Tamron is often quite
16:48
good at. Here you can see that there's
16:50
little fringing, basically none before
16:52
or after the plane of focus. Uh even
16:55
more usefully for a lens like this. I
16:57
also didn't see any fringing in these
16:59
transitions. There's a bit of motion
17:01
blur here cuz these leaves were blowing
17:03
around. But you can see in the
17:05
transition edges to the word the very
17:07
bright. There's just no fringing, no
17:09
fringing coming through any of these
17:10
pockets here. All really nice and clean.
17:13
Likewise, when it comes to lateral style
17:15
chromatic aberration, which is quite
17:17
common on wide angle lenses, we see that
17:19
it's basically perfectly corrected in
17:21
the corners and no issue with that. So,
17:23
a really strong performance on that
17:25
front. Now, if we move on to resolution,
17:27
here's where one of the challenges comes
17:29
with testing ultrawide lenses, and that
17:31
is that I have to get so close to my
17:34
test chart at 12 mm that issues with
17:37
fill curvature start to stand up and so
17:39
I don't get particularly accurate
17:40
results coming off here. So here just a
17:43
quick look at the test chart. This is 61
17:45
megapixels A7R Mark 5 and looking at
17:48
200% level of magnification. So where
17:51
we're not affected by field curvature,
17:53
namely right in the center of the frame,
17:54
things look nice and crisp, high detail,
17:56
good contrast, but you can see pretty
17:58
quickly from here to here that that
18:01
field curvature is making things seem to
18:03
be kind of leaning away from the sensor.
18:05
And so by the time we get to corners,
18:07
there's not a lot of image quality
18:08
showing there. So, I moved to a real
18:10
world test subject out of doors. And
18:12
here at 100% magnification, we can see
18:15
in the center of the frame, everything
18:16
looks crisp, high detail. And as we pan
18:19
towards the side, we can see that there
18:21
is a a drop as the test chart, you know,
18:25
predicts. But it's still a at a very
18:27
usable level even at this distance,
18:30
which is about 2 m away. Here also at
18:33
f2.8, a real world shot. We can see that
18:36
right off here towards the edges that
18:38
we're getting good detail. We're
18:40
affected a bit by depth of field here.
18:42
But as we pan up, we can see that detail
18:44
is really crisp throughout the frame.
18:46
And and so no problems with resolution
18:49
there. And if we stop on down here at
18:51
f5.6 and so probably a more typical
18:54
aperture if you're shooting at least out
18:56
ofdoors, we can see that there's
18:58
resolution right off to the corners
19:00
there. If we pan back here towards the
19:02
middle, detail is very crisp. And off to
19:04
the other side, you can see that detail
19:06
all throughout the image is holding up.
19:08
Maybe just a little drop off in this
19:10
corner, but also that is somewhat
19:12
affected by depth of field. So, in
19:14
general, I saw zero issues at 12 mm in
19:17
terms of sharpness. Now, obviously, as
19:19
you stop the lens down, you will start
19:20
to run into the effects of defraction.
19:22
By f11, it's starting to show up on my
19:25
high resolution camera. And you can see
19:26
by the minimum aperture of f-16 that we
19:29
are losing some contrast and sharpness
19:31
due to the effects of defraction. it is
19:33
a bit easier to start to assess uh image
19:35
sharpness if I move on to 14 millimeter
19:37
and I'm a little bit further away from
19:38
the test chart. You can see at f2.8 very
19:41
crisp in the middle f4. Um looking a
19:44
little bit higher contrast. Moving on to
19:46
the mid-frame we can definitely see an
19:48
improvement by f4 and then down into the
19:50
corners they're looking good and a
19:53
little bit more contrast at f4. Likewise
19:55
at 16 mm looking very nice and crisp.
19:58
Stopping down to f4 gives us a bit more
20:00
contrast. The mid-frame is looking very
20:02
good and better still at f4 and down
20:06
into the corners as well. We are seeing
20:08
good results particularly when we stop
20:10
on down to f4 with a little bit more
20:12
contrast and obviously being less
20:15
impacted by things like vignette in the
20:17
corners. We do see a consistent
20:19
performance in terms of the centering
20:21
and so no issues with that. This is a a
20:24
high quality lens and so I would expect
20:27
good centering and that's what I get. 20
20:29
millimeters, there's just a little bit
20:30
less sharpness. Contrast is still very
20:33
good. And we can see it's consistent off
20:36
to the mid-frame, particularly at f4.
20:38
Looking really excellent there. And down
20:40
into the corners, corners looking just a
20:42
little bit softer as the MTF charts
20:44
suggest. For some real world
20:46
perspective, however, here we can see at
20:48
20 mm f2.8 that contrast and detail in
20:51
the shot of Nala are just fantastic.
20:54
Likewise, the shot at 20 millm f4. We
20:57
can see that the detail and contrast is
20:59
just fantastic. Not only in the center
21:01
of the frame, but as we move off towards
21:03
the corners, again, it's only those kind
21:05
of uh far far corners that are really
21:08
negatively impacted. And real world
21:11
results, they look just fine. Even here,
21:13
looking along the edge of the frame,
21:15
colors are also good. Tamron has good
21:17
optical glass, and so I was pleased with
21:20
the colors I got out of the lens. Now
21:22
returning for a moment to our uplose
21:24
results. At 20 mm, we can see that yeah,
21:27
contrast is not bad. Detail is not
21:29
fantastic at our minimum focus distance.
