#1 Eddie

Maybe edge sharpness looks disappointing because the book on the far left is slightly in front or behind the point of focus.
That’s why it only looks sharp when depth of field is large enough.

12:52 am - Friday, December 7, 2012

#2 Eddie

Maybe edge sharpness is disappointing because the book on the left is out of focus.
So it only becomes sharp with enough depth of field.

12:54 am - Friday, December 7, 2012

#3 JS

I noticed that too, the books aren’t exactly a flat field…a very good lens.

3:01 pm - Friday, December 7, 2012

#4 Sergey Skleznev

Main rivals choice is very strange! Its logical to compare macro lens to other macro lenses, isnt it?

1:16 pm - Sunday, December 9, 2012

#5 Keith

I agree with Sergey. I was expecting to see possibly the canon 100mm or a sigma macro as the main rivals.

10:35 pm - Wednesday, January 16, 2013

#6 ALSnape

I would think one of its biggest rivals is the regular non-VC version of this Tamron lens which sells in Feb 2013 for $450 new.  I have it and love it.  Not sure that it is worth $250+ to have image stabilizing and quiet focus.  Honestly the autofocus on the old lens is fine for portraits and for macro I really prefer manual focus anyway. I’m very happy with the image quality but Tamron may have priced themselves outside the range of many buyers in this case.  Tamron makes great lenses but third party lenses sell much faster below $500 than above.

11:30 pm - Sunday, February 3, 2013

#7 Martijn

ALSnape, do not underestimate the attraction of third-party lenses. First of all, I wouldn’t call them that. Or I will call the Canon and Nikon cameras third-party compared to the lenses from Tamron, Sigma and Tokina!

That said, around this pricepoint the price has less and less to do with its sellings. A better quality lens deserves a higher price, and Tamron makes no exception.

About your personal macro lens preference: sure, for you in your situations you don’t need or want autofocus. I, for one, would love quiet (and quick!) autofocus, combined with IS/OS/VC, since I mainly shoot by hand.

11:23 pm - Monday, February 4, 2013