TAMRON - 16-300 mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Nikon F Cameras - Black - B016N

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Images: With the lens set at 70mm, I shot this scene across the entire aperture range. You can see how resolution increases to f/11 and then falls off beyond f/16 The Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6/3 offers a uniquely huge 18.8x zoom range, performs well, delivers good value for money and has impressive close up focus performance making this an ideal travel zoom lens. Chromatic aberration (CA) is never far away, and most prominent at shortest and longest focal lengths. It's very noticeable here around the rear wheel. 16mm, 1/200 sec, f/8, ISO 100, on Canon 7D.

Images: Coloured fringing in distant subjects extends well into the frame at f/6.3. At f/11 fringing still exists, but it is less obvious in the centre of the frame With the Tamron AF 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD wide open, you can see some very noticeable light fall-off in the corners throughout the zoom range. Stopping down helps, although to completely get rid of this phenomenon, you will need to use an f-stop of f/8 or smaller. There's also some very obvious barrel distortion at the 16mm setting. Image: Shot approximately halfway through the focal range at f/8, this image shows plenty of details in the horses’ hairMPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth.

In the DSLR sector, Tamron faces superzoom rivals in every camp, and some of the designs are notably similar. Alphabetically, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS looks a little behind the curve these days, though it's a proven good performer. Nikon has a history of occasional cooperation with Tamron and matches the long-end reach with its Nikkor 18-300mm F3.5-6.3G AF-S DX ED VR. The Pentax SMC DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 ED SDM bears more than a passing resemblance to the superseded Tamron 18-270mm. Not to be outdone, Sigma joins the up-to-300mm superzoom club with its revamped 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM C, and Sony has the DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3. Angle of view The version of this Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro lens I had to test was fitted for Canon EF-S, so I chose to mount it on an EOS 70D – being perhaps at the upper end of the kind of camera with which we might expect this lens to be used. Extended or contracted, the lens makes a fine mate for the body. The two balance well, and while somewhat heavy for all-day carrying, it is no worse than most enthusiasts are prepared to lumber themselves with. At the 300mm end, the angle of view is 5°20', which is the same as that of a 450mm lens on a 35mm full-frame camera. In coming to the soft assessment, I looked at the sample photo of the berries taken in the review, which is quite excellent for such a lens.

Levels of chromatic aberrations are an issue for this lens towards the edges of the frame, especially at 300mm. Here it exceeds two pixel widths, which is a level that may be clearly visible along high contrast areas towards the edges of the frame. The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column.

Superzooms are not the best choice for bokeh fans, with modest maximum aperturesusually creating quitedeep depth-of-field.But with the Tamron's longer focal length, the narrower field-of-view gives good subject isolation, greatly enhancing the bokeh effect at 300mm, particularly at closer shooting distances.

Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro review – Build and handling

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the AF 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD lens, Tamron have employed an iris diaphragm with seven rounded blades, which has resulted in quite nice bokeh in our view. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we've included some 100% crops for your perusal.

The Tamron focuses closer than most superzooms, down to 9cm (3.5 in) from the front of the lens. At 300mm focal length setting, it delivers a maximum magnification of 0.34x. Or to put that another way, it will fill the frame on APS-C format with a subject6cm (2.4 in) wide. This small rose wouldfit easily in the palm of your hand. I had expected to write at length on the subjects of vignetting and curvilinear distortions, but on the darkening of corners the lens has rather disappointed me. While some fall-off in illumination is detectable in technical subjects, in the real-life situations in which I’d expect this lens to be used that darkening is not really noticeable. The Tamron AF 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD is quite light considering the massive 18.8x zoom range on offer, weighing in at 540g. It certainly doesn't feel too weighty in the hand and proved to be well balanced on the Canon EOS 7D that we tested it with. The lens extends by about an extra 8cm when fully zoomed out to 300mm. Broadly speaking, there are two extremes of photographer in this world – the happy snapper and the pixel-peeper. The pixel-peeper is serious about technical quality and is prepared to sacrifice convenience to achieve what he believes is perfection. The happy snapper enjoys taking pictures and isn’t too worried about the finer points of quality, but wants to be able to enjoy his hobby.While there are certainly advantages to using an APS-C sensor, there will also be costs in having a zoom with such a range. Unfortunately, the laws of optics dictate that some of those costs will be higher in a lens designed for APS-C sensors than they are for those designed for the thumbnail-sized sensors of the original bridge models. Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro review – Build and handling The stated focal length of a lens is only technically true at infinity focusing distance. 'Focus breathing' is a reduction in focal length at closer range, as a consequence of the internal focusing (IF) mechanism used to keep the overall length of the lens down. All IF lenses do it to some extent, but superzooms are known to be particularly prone as manufacturers push the limits to reduce bulk. Barrelling and pincushion distortion do make an appearance, though, bending lines close to the edges of the frame at almost all focal length positions. While the barrelling at the 16mm end is not as bad as it could be in distant subjects, when we focus on closer things it is an issue. A church interior, for example, will suffer only a little, but the small bedroom of your house might take on an obviously distorted look.