21:31
However, the plane of focus is
21:34
reasonably flat. That's not at all true
21:36
at 12 millimeters. And while we probably
21:38
get a little bit more contrast, it is
21:40
somewhat hard to unlock this performance
21:42
because there is so much field curvature
21:44
that is there. Obviously with
21:46
two-dimensional it doesn't work great,
21:47
it does work a little better with
21:49
three-dimensional objects. Now, you
21:50
don't purchase a lens like this for the
21:52
bokeh quality. Um, and if you do shoot
21:55
images with more shallow depth of field,
21:57
as we can see here, the defocused area
21:59
is it's okay. It's not particularly
22:02
soft. Uh, here in another shot where
22:04
we've got a little bit more in terms of
22:06
the specular highlights. We can see that
22:08
there is definitely some outlining to
22:10
them. And so, a little bit of a soap
22:12
bubble effect. this shot here, we can
22:15
see as we transition towards defocus. I
22:18
mean, it's it's okay, but it's certainly
22:19
not great. That's not what I would buy
22:21
this lens for. Fortunately, it has many
22:24
other strengths. Flare resistance is
22:26
good, which is really important in a
22:28
lens like this. It has the Tamron's Bar
22:30
2 coatings. And here we have the bright
22:33
sun right there in the frame. And
22:35
obviously at 12 mm in particular,
22:37
there's going to be lots of times when
22:38
bright lights are in the frame. We can
22:41
see here that as we stop down, we'll get
22:43
a little bit of, you know, impact around
22:45
where the the sun is coming. I see a
22:48
little ghosting artifact here, but
22:49
nothing bad here at 20 mm. Again, it's
22:52
just kind of zooming in a little bit
22:54
more of the same kind of thing. We can
22:56
see that 12-pointed sun star that to me
22:59
looks really, really nice. Really nicely
23:01
defined arms coming off of it. Now, one
23:03
of the main things that Tamron is
23:05
marketing this lens for is for
23:06
astrophotography. Unfortunately, I
23:08
didn't get like amazing astrophotography
23:10
weather during my review period, but
23:12
what I could see is that star points not
23:14
only are nice and crisp in the center of
23:16
the frame, but very, very little
23:18
chromatic distortion near the corners of
23:20
the frame, little coma, and so all of
23:22
that is good. Here we can see in this
23:25
shot, I waited until a car was
23:27
approaching just to kind of combine a
23:29
few elements. But once again, we can see
23:30
that all the star points, they're nice
23:33
and crisp. I I think that this is going
23:35
to be a really fantastic astro lens. I'm
23:38
also not seeing any kind of fringing up
23:40
here around star points. The fact that
23:42
you can get so much in the frame, I
23:43
don't love it when I have lots of trees
23:45
around, but if you're in a nice wide
23:47
open vista, this lens is going to be
23:49
fantastic for astro. All in all, a
23:51
beautiful optical performance. So,
23:53
what's my conclusion? Well, I love the
23:55
original 15 to 30mm f2.8 8 back in the
23:58
day. And I think that this lens has all
24:01
the potential of being an even more
24:03
interesting lens. Being able to go even
24:06
wider in this day of such high
24:08
resolution is increasingly useful
24:11
because we can crop deeply to add focal
24:14
length, but obviously you can't decrop
24:17
to add a focal length and to get a wider
24:20
angle of view. And for example, if I set
24:22
up the the Samyang 14 to 24 millimeter
24:25
at this same position on a tripod and I
24:29
shot my living room, I could frame this
24:30
widely. But if I put the Tamron on there
24:34
with its 12 millimeter, I was able to go
24:36
much, much wider and get a lot more in
24:38
the frame. That obviously is going to be
24:40
really useful for both photo and video
24:43
use. And while this lens is more
24:45
expensive than a lot of other Tamron
24:48
products, it also comes at a higher
24:50
level of, you know, overall packaging.
24:53
It is an extremely featurerich lens that
24:55
is basically lacking nothing and adds
24:57
some feature. It has a deep level of
24:59
customization and it is really very
25:01
cleverly designed with some of those
25:03
features for use for astrophotography,
25:05
which I believe is going to be a great
25:07
application of a lens like this. And so
25:09
at the end of the day, while the price
25:11
tag is fairly high, it's still
25:13
undercutting here on Sony, it's
25:15
undercutting the G Master lens by about
25:17
$1,500, which obviously is you can do a
25:20
lot with $1,500. And so I think that it
25:23
is still has a strong value option for
25:25
those that are invested in getting a
25:27
lens like this. And of course, there is
25:28
the fact that it undercuts the size of
25:30
the G Master lens by over 200 grams as
25:33
well. And that could be another
25:35
compelling option to consider this
25:36
Tamron instead. Tamron is doing a great
25:40
job of giving us high-erforming zoom
25:42
lenses and the optics have been there
25:45
basically the entire time that they have
25:47
been producing for Sony FE. But what has
25:50
changed now is that they're moving more
25:51
upscale in their packaging, moving more
25:54
upscale in their feature set. And I
25:55
think that they are now going to be
25:57
viewed maybe in a different light, at
25:59
least this particular lens, uh when it
26:01
comes to how directly they are competing
26:04
with the first party lenses. And I think
26:06
that that's a very interesting direction
26:08
for Tamron to go. If you want more
26:10
information, you can check out my full
26:11
text review which is linked in the
26:13
description down below. Uh there's also
26:15
some buying links there as well. As
26:17
always, thanks for watching. Have a
26:18
great day and let the light in.
#Science

