Review: Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) (by Agent99)

[JakeB.]

Provided by Agent99 I bought the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) for my Canon XTi. The only other lens I have is my kit lens (18-55) and I was getting very disappointed with it. Mainly, the softness and fuzziness- not to mention the plastic mount and wobbly build quality. Its good for what it is, but come on. SO, I received this Tamron today. Its 18 degrees outside so I didn't get to go take many pictures. But, the ones I took were spectacular in quality in comparison with the kit lens. I bought this for $409 at BEACHCAMERA.COM who got it here in 3 days. Beachcamera.com = Fast, friendly, and honest. The lens is heavy compared to the kit. It weighs about 1 pound. The weight is NOT annoying or too heavy. It really feels great with the camera. I'm in love with this thing!! Oh, and it has a lock feature to lock the lens at 17mm to prevent lens creep. (movement in the zoom range when the lens is pointing up or down) However- it doesn't need it. Even with the lock turned off, there is no zoom creep. The lens itself looks good. It has a gold colored ring and the spec of red where the zoom creep lock is actually looks good..or maybe I'm weird. * A bonus. This lens comes with its own petal shaped lens hood. It doesn't screw on instead it fits on just like the a lens. There's a little white dot you align and turn it clockwise until it locks. Neat feature. A sample picture along with the 100% crop. 100% Crop I'm a bit of an asshole when it comes to my pictures. I hate blurriness and very much demand noise free, sharp pictures and so far this lens does NOT disappoint. $400 bucks guys- GET IT! Personally, I was 100% against 3rd party lenses but when it comes to bang for the buck, this one cant be beat. Pictures of the lens from my p&s S2IS because I didn't want to remove the lens in my apt and risk getting dust on my sensor. CONCLUSION Being so cold, I've only taken a handful of pictures with this. However, ALL have been just as great looking as they were on the small LCD on the back of the camera. This thing screams bang for the buck and I'm very happy with it. It has restored my faith in my camera and unleashed potential I never knew it had. Agent says: I'll post more pics as I take 'em.

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[fejai]

I've got the exact same model but as a 28-75. I love everything about it, 0 complaints. It's cheap too, and for what you get vs. what you pay it's great.
One question agent99, how loud is your autofocus and how fast is it? My focus is damn quick, but it can be a bit noisy (which I don't mind).

[fventura03]

very nice review!

[Gong Show]

I'm hoping to get the tamron 28-75 2.8

Nice review, I also was thinking of getting the 17-50 2.8 before. But i think I want the 28-75 more.

[WhoisDan]

Nice lens!

I have the Tamron 28-75 and 17-35.

[dr_spock]

I have the 17-50mm f2.8 for over half a year now. It is still working good. AF noise is about the same as the 18-55kit lens or a 50mm f1.8 II. It's good value for the $$$.