Introduction
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The Tamron 70-210mm F4 Di VC USD is a lightweight telephoto zoom lens for DSLR cameras that comes in at an MSRP of $ 799 / £699 / €1049, undercutting its Nikon and Canon competitors significantly. Despite the wallet-friendly price tag, the Tamron offers solid build quality and good optical performance. Let’s dig into the details of how this lens stacks up.
Key specifications
- Available in both Nikon F and Canon EF mounts
- 70-210mm focal range becomes equivalent to 105-315mm on Nikon APS-C, 112-336mm on Canon APS-C
- 4 stops image stabilization (CIPA rated)
- 0.32x maximum magnification, 0.95m (37.4″) minimum focus distance
- Ultrasonic Silent Drive ‘silent’ focus motor (still audible in video capture if you use your camera’s internal mic)
- Fluorine coating on front element combats fingerprints
- Weather-sealed, internal zoom and focus
- 67mm filter thread, weighs 859g (1.89lb)
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| The Tamron 70-210mm F4, like its competitors, is well-suited to sports shooting from a moderate distance if you don’t need a faster F2.8 aperture.
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II | ISO 100 | 1/1600 sec | F4 | 94mm |
This segment of lenses is an important step-up for photographers who want more speed than 55-200mm or 55-250mm kit telezooms, which often only offer F5.6 or F6.3 at the telephoto end, but without going all-in with the heft and expense of constant F2.8 variants. Unique to The Tamron is an extra 10mm of reach on the long end than its competitors (which makes for a nice, neat 3x zoom factor), but the difference between 210 and 200mm is negligible in real-world shooting.
But before we take a look at how the Tamron performs optically, let’s see how it’s built and how it handles.
For this review, we tested the Tamron 70-210mm F4 Di VC USD in Canon EF mount.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)