Lens Review: Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD for Sony FF mirrorless

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Click here to read the review of Tamron SP 150-600 f/5-6.3 VC USD G2 (ModelA022)

The Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD for Sony FF mirrorless (Model A071) is the world's first all-in-one zoom starting at f/2.8. Super zooms have come a long way when they suffered from low image quality or slow apertures throughout their zoom range. Not anymore, the Tamron 28-200mm is incredibly sharp even wide open at 28mm, and has a fast aperture at most of its zoom range. It's a good 'Walk Around' lens due to its wide focal range, Nikon and Canon do have a 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. It will be a great addition if Tamron releases this lens for Nikon and Canon mounts as well. Its lightweight and small design doesn't tire you. I could shoot the entire day with this lens.

If you are looking for a good 'Walk Around' lens for your Sony full-frame mirrorless, this could be it. We will talk about its versatility, image sharpness, and other features with sample images. Images for this review have been shot on a Sony A7sIII body, a 12.1 MP full-frame mirrorless camera.

Bougainvillea Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @174mm - 1/640s - f/5.6 - ISO 640 - WB 5200K

A longer focal length creates a smooth background while the short MOD (Minimum Object Distance) helps get sharp details.

Key Features: The 28-200 has 18 elements in 14 groups, including LD (Low Dispersion) and XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) to greatly suppress chromatic aberrations, and make it possible to achieve high image quality from edge to edge.

• Fast Hybrid AF - Quick and intuitive auto-focus.

• Eye AF - Comes in very handy when shooting portraiture.

• Direct Manual Focus (DMF) In other words Direct Manual Over-ride for quick focus adjustments.

• In-camera lens correction (Shading, Chromatic Aberration, Distortion)

• Maximum aperture of f/2.8-5.6 and minimum aperture of f/16-32

• No Vibration Compensation on the lens as it uses Sony's in-body IBIS system.

• Autofocus with RXD (Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive) Stepper motor.

• The lens body is made of plastic and metal.

• MOD (Minimum Object Distance) is 0.32x (7.5″/19.05 cm) at the widest focal length.

• Moisture-Resistant Construction and Fluorine Coating for added protection.

• The lens is just 2.91 x 4.6 in (74 x 116.8 mm).

• Weighs in at 575g.

The lens firmware can be updated through the camera body. Lens Construction

Fresh! Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/1000s - f/2.8 - ISO 200 - WB 5200K

With a minimum MOD of 7.5" inches at 28mm it can produce great macro details. As you can see in the image above it is very sharp even wide open, producing lovely bokeh with crisp details of the strawberries. Build Quality:

The lens has a good build quality. Weighing in at just 575g it doesn't feel flimsy in your hands. It has a nice matte finish and looks very close to the Sony A7sIII's body finish. The small flower shape lens hood is made of plastic and fits on the bayonet-type lens hood mount. It can be fitted in reverse while packed in your camera bag to save space.

Lens matte finish compared to the body

Ergonomics: The lens feels just right for medium-sized hands. The zoom ring and focus rings are easily accessible, one doesn't have to move their eye away from the viewfinder to locate the focus ring. The dampening of the zoom ring is just right, moving from wide to tele and back is effortless. The bayonet mount of the lens hood makes it easy to put on the lens hood even in a hurry. Just half a twist locks or unlocks it from the lens hood mount. The same amount of twist is enough to go from 28mm to 200mm, so zooming in and out can be done very quickly. To attach the lens on the Sony E mount one has to turn the lens downward unlike the Nikon F mount in which you have to turn in the opposite direction.

There is only one switch on the lens, the 'zoom lock'. It locks the lens at 28mm and comes in handy while in transit. The lens doesn't have a 'lens creep' so walking around with the zoom lock disengaged is not an issue.

Different focal lengths and aperture change: Below are images taken of the same scene at different focal lengths demonstrating the different field of view that each focal length renders.

Performance: Let's see how it holds up in the field.

It's a very versatile lens due to the focal range that it covers. Good fast aperture almost throughout its focal range makes it a good lens to shoot with all day long. I'm very impressed by the image sharpness even at f/2.8. The colour rendition is good and you hardly have to tweak the white balance in post-processing if you have it dialed in properly according to the light conditions that you are shooting in. The lens can be used for street, food, portraiture, landscapes, wide macro, tele-macro, and sports to a certain extent. The few images below demonstrate its versatility.

Poised Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @60mm - 1/500s - f/4 - ISO 800 - WB 5200K

Good sharp details all over with pleasing bokeh even at focal length of 60mm at f/4. Mona Lisa's smile Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @63mm - 1/250s - f/4 - ISO 800 - WB 5200K

Cityscape and the rising sun Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/100s - f/10 - ISO 640 - WB 5600K

Strawberry in the making. Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/400s - f/4.5 - ISO 800 - WB 5400K

Wide-angle macros are a sheer delight to shoot with this lens. The lens captures fine details even at f/2.8, though stopping down a bit yields a better depth of field. I just can't get enough of it!

Tele-macro Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @173mm - 1/1600s - f/5.6 - ISO 640 - WB 5300K

The lens produces fine details even in tele-macro shots.

Crown flower of Calotropis gigantea plant Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/2000s - f/2.8 - ISO 640 - WB 5200K

The shallow depth of field at f/2.8 accentuates the critical focus. On The Right Path Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/50s - f/10 - ISO 640 - WB 5200K

Good overall contrast in the tones captured.

Serenity: A start to a lovely weekend. Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @60mm - 1/800s - f/10 - ISO 800 - WB 5200K

There is no apparent problem of flaring even while shooting against the light.

Sun Burst Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @28mm - 1/100s - f/9 - ISO 640 - WB 5200K

Architecture Image EXIF: A7sIII - Tamron 28-200 - @35mm - 1/2000s - f/9 - ISO 320 - WB 5200K

Summary:

The Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD for Sony FF mirrorless is compact and a very versatile lens. It can cover a wide genre of photography making it a good 'Walk Around' lens in my opinion. With a very short MOD (Minimum Object Distance) it is a great inclusion if you are looking at a lens that can do a few things that specialised lenses offer. Autofocus is fast and the lens is sharp throughout the focal range even wide open.

If you are someone who is looking for a lens that you can mount and not bother about changing to another one then this is the lens to go for. I'm sure with higher megapixel cameras it will give much better results in terms of finer details. Looks like Tamron has a winner in their hands. #shotontamron #tamronindia #tamronnewfelens #tamronmirrorlesslens #tamron28200mm #tamronsonymirrorless https://tamron.in/product/lenses/a071.html Click here to read the review of Tamron SP 150-600 f/5-6.3 VC USD G2 (ModelA022)