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Tamron 35-150mm VXD vs Sigma 28-105mm DN | Which Lens is Boss?
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Sep 11, 2024
Join photographer Dustin Abbott for another head to head episode where he compares the genre busting Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 VXD vs the Sigma 28-105mm F2.8 DN lens. Which is the versatility king? | This episode is sponsored by Fioboc. Visit Fioboc.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off everything. Tamron Reviews: Video Review: https://bit.ly/A058Definitive | Text Review: https://bit.ly/A058DA Sigma Reviews: Video Review: | Text Review: Purchase the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 VXD @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/2Y5bXwA | Amazon https://amzn.to/316ycTM | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/3892h | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3nKoTAx | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/31gHixv | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3mtDl0D 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.me/cjU0LKdp3LN 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 Cloting: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today for another one of my head-to-head versus videos between, in this case, the new Sigma, 28 to 105 millimeter F2.8 DNRT series zoom, and then the somewhat older, but still very viable, Tamron 35 to 150, F2 to F2.8
0:29
VXD lens. So Sony shooters, and this is a comparison on Sony e-mail, but Sony shooters
0:36
now have two of these what I would call genre-busting zooms, and that they kind of
0:41
mash up two different kind of zoom, typical zoom ranges and get the most of them into one
0:48
And so they've stretched out further than what your typical, say, for example, 24 to
0:51
70 might go or 28 to 75 Miller in this case, moving all the
0:55
way up to 105 or in the case of the Tamron, starting at 35, but going all the way to 150 millimeters
1:04
And so these lenses do have some definite similarities, but I think in many ways they have more differences than they do similarities
1:11
However, I do think they're going to get cross-shopped because both of them do something fairly unique
1:17
thus making them desirable for those of us that are going to shoot events, maybe for portrait or wedding photographers
1:23
And so let's take a look at which of these makes more sense for your needs
1:27
And so what I'm going to do in this video is I'm going to highlight the few similarities that are there
1:33
I'm going to give you some reasons to choose either one of them. I'm going to give you my summation, my conclusion, and then at the end will be a deep dive into the optical comparison
1:41
For those of you that are really interested in seeing how they perform head to head. So let's dive in today right after a word from our sponsor
1:49
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That's FioBoc.com and use code Dustin 20 for 20% off everything. So let's start by talking about some similarities
2:51
Both of these are professional grade lenses with very nice build. I know in the case of the Tamron, I've been using it for three years in a variety of situations
3:01
It's been used more than any other lens in my kit, and it is holding up perfectly well
3:06
Both of them have high degrees of weather ceiling, for example, and so they're designed to be used in professional conditions
3:13
Both of them have an 82-millimeter front filter thread. They are roughly, as you can see, the same size
3:19
The Tamron is a little bit wider. It's 1.5 millimeters, wider in diameter
3:23
But the Sigma is actually a little bit longer. It's 1.9 millimeters longer
3:28
Neither one of these have lens-based image stabilization or optical stabilization. And when it comes to autofocus, both of them have their respective brands highest in focus motors
3:39
And I would say they both focus with similar degrees of speed and confidence
3:44
So they're both very good performers, though. I will also have to note that both of them are going to face Sony's third-party limitation
3:50
of having a maximum burst rate of 15 frames per second, even if you're using one of their sports bodies that's capable of more
3:58
It's an across-the-board limitation that applies to non-Soni lenses. So there, many of the similarities end, however
4:06
So I'm going to start by taking a look at the Sigma and giving you some reasons to choose the Sigma over the Tamron
4:11
Reason number one is price. The Sigma is significantly cheaper. It comes to market at $1,49 US, $1,500, US, whereas the Tamron currently retails for about 1,800
4:24
US dollars. Obviously there might be more variation in your particular market wherever you might be
4:29
but I suspect however it shakes out, the Sigma is probably still going to be the cheaper lens
4:35
The Sigma is also the lighter of the two lenses. Not to say that either one of these lenses are
4:39
light, but Sigma manages to keep it under a kilogram. It is 175 grams lighter than what the Tamron is
4:48
The Sigma also wins when it comes to aperture control. It essentially has the G-master setup
4:54
of controls, whereas there is an aperture ring where you can either choose manual aperture in
5:00
clicked mode. You can declick it for racking. You can put it into automatic mode and there's even
5:06
an iris lock that will help you to lock either in or out of the manual aperture control
5:12
And so it is a much more robust approach than what you can get on the Tamron. The Tamron's approach
5:17
if you want to do Apture Control is actually to use one of the custom switches to set the control
5:22
of this ring to be an aperture ring, but there are no preset markers on it. It's less precise
5:28
