Digital Photographer - USA (2019-07)

Left

/16,0.3xmagnification

Corner-sharpnessdropsoff

alittlemorethanwiththe

CanonandSigmalensesat

f16,butnotasmuchasinthe

Nikonlens

FarLeft

f11,1.0xmagnification

TheTamronretainsverygood

sharpnessacrosstheentire

imageframeatf11,evenatits

veryshortestfocusdistance

Right

Forthegreatoutdoors

Weather-sealedandwithakeep-clean

fluorinecoatingonitsfrontelement,

theTamrontakeschallengingoutdoor

conditionsinitsstride.

Price:£580/$650

tamron’sg 2 lenseshaveearnedan

excellentreputationfordeliveringhigh-end

performanceandpremiumbuildquality,at

veryreasonableprices.Althoughitlacksthe

g 2 tag,this90mmvCusDisnevertheless

thesecondeditionofthelens.it’seasily

distinguishablefromtheoriginalversion,with

asilverbandaroundthebarrelinsteadof

agoldring.Bothlensesbuildonthenear-

legendarystatusoftamron90mmmacro

optics,whichhavebeenimpressingfilm

anddigitalphotographersfordecades.the

latesteditionaddsanextraXLDelement,

whilealsoretaininganLDelement,and

featuresbothconventionalandnano-

structurecoatings.LiketheCanonlenson

test,thetamronfeaturesa‘hybrid’image

stabilizer,whichcounteractstheeffectsof

X-Yshiftaswellasvibration.Buildqualityis

reassuringlygood,withahigh-gradefeelto

thecomfortablylargeswitchesandsmooth-

actionfocusring.weather-sealsarefeatured,

plusafluorinecoatingonthefrontelement

torepelgreaseandmoisture,aswellas

toaideasycleaning.theeffectivenessof

thevibrationCompensationcloselymatches

theperformanceoftheCanonstabilizer,

givinga4-stopbenefitatmediumtolong

focussettingsandshrinkingto2-stopsatthe

minimumfocusdistance.sharpnessacross

theimageisalmostasgoodasfromthe

Canonlensbutdropsoffalittlemoreatf16

andnarrower,whichcanbeabitofanissue

inmacrophotography.evenatverynarrow

apertures,however,itmatchestheNikonlens

forcentre-sharpnessandbeatsittowardsthe

edgesoftheframe.Colourfringingisminimal

atwideandmediumapertures,butmore

noticeableatnarrowapertures.

Tamron SP 90mm F2.8

Di VC USD Macro

The latest in a long line of

high-performance Tamron

90mm macro lenses, this

one has a hybrid stabilizer

group test