After I finished taking a look at the Zeiss Touit series for Sony APS-C mirrorless, I wanted to also take a look at Sigma’s offerings for Sony E-Mount. These are the Sigma DN lenses, and include a 19mm, 30mm, and 60mm f/2.8 lenses in their ART series along with, oddly, a 30mm f/1.4 lens that is larger, more complex, and more expensive but is a part of their Contemporary series, and designation typically applied to small aperture, less expensive lenses. The Sigma DN lenses are nicely built, inexpensive, near silent in focus, and surprisingly good optically despite flying “under the radar”. They come with nice cases and with the lens hoods included. Watch my YouTube channel for ongoing coverage of these lenses, and check back for more new images. Many of my recent videos have been filmed using these lenses.
Photos of the Sigma DN Lenses
Photos Taken with the Sigma DN 19mm f/2.8 ART
Photos Taken with the Sigma DN 30mm f/2.8 ART
Photos Taken with the Sigma DN 60mm f/2.8 ART
Photos Taken with the Sigma DN 30mm f/1.4 Contemporary
Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Thank you for your support.
Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Korean lens maker Samyang is the lens equivalent of another Korean brand – Kia/Hyundai. Though being a relative newcomer compared to the established Japanese and German giants, Samyang has managed to cause quite a stir in the lens community…just as Kia and Hyundai have managed to carve out a similar niche in the automotive world. The Korean plan for success has been consistent across these brands – offer more for less. Kias and Hyundais typically come better equipped than their competitors, and Samyangs (which are also sold under the brands Rokinon, Walimex, Bower, and even Vivitar) have come with optics that compete with (and even exceed) lenses that are far more expensive.
Such is the case with the Rokinon 12mm f/2 NCS lens that I am currently reviewing. I am very familiar with its big brother, the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens for full frame bodies. That lens is so competent that it made my Canon “L” series wide angle zoom expendable. Some of my most dynamic photos have been taken with the Rokinon 14mm, and I just love its incredible sharpness and color rendering. My experience made me really anticipate the chance to review the “little brother” we are considering here.
The 12mm f/2 is designed specifically for mirrorless cameras and is sold in a variety of native mounts for Micro 4/3rds, Sony E-Mount, Fuji X Mount, Samsung NX Mount, and the Canon EF-M Mount that I am using for review. The mirrorless segment has seen massive growth around the world, and even the North American market is seeing a rapidly growing segment. A lot of photographers are intrigued by the idea of getting high quality images from compact systems. I really like my EOS M body (despite its shortcomings), and the fact that Canon has been so slow to develop lenses for the system (only 4 so far) has made me more excited to see development for the mount from other manufacturers like Samyang. While I am reviewing on the EF-M mount, my observations for the lens should be similarly applicable across the other systems that the lens has native mounts for.
One thing that will change across the different systems is the apparent focal length of the lens due to the differing crop factors of the various sensors. On the Samsung NX Mount or Sony E-Mount, the lens will have a 35mm equivalent of 18mm (1.5x crop), while the EF-M mount (1.6x crop) has an equivalent has 19.2mm. The Micro 4/3rds sensors have a 2x crop factor, so this lens has an equivalent angle of view to a 24mm lens on a full frame sensor. All of these land square in the middle of prime wide angle shooting territory, although Samsung and Sony users get the most appealing angle of view here. I have found this focal length to be very appealing on my EOS M, and it affords some excellent framing options with its 98.9 degree angle of view.
Build Quality and Design
This is a beautifully designed little lens. It is very compact at only 2.33″ long (59.1mm) with a diameter of 2.85 inches (72.5mm). It weighs only 8.64 oz (245g). The design is particularly attractive, with a quality, dense feel. The body is the typical mix of metal and engineered plastics, but it has a very handsome finish. The aperture ring moves nicely and has well defined clicks for each half step (full stops are labelled on the ring). There is a “de-clicked” version sold specifically for cine work with a slightly narrower maximum aperture (f/2.2). This is a purely manual lens, and both aperture and focus are controlled manually.
