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| Photo by Lynne Eodice |
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| Photo by Mike Stensvold |
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| Tamron's new SP AF17-35mm zoom performs well on film cameras (opposite page, top) and digital SLRs (a Canon EOS 10D, this page and opposite, bottom, on which it becomes a 27.2-56mm zoom—still good wide-angle capability). Note good distortion correction in building shot above.Photo by Ron Leach |
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| Photo by Ron Leach |
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| Photo by Lynne Eodice |
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| The superwide focal-length range in a zoom lens provides good compositional versatility, whether you are shooting with a film SLR or a digital SLR. The under-one-foot minimum focusing distance lets you move in close.Photo by Lynne Eodice |
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New wide-angle zoom for digital and film SLRs
Tamron's newest wide-angle zoom lens, the SP AF17-35mm f/2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical [IF] Model A05, offers several nice features. One is that it will focus down to 11.8 inches (30cm) at all focal lengths, allowing you to move in very close for those expanded wide-angle-effect shots. Another is that it provides a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture at the widest focal length, handy for low-light shooting. Yet another is its superwide 17mm minimum focal length, which provides true wide-angle capability with digital SLRs that have smaller-than-full-35mm-frame image sensors: it's equivalent to a 25.5-52.5mm lens when used on digital SLRs with a 1.5X tele factor (Fuji, Nikon and Pentax), and to a 27.2-56mm lens when used on Canon digital SLRs with their 1.6X tele factor. Of course, it's a 17-35mm lens when used on Canon EOS, Minolta Maxxum, Nikon and Pentax AF 35mm film SLRs.
Specs include 14 elements in 11 groups (including one LD and three aspherical elements to correct distortion and the various aberrations that tend to affect wide-angle zoom designs), angles of view of 104°-63° (on a 35mm film camera, less on the aforementioned digicams), a filter size of 77mm, a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.4 (at the 35mm setting), a minimum aperture of f/22, seven diaphragm blades, a diameter of 3.28 inches, an overall length of 3.41 inches, a weight of 15.5 ounces.
To sort through the abbreviations in the len's name, SP means it's part of Tamron's top-of-the line Super Performance lens family. AF means it's an autofocus lens (which, of course, can also be focused manually via its focusing ring). F/2.8-4 means the lens has a very fast f/2.8 maximum aperture at the 17mm setting, and a maximum aperture of f/4 at the 35mm setting. Di refers to its Digital Integrated design, optimized for use with digital SLRs that have image sensors smaller than a full 35mm film frame and thus require specific performance characteristics (which also provide excellent performance with film SLRs and full-frame-sensor digital SLRs). LD means the lens includes a Low Dispersion element to reduce color aberrations. Aspherical means the lens employs three aspherical elements to reduce distortion and spherical aberrations at all focal lengths. [IF] means the lens employs internal focusing—only the smaller internal elements move during focusing, for faster and more-accurate autofocusing, and the front element doesn't rotate during focusing, handy when using orientation-sensitive lens attachments such as polarizers and graduated ND filters. A lengthy designation, but it means the lens contains lots of good stuff that translates into excellent performance.
In Use
The SP AF17-35mm features a two-ring design: zooming is done by rotating the ring nearest the camera body, and manual focusing via the ring ahead of the zoom ring. Both rings are easily reached with the camera in shooting position, and operate smoothly and positively. The rings maintain their settings when the camera is tilted up or down—some push-pull designs tend to extend when the camera is pointed down, or compress when the camera is pointed up. Because the lens is quite compact, you do have to be sure not to interfere with the focusing ring's movement during autofocusing; but you quickly get the hang of that. The focusing ring is calibrated in both feet and meters, but there's no infrared focusing index. The zoom ring has markings for 17mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm, but, of course, also can be positioned anywhere in-between to suit your compositional needs.
Image quality was excellent with both color slides and color prints. Images were crisp in both resolution and contrast, and colors were accurate. Lens flare was minimal. Our test lens exhibited slight pincushion distortion at longer focal lengths, and minimal barrel distortion at the wide end—very good performance for a superwide zoom.
We found it nice to be able to focus down to under one foot at all focal lengths, making it possible to move right in on small subjects to make them dominant in compositions—the popular "wide-angle expansion" effect. Some wide-angle zooms won't focus that close, and so can't maximize this effect.
As part of Tamron's top-end SP lens family, the SP AF17-35mm features an attractive and durable black wrinkled enamel finish. The zoom and focusing rings have textured rubber grips, and the zoom ring's is about twice the width of the focusing ring's, making it easy to tell which is which by feel with the camera at the eye. The lens comes with a detachable flower-shaped lens hood that provides maximum flare protection without vignetting at the 17mm setting. The release tabs for the lens cap are toward the center, so you can attach and remove the cap with the hood attached to the lens, a nice touch.
The SP AF17-35mm zoom is available in mounts for Canon EOS, Minolta Maxxum (D), Nikon (D) and Pentax AF SLRs. Street price is around $479. For more information, visit www.tamron.com.
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