than what Sigma's approach is. And after years of using it, even though I like having an aperture
5:34
ring, I don't love the implementation on the Tamron. A lot of times I just do aperture control
5:38
from within the camera. So definitely a win for Sigma on that point. The Sigma also very obviously
5:44
goes wider. It goes as wide as 28 millimeters versus only 35 millimeters on the wide end for the Tamron lens
5:52
And so you can see that does make a noticeable difference when you put them side by side
5:57
The Sigma also takes a win when it comes to its close focus abilities and its ability to get a much higher maximum magnification
6:05
With the Sigma, you can get as high as 0.32 times magnification, whereas the Tamron at best is only capable of 0.18 times magnification
6:15
And so you have near twice the magnification on the Sigma, obviously a win there
6:20
Sigma also has a higher aperture blade count in this case 12 versus 9 and as a byproduct of having that even aperture blade arrangement it actually has also has nicer sunburst or sunstar effects where I think the blades are more clearly defined and nicer looking On top of that it also has better flare resistance
6:41
One of the primary optical weaknesses of the Tamron lenses, and then in certain situations, it is a little bit flare prone
6:48
whereas the Sigma seems to be rock solid in my test when it comes to that
6:52
So some definite areas of strength for the Sigma. However, there are also some very significant reasons to choose the Tamron instead
7:01
First of those being the fact that the Tamron boasts a bigger zoom range
7:05
The Sigma zoom ratio is 3.75 times, whereas the Tamron is over 4.28 times
7:13
And so it has more focal links available to you. And obviously, it also has much more telephoto reach as a part of that
7:21
And I will put it also look at this. when I was doing head-to-head comparisons
7:26
I found that even at, say, 105 millimeters on the Tamron, the 105 millimeters on the Tamron was longer at equal focus distances
7:34
than what it was on the Sigma. And so it's not only longer in terms of being able to go to 150 millimeters
7:40
but even at a comparison of 105 millimeters, it's still the longer lens
7:45
And so it definitely can go longer there. When it comes to the control of things
7:50
while there are aspects of Sigma's physical control that I like better
7:54
I also really appreciate the fact that Tamron has more customization ability here
7:59
That includes an additional focus hold or function button, so it's got three rather than two on the Sigma
8:05
But more importantly, because it has this USBC port, which is weather sealed
8:10
and also the access to what Tamron calls their lens utility software
8:14
you have the ability to really customize a lot of things here. You have a three-position custom switch that allows you to set various custom functions in that software
8:24
So you can control there. You can change the behavior of the focus ring from its speed to whether it's linear or not
8:30
even which direction it's going to go. And so you definitely have more ability to customize the lens
8:35
So it really works in the way that works best for you. And so I appreciate that as well
8:42
It also has a faster maximum aperture. It goes on the wide end
8:46
The maximum aperture is F2 rather than F2.8. And in fact, it doesn't hit F2.8 as a maximum aperture until 80 millimeters
8:54
So in comparison, there is a big chunk of the actual zoom range of the Sigma, where the Tamron affords a faster maximum aperture
9:02
and in particular there on the white end, the ability to go as wide as F2 is really going to be useful in certain situations
9:09
So definitely something worthy of appreciation. On the optical side of things, the Tamron has much lower distortion
9:17
It has next to no distortion at 35 millimeters, whereas the Sigma has very significant barrel distortion
9:24
at 28 millimeters. And even when you get towards the telephoto end
9:28
even though both of them have some pretty obvious pincushion distortion, the Tamron has a little bit less
9:34
And in a secondary metric all throughout the zoom range, it also has less vignette
9:40
pretty close to a stop most of the time, and sometimes even more of less vignette
9:45
And so another area where it's a little bit cleaner in the optical performance
9:50
The Tamron also shows more consistent sharpness. So not only is it more consistent in the sharpness across the frame
9:57
whereas the Sigma can be competitive in the center in the midframe, but really drops off on the corners
10:02
the Tamron tends to do a little bit better. In fact, even sharper still in the center, often in the midframe
10:08
And when you get towards the telephoto end, the Tamron's advantage becomes even more significant
10:13
The Tamron also shows more ability to have greater sharpness when you stop it down
10:18
And so not only is it better with wide open performance, it's also better with both lenses stop
10:23
down. I also find that the Tamron has overall nicer rendering, better bouquet, for example
10:29
And you can tell a real difference in the backgrounds, that the backgrounds are softer
10:34
less outlining and hard edges there. And so I just find the overall rendering from the Tamron
10:39
to be a little bit more pleasing. So in conclusion, I have found after years of use that the
10:47
Tamron, when I'm asked the question, if you could only choose one lens. Right now, the answer to that
10:53
for me is the Tamron. I find the combination of the focal range along with the aperture to be incredibly
10:59
useful. The Sigma is obviously also appealing due to having a lower price, higher magnification
11:05
a little bit wider on the wide end. There's not really a bad choice here between these two lenses
11:11
For me, the Tamron Zoom range makes a little bit more sense for what I'm using it for, but of course your mileage may vary