Large f/2 aperture
Good size and balance
Doesn’t overwhelm small mirrorless obdy
Manual Aperture Ring
67mm Front Filter
Special Coatings
Large, effective lens hood
Beautiful manual focus ring
Modern center pinch lens cap
The focus ring is pretty much perfect, beautifully damped and smooth, with hard stops at both the macro and infinity ends, although (as is unfortunately common with Samyang/Rokinon products) infinity focus actually comes slightly before the hard stop. The ribbed focus ring reminds me a lot of a Zeiss product (and that’s a good thing!) EOS M lenses with AF only employ a “focus by wire” system when you do have to manually focus, and I personally really dislike the disconnected feeling from focus, not to mention the lag (this is also present in Canon’s other STM lenses). There is a slim red ring (aluminium?) that adds a decorative flare that seems oddly reminiscent of Canon’s L series lenses…except this application actually seems a little classier. There is a white dot on the ring that serves the dual purpose of showing which aperture has been selected and also serves as the distance marker for the focal ring above. The final half inch of the barrels tapers out significantly to accommodate the quite large front element. The included petal shaped hood clicks nicely (and definitely) into place to provide both shading and protection for that element. Speaking of that front element, while it is bulbous like the 14mm I own, this lens design allows for the use of traditional filters on the 67mm filter thread (which, incidentally, is larger than any of the other lenses that I have used or tested for the EF-M mount). The ability to use traditional filters (and even stack a few of them without vignetting) is a huge advantage over its big brother. It makes it much easier to shoot long exposures, for example (I am using an ND64 6 stop filter midday for this shot):
Other features include a special nano coating (NCS) to reduce flare along with the use of 3 ED and 2 aspherical elements to reduce distortion and chromatic aberrations. The design is 12 elements in 10 groups. The lens has a metal bayonet mount. But the biggest deal here is the f/2 aperture, which is wider than any of its competitors. Samyang has accomplished something significant by combining this large aperture with great sharpness wide open.
No weathersealing is claimed (but since the body is not weathersealed, this will probably not be a component of any EF-M lens). I personally would not be concerned about using the lens in moderate weather conditions because it doesn’t have any electronics and all of the focus is done internally. The lens should be resistant to getting dust inside and a little rain is unlikely to hurt it much.
Manual Everything
The lens looks great on my EOS M, and I really, really like the construction of the lens. It feels like a premium product, although its price is modest ($399 at B&H). The balance is great, and the lens is easy to use. Let me qualify that last statement by saying that I have a lot of familiarity with manual focus lenses and, more specifically, with the use of the 14mm on my full frame bodies. Manual focus seems intimidating to many photographers unaccustomed to their use, but the truth is that most photographers will quickly become familiar with where focus needs to be for specific situations and will be able to prefocus. For example, when shooting landscapes, the wide angle of view means that infinity focus comes fairly early when shooting at narrower apertures (even beginning at f/4).
For example, if you set an aperture of f/4 and focus at about 7 feet out, everything from 3 feet to infinity will be in focus. If you understand that, then prefocusing the lens is a cinch. Unless you specifically want something much closer to the lens in focus and to use a wide aperture you won’t have to think about focus very much. When you do need to focus, the ability to quickly magnify the image by 5x or 10x takes the guesswork out of focusing. Other camera systems have even better focus aids for manual focus, including focus peaking. There is a bit of a learning curve for using manual focus lenses, but lenses like this are amongst the easiest to use.
You can focus on very close subjects, as minimum focus is 7.87″ (20cm). That, combined with the wide aperture of the lens (f/2), means that you can actually create some unique close focus images that include both context and some surprisingly decent bokeh.
Image Quality
But here’s what matters the most: the image quality is excellent even at the widest aperture. The lens is very usable wide open, and stopped down a bit is incredibly sharp across the frame. The 14mm is also incredibly sharp across the frame, but that lens has such extreme distortion along the edges that some of that sharpness is lost. That isn’t the case with the 12mm, as distortion is actually nicely controlled and easily correctable in post (using about a +7 on the distortion slider in Lightroom or ACR seems to do the trick). There doesn’t seem to be a standard profile for the lens in Lightroom or ACR yet. The brick wall test shows that this degree of distortion is not really going to be a big issue in field work and can be corrected quite well.
The lens produces very sharp images across the frame. One will never need to go narrower than f/5.6 for sharpness (although there are other reasons to choose a narrower aperture.) It also has great color rendition. I am currently also reviewing the superlative new Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens, and this lens holds its own nicely. In fact, the only thing holding this lens back is the limitations of crop sensors.
