Tamron 18-400mm F/35-63 Di Ii Vc Hld Reviews

Over the years we've seen zoom lenses get longer and longer. The 18-200mm that seemed aggressive a while back is at present pedestrian, thanks to lenses like the Sigma 18-300mm Contemporary and the Tamron eighteen-400mm f/3.v-6.three Di VC HLD ($649). The Tamron reaches farther than any other APS-C all-in-one zoom we've seen. If you're an SLR owner and want a one-lens solution for trips and other situations where you don't want to change lenses, the 18-400mm is a solid performer and our Editors' Option for superzooms.

Design

The eighteen-400mm ($649.00 at Amazon) is fairly long, just matches well with the APS-C SLR bodies it's likely to exist paired with. It measures 4.9 by 3.1 inches (HD) at its shortest, but extends when zoomed, to about 9 inches when set to the 400mm position. It's fairly hefty, at 1.6 pounds, and supports 72mm forepart filters.

How big the lens feels depends on what you compare it with. Nikon'southward shorter 18-140mm zoom measures 3.8 by 3 inches and weighs just over a pound. Canon'south pro-grade 100-400mm is 7.6 by three.7 inches and 3.6 pounds, but it captures more low-cal and is designed to work with total-frame cameras.

The Tamron 18-400mm pairs only with APS-C cameras—that'due south the Rebel and EOS 77D, 80D, and 7D Mark Ii for current Catechism bodies, and the D3000, D5000, D7000, and D500 series among current Nikon bodies. Tamron doesn't sell the 18-400mm in any other mounts, so if you're using a Sony or Pentax SLR, you won't be able to use the 18-400mm.

The lens barrel is blackness polycarbonate. It'due south not protected against dust, just there are internal seals with moisture protection, so yous tin experience comfortable using it in pelting when paired with a sealed body like the 7D Mark II or D500. Yous don't get any sort of carrying pouch with the lens, but you practice get the standard front and rear caps, forth with a reversible lens hood.

The zoom action is smooth, although it'south not effortless. At that place'southward some torque required to twist the barrel, especially when moving beyond the 100mm position. The zoom band is covered in textured rubber, then it'south comfortable to turn even though it requires a picayune effort. It has set up markings at 18, 35, 50, 70, 100, 200, 300, and 400mm, and can be locked in place at 18mm for storage.

In addition to the lock switch, the butt has two other controls—AF/MF and VC On/Off. The manual focus ring sits at the front of the barrel. It's very narrow, and finished in textured plastic. It turns when the autofocus arrangement engages, which is something you need to get used to—you may need to accept some care to not rest your hand on that part of the lens when shooting. You demand to set the lens to manual focus in order to plough it manually, but you'll notice that the focus throw is very, very brusk. Information technology makes manual focus aligning a tricky proposition. This lens is not a corking selection if you're a fan of transmission focus.

Information technology is a solid option for macro shots. The long focal length, coupled with a 17.7-inch (0.45-meter) minimum focus distance means that information technology delivers one:ii.9 macro magnification when zoomed all the manner in and focused as shut as possible. We generally employ ane:2 as our macro cutoff for prime lenses, only zooms that manage i:3 magnification fit the bill as well.

Optical stabilization makes it possible to handhold sharp shots at longer focal lengths. It's rated to evangelize 2.v stops of compensation by CIPA. I saw slightly better results in my handheld testing, virtually iii stops—I got consistently crisp images at 1/80-second with the lens at its 400mm position. The general rule of pollex is that requires a 1/600-second exposure without stabilization. Shots at ane/40-second were hit or miss, but when I took time and care to really steady myself in that location was no visible blur.

Paradigm Quality

I tested the 18-400mm with the 20.9MP Nikon D500 ($one,496.95 at Amazon) . Nosotros look lenses with extreme zoom ratios to come with some caveats in performance, and while that'southward true of the 18-400mm, information technology'southward non as much as you might expect.

At 18mm f/3.v, the lens delivers strong sharpness from edge to edge. It scores 2,335 lines on Imatest's centre-weighted evaluation score, simply operation is very good from center (ii,423 lines) to edge (two,235 lines). Stopping downwardly to f/five.half dozen delivers a modest resolution bump (ii,457 lines), and the lens delivers excellent results at f/8 (2,862 lines) and f/11 (2,846 lines). We see a slight driblet at f/sixteen (ii,389 lines), and a huge one at f/22 (ane,492 lines). Diffraction is at fault here—the opening of the iris is so mall at f/22 that light scatters and harms image quality significantly. This is true at every tested focal length.

Come across How We Test Digital Cameras

At 35mm the maximum aperture is f/four. The average score is still very good (two,253 lines), but we do come across a drop at the periphery, to i,904 lines. That'southward still better than the 1,800 lines we want to see at a minimum, but not by much. Edges get a lot better at f/five.vi (2,435 lines), as does the average score (two,728 lines). Height performance is at f/eight (2,887 lines) and f/xi (2,842 lines). Nosotros see the expected dip at f/sixteen (ii,326 lines) and f/22 (1,721 lines).

On the whole, epitome quality remains solid at 70mm f/four.eight (2,194 lines), but we do encounter a farther drib in edge functioning, to 1,532 lines. Edges get a picayune better at f/v.six (i,646 lines), and the average improves to 2,296 lines. For the all-time edge-to-edge quality, shoot at f/eight (ii,913 lines average, 2,289 lines edges) or f/xi (2,692 lines boilerplate, 2,332 lines edges). Y'all tin still become skillful results at f/16 (2,348 lines), but there's a big drop at f/22 (ane,744 lines).