11:19
The great news once again is as Sony shooters, we have so many awesome
11:23
lenses available to us. Now, if you want to go a little bit deeper, you can find in the description
11:28
below a link to the both video and text reviews of both of these lenses, and beyond that
11:34
we'll also go into an optical deep dive and compare them head to head if you want. We'll dive
11:39
into that right now. So for these series of comparisons, I'm going to keep the Sigma on the left
11:44
and the Tamron on the right for consistency sake. Now, on their respective wide ends 28 millimeters
11:50
and 35 millimeters, you can see that the Sigma, has much more distortion to deal with a very strong amount of barrel distortion
11:57
whereas the Tamron is almost neutral, very, very little there. To show you the numbers, to do this correction that I've done here for the Sigma
12:06
that's a plus 26 and then the vignette, a whopping plus 90
12:11
For the Tamron, that's only a minus two to correct the distortion and just a plus 42 to correct the vignette, so a huge difference on the wide end
12:19
Now, on the telephoto ends, they both suffer from some, obvious pincushion distortion. Again, the sigma just slightly more in the amount. The sigma needed
12:29
a minus 10 and then to correct the distortion and then a plus 61 to correct for the vignette
12:35
In the case of the tamron, we needed a minus 9 to correct for the distortion and a plus 44
12:41
to correct for the vignette. So once again, a pretty consistent difference in the amount of vignette
12:47
They're significantly more on the sigma, significantly less on the tamron. Now, when it comes
12:53
comparing sharpness This is on a 61 megapixel Sony A7 R mark 5 And so first of all I going to give you a non to apples comparison And so this is with the Tamron at F2 and the Sigma at F2 which is their respective maximum apertures which by the way gives the Tamron a full stop of additional light gathering And you can see that reflected here 1 320th of a
13:15
second versus one 160th of a second. Now, what you can see is in the center of the frame that
13:20
the Tamron is basically equally sharp with the Sigma, even at F2 versus F2.8. And perhaps contrast
13:28
levels are even a tiny bit better, at least in the center of the frame. Now, if we move to the
13:33
mid-frame, you can see a pretty roughly equal performance between the two lenses. We'll
13:37
pop over to this side. And you can see here that I would say the Sigma looks a little bit better
13:42
down in this zone. They look really roughly the same, not much difference. Now, neither one of them
13:49
are all that impressive down into the corners. And you can see that kind of with equal degrees
13:54
neither one of them resolve the corners super well, though the Tamron is a little better right off
13:59
towards the very edge, whereas the Sigma gets pretty mushy. Tamron is a little bit better
14:05
But of course, Tamron does have the option to get an apples-to-apples comparison of stopping down to F2.8 here
14:12
And you can see now that the corner performance definitely favors the Tamron pretty obviously
14:17
And if we pop back to this zone where the Sigma looked better, it still does look better
14:22
That obviously is a weak place for the Tamron on these particular copies
14:27
However, in this zone, the Tamron is noticeably sharper, going back to this area here
14:33
We can see that the Tamron has definitely got more contrast and a little better detail
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And in the center of the frame, the Tamron is like ridiculously sharp now
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And you can see the noir pattern and the intense contrast that is there
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You can see it even in the writing here. The writing really pops in a greater degree than what you see from the Sigma
14:54
Now, when I tested the Sigma, I found that its strongest place in the zoom range was at 50mm
14:59
So let's see how that compares to the Tamron. both of them set at F2.8 here
15:05
In the center of the frame, they look very, very similar, not really much to distinguish between the two of them
15:11
in terms of contrast or detail. We've seen that this zone at the wide end
15:16
was a little bit better for the Sigma than it was for the Tamron. I would say that's still true here, though
15:21
You can see it is very, very close. The two of them are extremely comparable
15:25
with the Sigma having maybe a very slight edge. In this zone here, which favored the Tamron before
15:31
it continues to favor the tamron that's a little bit sharper. How about down here with Queen Elizabeth
15:36
We can see looking at the two that they're roughly same in terms of detail
15:41
but the contrast is a little bit better for the Tamron. And so you can see they're pretty comparable here with a little bit of give and take across the frame
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But one of the things that I noted previously is that when you stop the lenses down
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the Tamron gets a lot sharper as you stop it down, whereas the Sigma doesn't necessarily improve a whole lot
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So now at 50 millimeters, again, strong point for the sigma, both of them at F5.6, the Tamron is noticeably sharper in the center of the frame, like significantly sharper
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And if we look at the mid-frame zone, it is notably sharper in this area where, you know, historically the sigmas looked a little bit better
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The Tamron is obviously better down here in this zone that we've looked out a few times