There are certainly some shortcomings along with all of this goodness. There is no electronic coupling to the camera body, so no EXIF data is reported. You won’t have to guess at the focal length (that isn’t going to change), but aperture is not reported, so if you are sharing your work (and this matters to you) you will either have to record your aperture separately or guess at it! Camera body specific information like shutter speed and ISO will be recorded as per usual. I also find that while the lens visually meters properly on the screen in AV/TV/P modes, Manual mode does not. Images appear underexposed on the screen until capture, and metering is not completely accurate. As someone who frequently shoots in Manual mode, this is a significant issue. Of less concern to me is the fact that the lens (unsurprisingly) has a fair amount of vignetting (even when stopped down a few stops). Vignetting is so easily fixed in post in either Lightroom or Photoshop’s ACR. This wide open shot shows the vignetting.
One other minor niggle I noticed is that the sunstars produced by this lens are somewhat boring (much like the 14mm). I am reviewing the new Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS, and I certainly preferred the sunstars produced by it.
Competitors
The single greatest challenge to this lens in a Canon mount is that Canon offers a very competent 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS lens in an EF-M mount. That lens also has excellent sharpness and color rendition plus adds autofocus and a three stop image stabilizer. It’s price? Also $399, although US shoppers will need to buy from another market (like from Henry’s in Canada) as (for some crazy reason) Canon USA has chosen to not distribute the lens. Even retail giant B&H does not carry it. The Rokinon does have the significant advantage of the f/2 aperture, which is a full two stop advantage over the Canon zoom at its widest. I find there is a lot of creative applications for that wide aperture, and I also find that the ability to shoot at f/2 or f/2.8 with great image quality helps to overcome some of the shortcomings of crop sensors (namely the increased noise at higher ISOs). Still, I recognize that I am more comfortable with manual focus lenses than the average photographer, and the appeal of the Canon’s AF (not to mention image stabilizer) at the same price point removes one of Samyang/Rokinon’s typical advantages. The Canon lens is even more compact (220g and only 58.2cm in length when fully retracted). This is a judgment call for potential buyers, although truthfully the Rokinon will sell more copies on probably all of the other mounts than the relatively unsupported EF-M mount. If you are using one of the other systems, you will have to make that judgment call as compared with other options. I would actually personally lean towards this lens because of the wide aperture, which is (to me) more useful than the zoom range and AF on the Canon.
I have to admit that I fell in love with this little lens. I have a serious soft spot for my other Rokinon, and this lens is really much like a miniature version of it. I love the look of the lens and the look of the photos it produces. It is a great match for the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM (another amazingly good little lens optically), and the combination literally fit in my pocket (with some bulging!) when I went out shooting one evening carrying a DSLR setup as well.
The Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8’s biggest claim to fame is its excellence as an Astra-photography lens. I love shooting “nightscapes” with it because coma is so well controlled that star points are very crisp and precise. Fortunately this lens is no different. It shines when the lights go out. I had a bit of a challenge getting a clear night sky during the time of the review, but I was able to get enough of a look at the night sky to realize that this lens does fabulous work even wide open. Coma is really well controlled, so stars have that crisp, precise look much like the bigger Rokinon. The ability to shoot at f/2 on a shot like this enables me to bypass the more limited nature of the APS-C filter and keep the ISO low (1600) where images are still nice and clean.
More Strengths
The truth of the matter is that this little lens is in most ways a better, more complete version of the big brother 14mm f/2.8. It has far less distortion (which means that the extreme corners are useful), similar sharpness, and (this is a biggie) can use traditional filters in a common (and relatively inexpensive) size. The Achille’s heel of the lens is really the nature of the crop sensor. As of this point, the EOS M’s sensor cannot compete with the superior full frame sensors in my 6D bodies when it comes to high ISO performance, pulling information from the shadows without banding, resolution, and a somewhat more nuanced handling of color information (this last point is hard to quantify, but is a noticeable difference between full frame and crop sensors).
But one place where the 14mm wins is angle of view. 14mm on a full frame sensor is very wide; one would require a crop sensor lens of between 8-9mm to get a similar angle of view. Part of what makes the 14mm lens so compelling is that incredible angle of view that produces such dramatic results. It is that extreme focal length that also produces the aforementioned shortcomings. The choice to create a lens with a slightly less dramatic angle of view allowed Rokinon to also build a lens that has fewer shortcomings. And this angle of view is still a very, very compelling one that will hit the sweet spot for many landscape shooters.
