Can anyone tell me if the Tamron is any good I'm a bit surprised that its almost as much as the Nikon?

-- anna edgar (anna.edgar@lineone.net), February 15, 2002

Answers

I am a Nikon user, and work for a tamron dealer.

I've seen the good results for the Nikon upon it's introduction a couple of years ago, but if it were my money, I would go for the Tamron. The 24-135 truly has knockout performance. When I purchase a zoom to compliment my killer nikkor primes, the tamron is the only lens that I feel will provide what I'm looking for. Test shots wowed me.

Not that there is anything wrong with the Nikkor, But I don't like the way it is put together. Doesn't feel as solid as the Tamron.

I'm sure your local dealer will be glad to let you parking-lot test the two back-to-back to aid in your desicion. For this favor you should purchase it there, o/w he mihgt not be there in the future.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), February 15, 2002.

Thanks for this Milke, I am off to try a tamrom in London on my camera tomorrow. They didnt have a pentax fit locally, I tried one on a Minolta however, and the speed was pretty awful. Made me wonder if the unit was ok as it also refused to focus in less than about 2.5 metres. THis was in a shop on full auto, not a lot of light, it was a full auto camera. But the build is great, I agree. The curious thing is that I was assuming that my present lense was not that good, but the others that i checked were about either as good (speed wise) or slower. But I have to see what theyre like on my camera. The new XR 28-200 is a possibility as well as its a lot lighter and if it were even a bit better than my present one, taking into accnt the weight, it might be acceptable and get a prime 24 they arent that heavy. I take y'r pt re trying and buying. So far i have always done 'the moral thing'. I plan, however, to be New York later in the year and will probably buy there. Prices in this country are very high. Thanks again A

-- anna edgar (anna.edgar@lineone.net), February 21, 2002.

I have been going through similar agonies in trying to get the best fit solution. The Tamron is very highly regarded, but I have heard that distortion is a bit iffy at 135mm. The 24-120 has a mixed press and a number of concerns have been expressed about build quality.

In the end, I went for a Nikkor 28-105 (by no means perfect, but an acceptable compromise), since I already have a 70-210 f4. I will add a 24mm prime to give me those dramatic landscapes - not too heavy, low distortion & fast aperture.

It all depends on what kind of photography you do. Incidently, the Nikkor 28-105 has a 1:2 macro feature - tends to be soft in the corners (does not have CRC feature), but can be used to see whether you REALLY need a macro lens!

Hope this helps.

Simon

-- Simon Hickie (s.hickie@lineone.net), February 21, 2002.