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Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] macro (Nikon) - Review / Lab Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)
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Lens kindly provided by Tamron Europe!
Introduction
Back in the 1992 Tamron started the extreme or "super" zoom era with the release of the
the AF 28-200mm F/3.8-5.6 Aspherical, a 7.1x zoom ratio lens. At the time it was quite a
sensation whereas today such lenses have found their way into the heart of the mainstream.
Tamron released various new incarnations over time including the 28-300mm (10.7x) and the
first dedicated APS-C super-zoom - the 18-200mm XR (11.1x) - and this year they pushed
it even further with the new Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] macro
breaking the existing zoom ratio record again (13.9x) - the zoom range translates a
field-of-view equivalent to a 27-375mm (full format). Normally you would expect such
a beast to be fairly massive but Tamron is also renowned for lens miniaturization and
the 18-250mm isn't any bigger than a typical mid-range zoom. One of the reasons for this
is surely the very slow max. aperture of f/6.3 @ 250mm. This is a bit of a borderline approach
because most AF system are only specified till f/5.6 (officially) and you need
quite a bit of light (or high ISO) to use this lens hand-held.
In terms of build quality the Tamron is a fairly typical consumer grade zoom lens.
Most of the outer construction is made of plastic except for the metal mount (which
is an upgrade compared to the old 18-200mm XR). The broad rubberized zoom ring
has a varying friction and it wobbles a little whereas the small focus ring
operates reasonably smooth although somewhat "scratchy". The lens uses a duo-cam zoom
mechanism (two inner lens tubes) to extend towards to long end of the zoom range.
At 250mm the lens is about twice as long as full retracted (@ 18mm). Surprisingly
the duo-cams showed no tendency to wobble despite the extreme extension. The tested
sample did not suffer from zoom creeping (which may develop over time) but Tamron
implemented a transport lock (18mm only) just in case.
Note: The product image above shows the Canon variant of the lens
The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw operated by the
camera. This generates some noise during AF operations and the AF speed is comparatively
slow although reasonably accurate on the D200.
| Specifications |
| Optical construction | 16 elements in 13 groups inc. 1x AD, 2x LD and 2x hybrid aspherical elements |
| Number of aperture blades | 7 |
| min. focus distance | 0.45m (max. magnification ratio ~1:3.5) |
| Dimensions | 84x83mm |
| Weight | 430g |
| Filter size | 62mm (non-rotating) |
| Hood | supplied, petal-shaped, snap-on type |
| Other features | - |
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