That f/2 aperture is no gimmick, either. I found it very useful, both for shooting narrow DOF shots and for compensating for dim shooting conditions. By the way, when shooting shots that are near to the minimum focus range the lens will produce surprisingly good bokeh, both in the nature of the highlights (nicely round and soft) but also in a nice transition from focus to defocus. It can produce very interesting images with a nicely pronounced focal subject but within a wider context than lenses with a longer focal length. This image of a fall leaf in the foreground with the colors of autumn in the bokeh region is a good example of how using this lens wide open can help you to do storytelling images. It is more than a landscape lens.
The relatively low distortion also means that one can use this lens for architectural work, though it will not replace a good tilt-shift lens for commercial work. Still, for the most part lines remain strait, and this series from Boldt Castle in the 1000 Islands region show how this makes a pretty compelling little option for interior/architectural work.
One other plus to this unique combination of light weight, small size, and large aperture is that I have already begun to use this lens in my wedding/event work. It is easy to add it to a harness type system and not even notice the additional weight. During events I have pulled it out at times to help tell the story from a wide perspective while using a DSLR/telephoto combination to focus on the details. The fact that I can prefocus the lens to have everything in focus means that I can just pull it out and quickly snap a shot of the action from a very different perspective. This is a pretty big deal, as I typically shoot events using 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms. The perspective from this lens is noticeably wider than 24mm, and it means I have one more (and a more dramatic) perspective to add to my repertoire without adding a lot of bulk and weight.
Summation and Video Review
In summation, this lens is (at least to me) one of the most exciting options available in the EF-M mount. It is a lens well situated for producing some “WOW” pictures from this compact system (along with the other camera systems that it is produced for). It has a very nice build quality, well-functioning manual controls, and has exceptional image quality even wide open. It’s a great focal length, has great color rendition, and is a lot of fun to use. It’s greatest challenge is that Canon makes a great compact wide angle zoom that has AF, IS, and costs no more. But it’s greatest asset is a fully usable f/2 aperture that is 2+ stops faster than the Canon zoom. That made the difference for me; I added this lens to my own kit at the end of the review period. It really boils down to your own personal priorities. The good news: I don’t think you can really make a bad choice here. Just be prepared to do your own focusing if you choose the Rokinon.
Pros:
• Has an f/2 aperture.
• Is sharp wide open and only gets better from there.
• Corners are completely usable
• Has great build quality
• Nicely compact – a great match for a small mirrorless body
• Great color rendition
• Nicely weighted manual focus ring and aperture ring
• Great angle of view
• Low distortion for a wide angle lens
Cons:
• Manual everything
• No EXIF data reporting
• Good but not great price compared to competition
• Manual mode metering isn’t accurate
• Infinity focus arrives before the hard stop
• Boring sunstars.
• Vignetting
To view many more samples (including full size images), visit the Image Gallery here:
Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.
Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52014 in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
“I wanna have it all…” Can Tamron deliver on the promise of having wide angle and telephoto in one reasonably small package?
Many amateur photographers want the image quality that DSLRs promise without the stunning expense and heavy weight of a full range of photography gear. Some people love gear, others just want to get good quality pictures. The mirrorless interchangeable lens camera bodies of the last decade have appealed to a lot of shooters because of the interesting mix of good image quality combined with much lighter, much smaller camera bodies and lenses.
The Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III VC Lens takes it a step further, offering a still compact all-in-one option for mirrorless bodies that covers from wide angle (18mm) to telephoto (200mm). If you want one lens that you can take everywhere and cover most every focal length, then look no further.
This lens is important to EOS M owners in particular. The lens is also offered in a Sony E-Mount, but NEX shooters already have a Sony branded lens with an identical focal length. EOS M owners have had very few choices in the lens department, and for some reason that I have yet to fathom, half of the lenses that Canon has released for the mount (2 of 4, mind you) have not been released to the US market despite it being perhaps the largest in the world. Tamron has not been so short-sighted, however, and for EOS M owners in the United States this represents the only telephoto option offered in the US. The Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III VC Lens lens offers a very ambitious focal length (11.1x zoom ratio), which goes as wide as the kit lens (18mm), but zooms to an impressive 200mm (as long as the new 55-200mm EF-M telephoto that Canon DIDN’T release in the US – click the link to import from Henry’s in Canada). A quick look here shows how incredibly useful that degree of zoom range is.
