Review by Klaus Schroiff, published February 2021

Introduction

Almost all 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses feature a non-extending zoom mechanism. Tamron, just like Canon RF, departed from this characteristic so the length of the lens increases the more you zoom out. Combined with the slightly shortened focal length and the use of an XR element, it enabled Tamron to drastically reduce the size (81x149mm) at its 70mm setting. Additionally, Tamron used their very light-weight body materials resulting in a weight of merely 810g. For comparison - the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS weights almost twice as much. Tamron also omitted the tripod mount altogether - probably knowing that these lenses are rarely used on tripods anyway. On top of that, you won't even find an AF/MF switch. There is, however, a transport lock switch to avoid zoom creeping although we didn't notice that this is a problem in our sample. As far as build quality goes, we rate it on a high consumer-grade level. It's tightly assembled and the controls operate smoothly. You don't really get the impression that you could take it into a war zone though (if that's your thing anyway). That being said, it's a moisture-resistant construction and it'll be tough enough for amateur needs anyway. A petal-shaped lens hood is part of the package.

The lens uses Tamron's VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) for quiet autofocusing. On our rather oldish A7R II, we noticed that the AF is fast at f/2.8 but slows down beyond due to additional micro-adjustments (more on this later). Manual focusing is, as usual, by-wire, and it's a very precise mechanism. In AF mode, it can focus down to 0.85mm or 1:4.6 magnification which is very impressive already. Curiously, you can focus down even further in manual focus mode with a maximum magnification of 1:2 at 70mm - that's macro territory. A floating system should also counter the decrease in image quality at shorter focus distances. The Tamron lens does NOT feature a built-in image stabilizer thus you'd have to rely on the IBIS (camera IS). While this is usually good enough, in-lens IS tends to be a bit better at longer focal lengths.