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Again, the Tamron is very noticeably better. And if we go right off to the edge here and the corner performance
16:29
Tamron is very obviously better with the two lenses stopped down. And so that's going to include even going into the corner corners
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where neither one of them are super strong, but the Tamron is able to sharpen up to where it is significantly sharper here in the corner
16:43
Now, we can compare them at the end of the Sigma's range, 105 millimeters
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The Tamron I got it as close as I could. That ended up being 101 millimeters
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We can look in the center of the frame and find out that the Tamron is very, very slightly sharper and better contrast there and see it in the text that it's just better delineated
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with the tamron in the mid-frame zone the tamron is crisper in terms of the details that are there
17:07
and just a little bit better contrast if we pop into some of these other zones here we're going to
17:13
find that the tamron continues to be sharper here in this zone with superior contrast up in this
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area we're going to find that they're roughly equal but the tamron gives a little bit brighter
17:25
a little bit better contrast in some of those key areas and down into this zone
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Pretty close between the two of them. But again, the brighter areas are just a little bit brighter
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just a little bit superior contrast that we're going to see on the Tamron
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You can see here in the bright of the word pounds, how that it just stands out a little bit more for the Tamron
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Then once again, as we stop them down to F5.6, you can see again that that advantage for the Tamron actually grows
17:51
to where it becomes very, very crisp, very high detail in contrast, whereas the Sigma only very mildly improves
17:58
Now, I noted that one of the areas of advantage for the Sigma is when it comes to flare resistance
18:03
And so in this shot, with both of them wide open, the results are a little less dramatic
18:10
And so you can see that both them are faring pretty well here. However, if we look down in this zone right here
18:15
you can see that there's a little bit of a ghosting artifact here on the Tamron that is not there on the Sigma
18:21
The flare issues become more notable, however, if you start to stop the lenses down
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And so here we can see in this same position that the Sigma has remained nice and clean
18:30
But now if we look down into this particular zone for the Tamron side
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we can see that there is some fairly significant ghosting artifacts that have come here
18:39
There's some loss of contrast in this area and then also these kind of prismatic patterns
18:46
of blobs of color that have come onto there. So definitely an area that favors the Sigma
18:51
So obviously the fact that the Tamron has a, brighter maximum aperture means that there's going to be plenty of situations where it's able to
18:58
have a larger maximum aperture and thus not just a faster shutter speed as we're going to see here
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but you can also see that the tamron just looks softer in general and that's that because it has a
19:10
wider maximum aperture it has you know more separation of the subject from the background thus
19:15
the background looks softer here you can see on the sigma side that things just look a little bit
19:20
busy whereas the Tamron looks comparatively much softer The other thing they going to notice is that the specular highlights are going to be bigger and softer for the Tamron Now here what interesting with lenses that have larger maximum apertures available Even when I stop the Tamron down to F2 nothing is moved here as far as the position You can see that the specular highlights for the Tamron side are still bigger and softer even with the same aperture selected than what they are on the Sigma And I noticed this many many times
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If there is a larger maximum aperture available, it just means that the specular highlights behave
19:54
differently. They're bigger, they're softer. And so this is going to be a baked in advantage
19:59
for the Tamron, regardless if you're shooting at the same focal length or not. You can just see
20:04
as a byproduct that the boca is just has more outlining. It's smaller. It's smaller. It's
20:09
a little bit more in focus. It's softer and smoother on the Tamron compared to the Sigma
20:15
Now, I found this interesting. When I was trying to get the equal framing, I found that I actually
20:20
had to, even to get roughly similar framing. With the Tamron, I actually had to go less than
20:26
105 millimeters. And you can see here that it still has a slightly higher level of magnification
20:31
even at 103 versus 105 millimeters. So I would need to get to the Tamron down to 101, 102 millimeter range
20:39
to equate the sigma. And so, you know, make of that what you want. But again, what I've mentioned
20:45
as being kind of an observation about the size of the specular highlights remains true here. And so
20:50
you can see that the highlights are just a little bit bigger, a little bit softer on the Tamron
20:56
than what they're going to be on the Sigma. And so as a byproduct, the overall background is