18mm
This lens offers it all on paper, going from a 76 degree angle of view (28mm full frame equivalent) to a narrow 8 degree (310mm full frame). It also incorporates Tamron’s exceptional Vibration Compensation (VC) system to reduce camera shake and a fast, quiet stepping AF motor. All of this in a reasonably compact, attractive body and a native EF-M mount. Sounds pretty good.
But does Tamron deliver?
Let’s work from the outside in. Build quality is, as all lenses I have tested for the EOS M system, very good. The finish is nice, although I prefer the tightly flocked pattern on the “smooth” portions of the barrel on the Canon EF-M lenses to the smoother almost piano black sections on the Tamron. On the plus side, however, is that there are near microscopic grooves on those sections that provide some grip. The zoom and focus rings are nice, and the longer length of the lens allows these to be a little more functional (and more like “normal” lenses) than the more diminutive options. Like other EF-M mount lenses, there are no switches on the exterior, nor is there a focus window. There is a zoom lock switch (locking only at the 18mm position), but zoom creep is only likely if you carry the lens in such a way that something is rubbing on the zoom ring. Tamron is kind enough to include a petal shaped hood that helps reduce stray light. The filter size is a somewhat unusual 62mm. The only other lens that I have ever used that shares that size is Tamron’s own 70-300mm VC lens.
Zoom and Focus
Much larger than 18-55mm
18-200 in the middle
Large for native mount lens
No lens creep
Length nearly doubles
18-200mm
Nice wide ribbed zoom ring
62mm front element
The overall size is on the outer limits of what I would consider reasonable for the EOS-M Mirrorless body. It feels a little front heavy with the lens mounted, and the weight at 16.2oz (460g) is significantly heavier than even the new 55-200mm EF-M telephoto (9.17oz/260g). It’s length is 3.8 inches retracted (96.7mm), but that length nearly doubles (3.1 more inches/78.7mm) when the lens is fully zoomed out. The zoom extension is a double barrel design. The balance only changes slightly with the lens extended as the front element is not particularly heavy.
There are 17 elements in 13 groups, including two (Low Dispersion) elements, three Molded-Glass Aspherical elements, one XR (high refractive index) element, and one Hybrid Aspherical element. These helps reduce distortion and chromatic aberrations. The aperture has seven blades.
Like the Tamron 16-300mm VC, the 18-200 VC says, “Made in China” on the body and “Made in the Philippines” on the lens hood. The Tamron 28-300mm VC is the lone exception of the new all-in-ones from Tamron, with both the hood and the lens itself manufactured in Japan. The 18-200 VC is the cheapest of the three lenses, with its current price point at $499, while the 16-300 VC comes in at $639 and the 28-300 VC at $849. Oddly enough the Sony E-Mount version of the lens comes in at a significant price premium; it is $739. The reasons for this are beyond me.
Once again Tamron’s VC does not disappoint. The application of VC was quiet (near silent), activated quickly, and did a great job of stabilizing the image both on the LCD screen and at capture.
VC Off
VC On
I tested two different copies of this lens, as I had an issue with the first one where at times some communication error would prevent the shutter from being released despite focus being locked. The second copy had no such issue, and my issues with the first could have been the result of some shipping trauma. My second copy also seemed to have a slightly smoother zoom action; the zoom resistance was a little on the stiff side on the first copy (perhaps further evidence of some shipping issues).
Focus Fun
AF seems as snappy as my other EF-M mount lens; the stepping focus motor (similar to Canon’s STM motors) is both quiet and quick. I was surprised at how quickly the lens would snap on to focus when I first began to use it. It would be interesting to test the performance of the lens on either future versions of the EOS M with more competent AF or another mirrorless body with a better AF system. The AF mostly seems very accurate in my use, with images nicely focused, although all is not rosy on this front. I don’t know if it is the lens itself or the limitations of the M’s AF (I suspect the latter), but it is not uncommon for the AF to lock focus beyond your subject (background) if the subject is closer (10 feet or less). It often requires increasingly magnification and trying again, or worse, trying to manually focus.
I hate focus by wire (the default manual focus reality for all “stepping motor” lenses)! There is no distance scale, and no hard stops. Instead it is turn, turn, turn, and hope you are turning in the right direction…but without any true feedback. Focus moves inch by inch in the direction you want. The focus ring feels great; it is nicely damped and very smooth…it just doesn’t seem to do much, and the focus throw must be pretty huge. It takes many full revolutions of the focus ring to go from close to telephoto focus and vice versa. This is notably different from, say, doing the same on the EF-M 18-55mm lens.
