Tamron’s Incredible 18-270mm Zoom Vibration Compensation is only the beginning

Tamron’s Incredible 18-270mm Zoom Vibration Compensation is only the beginning

Jon gives us a full-scale review on the new Tamron 18-270mm Zoom

Article rating: 8.53

Do more with less—that’s what businesspeople everywhere are saying these days. For many endeavors, that advice falls somewhere in between “eat your spinach” and “hit the next pitch out of the ballpark.” Or in other words, smack dab at the intersection of Unpleasant and Impossible.

Tamron AF18-270mm f3.5-6.3 VC Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro

But in the case of the Tamron 18-270 VC lens, doing more with only one zoom is not only practical—it’s downright exhilarating. The full name of this lens is AF18-270mm f3.5-6.3 VC Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro. It’s available for Nikon and Canon digital SLRs that have APS-C size imagers. The “VC” stands for Vibration Compensation but it could easily mean “Very Cool.” But image stabilization only one of the reasons why you’d do well to consider adding a copy of this lens to your optics arsenal. I found four reasons in one afternoon—you may find even more.

Sharp and Faithful

Sharpness is always the most significant point of lens evaluation. If a lens isn’t sharp it’s a paperweight. The Tamron 18-270 VC zoom produced tack-sharp, full resolution images on my Canon 40D and Rebel Xt camera bodies. Compared to the Tamron 18-200 and 18-250 zooms under the same types of shooting situations, the 18-270 actually appeared sharper. Regardless of the subject, this lens delivered images that were sharp edge-to-edge and rich in detail when viewed at 100%. Images showed no abnormal signs of distortion, color fringing or flare.

Furthermore, along with the superb sharpness, the Tamron 18-270 VC delivered faithful and accurate color rendition. Colors were brilliant, true-to-life and clean. Some lenses—you’ve probably seen them—muddle color, making the grays muddy and the primary colors dull. I have never experienced that problem with any Tamron zoom that I’ve ever owned or tested, and the 18-270 VC seems particularly vibrant. Out-of-focus areas (sometimes referred to as bokeh by photo writers) were pleasant and aesthetically appealing, too (take a look at the image of the holly to see what I mean).

set to 18 © Jon Sienkiewicz

Long Zooooooom

The Tamron 18-270 VC has a zoom range that’s a whopping 15X. The range is equivalent to a 28mm to 432mm on my Canon. It’s obviously convenient to have that broad range all in one piece of glass because you can switch from wideangle to extreme telephoto without changing lenses. That makes it the perfect everyday lens for casual snapshots but more importantly, the range and telephoto power make it ideal for sports, wildlife and travel. And because it’s light and compact, it’s a good lens for portraits—just keep the focal length in the 50 to 65mm range (90 to 105mm equivalent) for optimum results.

When you take a photograph with a long telephoto lens (like the squirrel pictured above) the limited depth-of-field makes the subject appear even sharper. The sharpness of the subject separates it from the out-of-focus background and creates a nearly 3D effect. Having a lens that zooms all the way out to 432mm allows you to use this technique more often and with more impact.

Excellent macro capability

The minimum focus is 19.3-inches over entire zoom range, which yields a Macro Magnification Ratio of 1:3.5 at 270mm. That’s the third reason why the Tamron 18-270 VC zoom qualifies as an ideal “all in one lens.”

One expects a lens that has “Vibration Compensation” in its name to have a pretty fair image stabilization system, wouldn’t you say? The Tamron 18-270 VC snaps into focus and locks onto the subject like no lens I’ve ever used. I was able to routinely shoot handheld at full telephoto extension (270mm, which is 432mm equivalent) at 1/15 second without camera shake. Under normal circumstances with a conventional lens, it would be customary to shoot at 1/500 sec at this focal length (rule of thumb is to shoot at a shutter speed that roughly equals the fraction created by dividing “one over the focal length,” so at 200mm one would shoot at 1/200 second, for example).

In the pair of images below, the top was shot with Vibr ation Control on, t he bottom with it turned off, both at 1/15 second. The results speak for themselves.