The Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD (1499 euros) is an excellent lens proposed at a very reasonable price. It completes perfectly the 2 other Tamron zooms but the quality of this zoom is clearly higher than previous Tamron Zooms. Indeed it supports perfectly the 61Mpix of the A7RIV whereas the 2 other zooms where showing their limits on the A7RIV
To achieve this performance at this price and this reduced size and weight Tamron had to make some choices: 180mm instead of 200mm No optical stabilization Lens extends when zooming No “fancy” buttons on the barrel No tripod foot (but you don’t need it considering the weight) Not compatible with Sony TC
All the above compromises do not influence at all the image quality that is excellent (sharpness and bokeh) and allow for a weight and price divided by 2 compared to the Sony GM
Pros Excellent sharpness on the entire field and entire range at all apertures Very small and light Very reasonable price Very good bokeh and soft background blur Extremely fast , silent and accurate AF Very low level of chromatic aberrations Moderate vignetting Very good resistance to flare Fully weather sealed
Average Color rendition little bit yellowish Not compatible with Sony TC1.4 & TC2.0 No button to switch to MF, to set a custom function, to limit focusing range No optical stabilization
Cons Huge distortion between 135mm and 180mm (no lens profile yet available as of April 2020) Lens does extend when zooming and the zoom ring is quite dampened , so no smooth zooming possible in video Does not look “Pro” if your are pro wedding photographer
The Tamron delivers similar performances to the Sony FE70-200 F2.8 GM in most cases and even surpass it sometimes (corner sharpness and sharpness at 180mm, portability) at half of its price. A superb Performance !
From reliable sources we know that Zeiss wants to further focus on the Full Frame mirrorelss system. I got no reliable details to share yet. All we heard from a new source is that Zeiss is considering to launch a sort of high quality Otus series for mirrorless cameras.
You can now download the new firmware update at Sony’s website.
Benefits and Improvements from the latest update
Adds the Hi Frequency flicker function, which allows you to reduce the impact of flickering of artificial light sources (e.g. digital signage, electronic signboards, LED lights, etc.), by more finely adjusting the shutter speed NOTE: The Imaging Edge Remote, Imaging Edge Mobile, and Remote Camera Tool software will not be supported after April 9th, 2020
Improves the Face/Eye Priority in the AF function:
When set to a custom key, the Face/Eye Priority in the AF function can be activated or deactivated each time the custom key is pressed
If Face/Eye Priority is already set to custom key, this improvement will be available after the camera is updated
Improves the Remote Camera Tool function by adding support for displaying Focus Frame for almost all scenes NOTE: Version 2.00 (or later) of the Remote Camera Tool is required. Please update to the latest version.
Improves the FTP transfer function
Allows the camera’s MAC address to be displayed as a QR code
Adds a function to close the shutter when you turn off the camera to prevent dust or debris from adhering to the image sensor when you change lenses
Allows you to save or load the customized camera settings to My MENU
You can now use our checkout code “RUMOR” to get an additional 15% discount on all TOPAZ products (Click here). This is what you save on the single products:
We expected the new Tamron lens to be optically very good performer. But the big question was f the new autofocus system can match the superb performance of the Sony GM zoom. Well it seem it does! Check out the review:
UPDATE: Here is also a new video from Marc Alhadeff:
