We all wander through life, looking for a lens through which to see our daily experiences. Well, maybe you don’t. But it’s pretty much what I do. Recently I found a lens that I think I’m going to be using for quite some time. It’s got a preponderous name - Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Lens for Sony E - but once you get past the geek lingo, the lens is quite simple. And that’s why I like it. Here are a few more reasons.

It’s Cheap

Well, not really cheap, but comparatively so - it’s less than half the price of the Sony equivalent, which is the only other option for a telephoto zoom that fits the “long end” of the “holy trinity” of f/2.8 zoom lenses that all pro photographers keep handy along with their 12-24 and 24-70.

It’s Small and Light

Again, maybe not compared to your average lens, but for an f/2.8 telephoto, it’s pretty much the smallest one out there.

It’s an f/2.8

Okay, I keep mentioning that number. What the heck does it mean? f/2.8 is about the largest aperture that a full-frame zoom lens can have. Yeah, the smaller the ‘f stop’ the larger the aperture, so the more light it can let in, and the greater depth of field, which translates as better separation between subject and background, which in turn is great for portraits and street photography. So yeah. f/2.8 is the bee’s knees. But be careful - when you stop ‘down’ to f/2.8, the DOF is so shallow that one eye can be in focus and the other, not.

Which eye to focus on? Luckily, the A9 grabs one automatically.

It’s Made for Sony

Well, of course, that’s why I bought the lens: it fits on my Sony. But that’s not what I meant. I mean its size, weight, and form factor seem perfectly tailored and balanced for the Sony mirrorless camera range such as the A7 and A9 series, which are significantly smaller than the larger and heavier DSLR’s from Canon and Nikon. Sony was first to introduce a full-frame mirrorless camera system. The idea was to offer smaller gear and greater portability without having to compromise on image quality. But until recently, the lenses were pretty much the same size as their Canon and Nikon counterparts, leaving only the camera bodies to be smaller and actually causing some issues when you try to hold a large heavy lens with a tiny body. Canon & Nikon have since jumped in with their mirrorless camera offerings, and Canon has a beautiful little 70-200 f/2.8 that is - oh, now I get it - nearly three times more expensive than the Tamron. But you see the direction it’s all heading.

Street Spin

So I took it for a spin on a rainy afternoon in Seattle, right in the middle of Panemania and also the BLM movement. Yeah. Pretty normal stuff for 2020. The lens motor focuses silently (and fast) and so, when used with a camera that has a silent shutter (love the A9), it means you can take photos without bothering other people. Unless of course, you ask them to pose…

Focus Tracking, Frame rate

Tracking a subject while it moves, and the speed with which photos can be taken while focusing, are a function of both camera and lens; they have to work together. The Sony A9 is capable of shooting up to 20 frames per second with a Sony lens. With the Tamron, it still churns out 15 frames per second, fast enough to make a high 6K movie. In the sequence shown below, I shot 70 continuous frames of a cyclist moving towards me - while simultaneously zooming from 180mm down to 70mm. The seven frames marked red - 10% - were not in clear focus, with more errors occurring as the subject moved closer in.

And for you Pixel Peepers, I’ve included the first, last, and one of the ‘unfocused’ pictures, so that you can critique and judge. Click to view full size, or at least as full as your monitor allows.

In focus at 180mm

Out of focus at 74mm

In focus at 70mm

Compared to Another Nice Lens

I’ve raved about the Sony 1.8/135mm as the sharpest lens I’ve ever used, on any camera. Certain geek websites confirm that. Anyhow, I’m not really interested in the pixels or in the “maximum resolution capability” but, rather, just how the two lenses compare when shooting at 135mm. Is there a difference in coloring? In bokeh?

Shot with Zeiss Batis 1.8/85 on an old, cranky A7Rii, hand-held looking down at the dusty floor.

My first test was the "white blob", otherwise known as a Honda Fit, parked about 30 feet beyond these nice ferns growing off my back patio. This wasn’t exactly apples to apples, as I zoomed into 180 with the Tamron, but I wonder, what do you think about the sharpness of focus? How about the creaminess of the bokeh elixir in the background?

Sony 1.8/135 @2.8

Tamron zoomed to 180mm

Your Guess

Okay, can you tell which photo from each pair was taken with which lens? Hint: one is the Sony 135mm f/1.8, one is the Tamron 70-180 f/2.8

Yup. Thought so.

My Summary

The Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Lens for Sony E is the perfect lens for travel and street photography because of its size, weight, and great depth of field. It’s also an excellent lens for portraiture and weddings, and less foreboding (so less off-putting) as well becuase of its size. Its lack of in-lens image stabilization was not an issue for me because I rarely use it: it slows focus in sports photography and there’s rarely a need for it in other situations given the ISO latitude of digital cameras these days.

The zoom ring action is delightfully light and smooth, and the entire range can be covered in about 1/8 of a turn.

The zoom and focus rings are reversed on the lens, compared to Sony lenses, with the focus ring closer to the body. I actually prefer this because I can easily focus even with the lens shade on backward. By comparison, I cannot focus the Sony 4/24-105 when the shade is on backward.

Nothing in my first two days with this lens gave me any cause for concern about weather sealing or sturdiness - indeed it functioned well in the rain shower on the first day - but the fact that the end of the lens can extend up to an inch and a half when fully zoomed out to 180, does leave it potentially exposed to the elements. One nifty feature is a “lock” switch which holds the lens in when zoomed out to 70mm; presumably, this is good for traveling.

Last Shot

If this is where sports are headed post-pandemic, we’re up the creek.

A Nice Lens