Introduction

Ease of Use

For such a fast telephoto zoom lens, the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 is predictably quite big and bulky, measuring almost 20cms in length and wighing in at around 1.5Kg with the detachable tripod mount attached. While you can use it on a smaller APS-C body, it won't balance very well (and the focal length will also change) - as demonstrated by the images above, it's a much better match for a professional-grade, full-frame camera like the Canon EOS 5DS R, where it feels better balanced.

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens alongside the Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Build quality is excellent, following in the foosteps of other recent "SP" branded lenses that we've reviewed. The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 feels very solid in your hand, with the outer barrel now made from metal rather than from plastic.

Side of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

Side of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

The zoom ring is generously wide and has a ridged, rubberised grip band. The lens doesn't extend at any point when you zoom out from 70mm and the filter ring doesn't rotate, good news for filter users.

Front of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

The focusing ring is much narrower, making it difficult to locate in a rush, but it is well damped. There's a distance scale that runs from the closest distance of 0.95m to infinity, but no depth of field scale. An AF/MF switch on the side of the lens makes it easy to switch between the two focusing systems. There's also a focus limiter switch which has 2 settings - full (0.95m-infinity) and 3m-infinity.

Rear of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

 

Side of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

Side of the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens

The final controls are the VC On / Off switch, which turns the lens' built-in Vibration Compensation on and off, and the VC Mode switch, which selects between the 3 different modes. Mode 1 balances between stabilizing the viewfinder image and the capture image, mode 2 is exclusively used for panning, while mode 3 stabilizes the captured image rather than the viewfinder image. In practice we found the system reliably offered around 4 f-stops of compensation, obviously dependant upon your own particular hand-holding technique, making it much easier to use the lens in low-light conditions.

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens in-hand

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens fitted with the supplied lens hood and detachable tripod mount

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 benefits from a moisture-resistant construction which helps to prevent moisture from penetrating the lens, although we'd hesitate to use it in the rain for a prolonged period.

The lens is supplied with lens caps and a very large flower-shaped lens hood, and a soft bag is also included. The filter size is 77mm.

Auto-focus

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 features a USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive) that allows near-silent auto-focusing. Importantly, this solution allows instant manual override even when the focus mode switch is in the AF position. Focusing is fully internal, meaning the length of the lens always remains constant. In use, we found the focusing to be very quiet and satsifyingly fast with the lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R body.

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are impressively well controlled with this lens - the examples below show the worst-case scenario.

Focal Range

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 offers a classic focal range for full-frame DSLR owners.

70mm

200mm

Light Fall-off and Distortion

With the Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 wide open at f/2.8, you can see some very noticeable light fall-off in the corners at both ends of the zoom range. Stopping down helps, although to completely get rid of this phenomenon, you will need to use an f-stop of f/5.6 or smaller.

Vignetting at 70mm

Vignetting at 200mm

Macro

The Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2 is not a macro lens. The close-focus point is at 0.95cm from the film/sensor plane and the magnification ratio is 1:6.1. The following example illustrates how close you can get to the subject with the lens set to 200mm to aid magnification, in this case a CompactFlash card.

Close-up performance

Bokeh

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. One of the reason to buy a fast lens is to be able to isolate the subject from the background. Tamron was apparently very much aware of this requirement, as they employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades for a pleasing rendering of the out-of-focus highlights. Based on what we have seen, we can say that they largely succeeded. Below you'll find some examples, but you are also encouraged to check out our sample images.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.