The maximum aperture is f/5.3 at 100mm, shut enough to f/v.6 that results are nearly identical—ii,241 lines on average with good performance through near of the frame and edges that take a dip to 1,571 lines. At f/8 the lens delivers very good sharpness from heart to edge, with a 2,629-line average score and edges that top 2,100 lines. Resolution is similar at f/11 (2,665 lines), and we see a drop at f/xvi (2,352 lines) and f/22 (i,757 lines).

There's not much difference at 200mm. The maximum aperture is f/half dozen at this point, simply epitome quality is still good broad open up, with an average score of 2,072 lines. Edges are soft (ane,595 lines), but at 200mm depth of field will blur them away completely, unless yous're shooting a perfectly flat field of study and filling the frame with it. You'll want to stop down to f/viii to get more detail out of photos (two,303 lines), and be happy to know that the edge outcome resolves itself as the outermost portions of the frame better to 1,914 lines. Images are sharper at f/11 (2,655 lines) and edges are splendid too (2,464 lines). There's only a modest drop in quality at f/sixteen (two,333 lines), and fifty-fifty at f/22 the lens is decent, 1,844 lines. You can narrow the discontinuity beyond f/22 when zoomed this far, to f/38, but we didn't exam the lens at those extremes.

It's at the 300mm position where we see some of the 18-400mm'southward more apparent flaws. At f/half-dozen.three the lens is a just-OK performer, notching ane,915 lines on the center-weighted test. Edge quality won't bear on nearly shots due to depth of field, but it'due south not good, at 1,336 lines. Chromatic aberration has a lot to practise with that low score; we see heavy purple fringing toward the edges of the frame at 300mm, at every tested aperture. It does diminish as you stop downwardly, just it never goes away. You can see it in a real-world shot in the pixel-level crop below.

At f/viii the resolution enjoys a crash-land to 2,139 lines, with edges that are a bit better (1,614 lines), but all the same brought down past fuzzy chromatic abnormality. They get crisper at f/11 (2,169 lines), as does the rest of the frame—two,438 lines. In that location's a drib at f/16 (2,140 lines) and f/22 (i,687 lines).

At the 400mm position the chromatic aberration at the periphery of the frame is more visible. And the center resolution takes a couple steps back besides. At f/6.3 the lens shows soft results on average, 1,627 lines, with edges that are just 1,256 lines. There's a good leap in the middle at f/viii, which brings the average upward to 2,009 lines, but edges are weak (ane,464 lines). Again, depth of field will hide soft edges in many, just not all, photos.

Thankfully, the 18-400mm is not a lost crusade at its maximum zoom. But set information technology to f/eleven and take advantage of the high-ISO capabilities of modernistic cameras or hope for a bright day. Resolution improves to 2,375 lines on average, a very adept result, and edges are in the acceptable range, 1,938 lines. Remember that f/11 is your sweet spot, as at that place's a drop in resolution at f/16 (2,067 lines) and f/22 (1,631 lines).

You lot're going to become distortion with any long-zoom design, and the 18-400mm is non an exception to the rule. There's a stiff amount of barrel distortion at 18mm, iv.3 percentage, so directly lines are drawn with a distinct outward curve. Information technology changes to pincushion distortion, an in curve, equally you zoom. There'south most 2.five percent at 35, 50, and 70mm, and less at 100mm (ii.1 percent), and 200, 300, and 400mm (1.5 per centum).

If yous shoot in Raw format and process images in Lightroom y'all can use a one-click profile correction to remove all of the distortion. Lightroom can also remove the issue from JPGs, just if yous don't utilise the Adobe software you'll either demand to live with the baloney or remove it using unlike software. This is a third-party lens, and so it tin can't accept reward of the automatic distortion correction bachelor in Canon and Nikon cameras.

The Lightroom Raw profile also corrects for peripheral illumination—the vignette effect you see in images when the edges of the lens don't gather equally much lite as the center. The 18-400mm isn't a bad offender—corners are noticeably dim at 18mm at wider f-stops, with f/3.five images showing a -3.2EV drop in illumination versus the center and f/5.6 shots at -1.8EV. At narrower settings it'southward not an result in existent-world conditions.

That'south also true at the tested 35, fifty, 70, and 100mm focal lengths—the difference in effulgence just isn't worth talking nearly, fifty-fifty with the aperture fully open. At 200mm f/vi we see a -1.5EV drop, which is modest only noticeable, and the lens shows almost the same difference at 300mm f/6.3, and slightly more (-1.7EV) at 400mm f/6.three. Stopping down to f/8 eliminates the vignette.

Conclusions

The Tamron 18-400mm f/3.v-6.3 Di II VC HLD is the best superzoom lens we've tested to engagement. It's not without some shortcomings, but it covers an absurd zoom range for a reasonable price, without being too bulky for everyday use. The maximum aperture is relatively narrow, in that location's some distortion, and image quality suffers at the edges and the long finish of the zoom range unless you narrow the f-terminate. Simply for $650, it covers a longer zoom range than the $579 Sigma eighteen-300mm Contemporary ($398.xx at Amazon) , and is a better optical performer.

Canon owners don't accept a first-party alternative—the EF-Due south 18-200mm ($699.99) is the about similar lens it makes. Nikon has a pair of 18-300mm options, including a strong, only expensive lens in the $1,000 DX Nikkor xviii-300mm f/3.v-5.6G ED VR, and the underperforming $700 DX Nikkor eighteen-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR. If you have a Nikon SLR, you may desire to consider paying a premium for the xviii-300mm f/three.v-5.6G ED VR. But for the cost, and the extra telephoto reach, the Tamron xviii-400mm is our Editors' Choice.

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Source: https://uk.pcmag.com/lenses/92915/tamron-18-400mm-f35-63-di-ii-vc-hld

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