There is one other negative here, but this one is really more of a knock against the EOS M than the lens. You can forget trying to track with a long focal length on the M. I tried to find and then focus on some chickadees along the trail and eventually just gave up without ever getting one frame after a minute or two of hunting. The AF system is simply not sophisticated enough to lock onto an isolated subject in a complex scene. I would be interested in hearing feedback from those of you using this in a Sony E-Mount. I find using an LCD screen for telephoto focus (at least in the application I mentioned) to be a nightmare. I really, really miss a true viewfinder with a telephoto view. Like most other mirrorless owners I have learned to accept the limitations of the AF system and learn how to maximize it – so I can still get shots like the one above in a fairly complex scene. The positive note here is that Tamron’s VC (as per usual) does an exceptional job of stabilizing the “viewfinder” and thus makes the experience a little easier. Using the telephoto end when you have a high contrast subject to lock onto is much easier…and when you aren’t isolating a subject it isn’t an issue at all.
The stepping motor is not as smooth as the STM motor in AF Servo mode (either in stills or video). It takes a bit longer to transition focus and sometimes seems to literally do it in steps rather than smoothly. This is obviously most apparent when making significant focus changes. I would not recommend this lens for someone who wants to do a lot of video work.
So overall the AF is a bit of mixed bag. In most normal situations it does a very good job, but there are still some shortcomings that become apparent in extreme situations.
Image Quality – a Pleasant Surprise
The image quality is easier to report on, because it is surprisingly good. This is the last of the three new Tamron all-in-one lenses that I have reviewed. I have tested the 28-300 VC on full frame bodies, the 16-300 VC on a crop sensor camera, and finally this lens on a mirrorless system. I have come away impressed. I feel like the 16-300 VC has the most compromised optics of the three (it is also the most ambitious in zoom range), and I would say that the 28-300 VC and this 18-200 VC have highly similar image quality. The 28-300 VC benefits from the more sophisticated sensors on full frame cameras, but I would guess that most everyone interested in an all-in-one lens will be very pleased with the image quality they get out of the 18-200 VC.
Superzoom lenses have more optical compromises than lenses able to focus on either one focal length or a smaller range. This lens has zoom factor of over 11x, but still manages to produce very stellar image quality throughout the range. I’ve gotten a number of great looking images while using the lens, and I’m impressed when I consider how this lens goes from fairly wide to telephoto focal lengths. 100% magnification shows that the lens doesn’t have the micro-contrast of higher end lenses, but produces nicely detailed images with surprisingly good color. Sharpness is good throughout most of the frame barring the far corners. Image quality is excellent on the wider end and slowly tapers off towards the long end of the zoom range. I wouldn’t use the lens commercially, but the image quality is good enough that I wouldn’t think twice about going out with this lens as my only choice. Others have found that they just don’t end up using the other lenses they bring along because this lens is so convenient.
As has been par for the course with each of these lenses, there is some loss of contrast and more CA on the extreme long end of the focal range, although it is not as pronounced as it was on the 16-300 VC. The lens will focus down to 19.7 inches (.5m), and will provide very decent magnification (1:3.7 or .27x). This is good enough for nice close shots of flowers and will be enough “macro” performance for many users. This is a very useful addition and adds to the “all-in-one” nature of the lens, particularly when one considers that there is no dedicated macro lens for the EOS M system (thankfully we EOS M users can use EF mount lenses through the adapter). At 200mm and near minimum focus backgrounds will be completely diffused for a very pleasant result. Fine detail also holds up nicely near minimum focus.
Fine detail – diffused background
Great detail and color
Very close focus – tiny blossoms
Awesome detail
Beautiful
Gorgeous color rendition
I have found that my affection for this lens has grown during the time of the review. I chronicle the activities and events of the religious organization that I serve with, and I find the focal length/sharpness combination surprisingly effective even in a large board room. It is compact and unobtrusive, and the amount of detail the lens captures is far more than sufficient for reportage use. I went from that application to shooting a landscape/fine art shot that made it to the front page of 500px (see below). The image quality is quite impressive when you consider the extremely large focal range.
