Conclusion

The new Tamron 24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 lens for Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras offers sharp images in the centre, very useful 1:2 macro shooting, weather-proofing and a wallet-friendly price tag, all in a compact, lightweight package.

On the other hand, the auto-focusing system is fairly slow and quite noisy, the maximum aperture isn't particularly fast, it offers very few features, it requires a a worryingly stern twist to lock it into place, and there's a lot of barrel distortion that you'll need to remove in post-processing.

Center sharpness is excellent throughout the entire aperture range and very good at the edges from f/5.6 onwards. Chromatic aberrations are virtually non-existent and flare is only ever an issue when shooting directly into the sun.

Unfortunately, barrel distortion is very obvious indeed, even in the JPEG files. The other notable optical issue is some obvious corner shading at the maximum aperture.

The ability to shoot at 1:2 at just 12cms away from your subject does open up a lot of creative macro opportunities. The macro capabilities of the Tamron 24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 lens are one of the main reasons for considering this lens.

Much less appealing is the auto-focusing. Tamron claim that it's fast and near silent, hence the silent bit of the OSD acronym, but we found it be anything but, especially in low-light situations.

If you're interested in wide-angle macro photography, the Tamron 24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 is an obvious choice, but as a more general-purpose wide-angle prime, the sluggish autofocus system and high levels of distortion make it a miss rather than a hit.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	3.5
Image quality	3.5
Value for money	4.5