21:01
just a little bit softer and smoother. You can see here looking at the tree that it's just a little
21:08
bit more defocused and so a little bit smoother looking on the Tamron side of things
21:13
Then, of course, the reality is having that extra 45 millimeters of focal length allows you to
21:20
really even much more strongly blur out the background. And so here's where the Tamron's biggest
21:25
advantage is, is that you're able to get a much creamier looking background from the same shooting
21:30
position because of that extra zoom range. Of course, the flip side of this is that the Sigma is going
21:35
to allow you to get a lot more in the frame at 28 millimeters versus 35 millimeters. And you can see that
21:41
that framing difference is really, really significant. And this is the way that things work on the
21:46
wide end. That extra few millimeters, seven millimeters here on the wide end makes in some ways nearly as
21:51
much difference as the 45 millimeter difference on the telephoto end. And obviously there's different
21:57
applications where one's going to be more useful than the others. But there is some give and take here
22:02
I mean, obviously this is a much tighter framing than what this is, but it looked viewed like this. It really doesn't look any more dramatic than what the
22:09
28 versus 35 millimeters looked. Another thing that we have highlighted is the fact that the maximum
22:15
magnification is much higher on the sigma. Now, to be fair, Tamron does have one advantage
22:20
and that is that it is able to produce a sharper image at its minimum focus distance than what
22:27
the sigma does. And you can also see there's a little bit more fringing in some of these things on
22:31
the sigma. The Tamron actually achieves its highest result, though by only
22:35
only one percentage point on the wide end rather than the telephoto end
22:40
But it also is a little bit sharper and more contrasty at that close focus distance
22:45
than what the sigma is. And so, again, some give and take, but I think that most people are going to say that
22:51
this amount of magnification is going to be more useful than what that is
22:56
So finally, let's take a look at a few portrait comparisons. So first of all, if we are looking at achieving similar levels of distance framing here
23:04
so I tried to get around 70 millimeters for these shots. But it's just going to give you an idea of how the two lenses behave here
23:11
So as far as the detail on my face and the skin textures, I would say that I don't really see a radical difference between the two
23:19
I would say here at 70 millimeters in this particular shot, I think that maybe the Sigma is showing ever so slightly more contrast on the face textures
23:28
but both of them are extremely sharp, not really a lot to differentiate them
23:33
and I will note that the Tamron is wide open at F2.5
23:37
So if you stop that down to F2.8, it probably would give you similar levels of contrast and detail
23:43
However, obviously, again, the area that's going to really favor the Tamron is the fact that the background is going to be softer
23:51
You look at them at large. You can see the different skin tones
23:55
Nothing looks radically different to me. Overall, color temperature doesn't really look all that different
24:00
Overall levels of contrast, kind of the different. the global contrast, again, I don't see them as being significantly different. And so here I would
24:09
say the biggest difference is going to be that the Sigma tends to boards a little bit more
24:13
business, jitteriness in the background, whereas the Tamron stays a little bit smoother. Now, once again
24:19
here, if we shoot in and around the limit of the Sigma, so 105 millimeters, the Tamron's only at
24:25
99mm, so a very, very slight difference, but not enough to really change things significantly
24:31
Now, as far as the overall skin tones and textures of the face, again, these two look really, really similar here
24:38
Now, both them are at F2.8, so it's true apples to apples comparison
24:43
I like the Sigma's contrast around the eyes, just a hair better
24:48
But as far as the overall look and skin tones, without them side by side, you really wouldn't notice much of a difference
24:54
Likewise, in this particular case, I think that the background blur looks a little bit more similar than different
25:01
The sigma, I think, has improved a little bit here at this particular focal length
25:06
And so I think the Tamron is very slightly, you can see that, again, even though the magnification
25:11
level should be a bit higher on the sigma, if you'll look at this zone here, it actually is a little
25:17
bit bigger and softer for the Tamron, even though the magnification level is maybe very slightly lower
25:22
And so, you know, just another area where that kind of larger maximum aperture capability does
25:29
pay off in other ways. But again, looking at them side by side, the results are not radically
25:33
different. And again, the one way where it can be radically different is that there's definitely
25:37
more flexibility for portrait shots with the Tamron lens here, I should say. Just again, the ability
25:45
to, from that same shooting position, to zoom in further and to get a much more blurred out
25:49
background, much more subject separation, obviously is going to be very advantageous
25:54
So thanks for sticking around to the end. And I hope that the head-to-head comparison maybe gives
25:59
you a little bit more insight into which one of these lenses makes more sense to you or looks
26:03
better to you. And you can tell me about it in the description down below. As always, thanks for
26:08
watching. Have a great day and let the light in
#Camera & Photo Equipment
#Online Media
#Online Video