I was surprised to find that when I opened the menu on the EOS M that there was correction information for both chromatic aberrations and peripheral illumination. I’ve not known Canon to frequently support third party lenses in this way, but I guess when you made so few lenses yourself for the system…hint, hint, wink, wink. There is also profile information already present in Adobe Lightroom 5 and the newer versions of ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). These profiles will further help deal with both chromatic aberrations (which are present in certain high contrast situations), vignetting, and also lend a hand with distortion…
And there is distortion. The brick wall test tells the story. The wide end of the lens has a fairly significant amount of barrel distortion. Unlike the other two superzooms, however, I can detect some “mustache” distortion pattern, and so I wasn’t overly surprised to see that I could still detect a bit of distortion after the standard profile in Lightroom was applied. It fixes the distortion well enough that you won’t be noticing it in 98% of your work, but I wouldn’t recommend this lens for architectural work (not that many of you were planning on that!)
Uncorrected Distortion
After applying profile
This lens is not a “bokeh monster”. These examples show that the out of focus area is not harsh or strange, but neither is it going to really excite anyone. In certain situations it can be quite pleasing. Obviously if one is reasonably close to their subject and using the longer end of the focal length it will strongly defuse the background, but between the relatively slow aperture and the crop sensors that the lens is designed for, don’t expect particularly strong subject isolation. Still, as many of these samples show, the lens is no slouch in the bokeh department, either.
I find the out of focus areas in my photos to be handled quite well, without the “nervous” quality that often affects optically inferior lenses. And as other samples either in the review text or the image gallery bear out, this lens can really blow out backgrounds if you are close to your subject and shooting on the telephoto end. Tamron has nothing to be ashamed of here, and I would go so far as to call this lens a success in the bokeh department.
But do recognize that this is not a “fast” lens when it comes to aperture. It does start at f/3.5, but that doesn’t last any time at all. By the time you hit 50mm or so, you will be rapidly approaching f/5.6 and f/6.3 will hit by 100mm. The excellent VC helps, but this is a lens that would prefer a lot of good light to operate with, so don’t count on it being a huge asset in a dark room.
But I cannot conclude this review without noting how incredibly useful I found this lens. The combination of (reasonably) compact size, huge focal range, and stellar image quality made this lens seem indispensable. The amount of subjects that fall within the range of what you can shoot with this lens is nearly infinite (just don’t plan on it being your main wildlife lens!) If you own a Sony NEX or a Canon EOS M/M2, this is certainly a lens worth considering. It would make a fabulous travel companion and is a legitimate option for someone who isn’t interested in having to change lenses…ever. It is definitely on the large side, but the image results say that this is because Tamron focused on making a compact lens with quality optics rather than making a tiny lens with inferior optics. The lens wouldn’t be nearly as valuable to me if the image quality wasn’t on this level.
In conclusion, lenses like this one (and the excellent Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 lens I am also reviewing) make the EOS M system seem more viable (and exciting). This lens, pared with the compact nature of the EOS M body, makes for a truly portable solution that can and will meet the majority of many shooter’s need. This is not a “sexy” lens, per se, but it is extraordinarily useful and will probably get far more use than many more exotic lenses for a lot of users. This is a very competent addition to the brief roster of lenses for the EOS M (and Sony E-Mount) systems. Tamron has done a stellar job of producing a general purpose lens with far more strengths and weaknesses at a reasonable price.
Pros:
• Excellent 11x+ zoom range that genuinely covers from wide to telephoto focal length.
• Another excellent execution of Tamron’s Vibration Compensation system.
• Good build quality.
• Snappy AF in the majority of situations.
• Very good image quality including quite good bokeh
• Reasonable price point
• Excellent maximum magnification
Cons:
• AF can hunt in low contrast situations
• AF performance is not as good as EF-M mount lenses in Servo mode
• Lens is at the upper limit of of size and weight that can still balance appropriately on the EOS M body.
• Fairly strong barrel distortion on the wide end.
• Some chromatic aberrations, particularly on the long end.
To view more samples, including some full size images, check out the Lens Gallery:
Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.
Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52014 in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Click here to purchase this lens through Amplis. Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Yongnuo YN 33mm F1.4 DA DSM WL Pro Gallery 
Yongnuo YN 33mm F1.4 DA DSM WL Pro Review 
Neewer NW-ETZ vs Megadap ETZ21 Pro | Sony E to Nikon Z Adapter Showdown 
Neewer NW-ETZ Sony E to Nikon Z Adapter Review 
