Tamron (NEX) 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC review

Posted by Kurt on February 9, 2012 in Reviews

The Tamron 18-200mm e-mount lens review is finally done.  The skies have been mostly cloudy here lately, so it took some time to get all the test shots I needed.

This lens has optical characteristics that are very similar to the Sony 18-200mm NEX, also reviewed at the old site.  Which one is better?  Let’s put it this way; optically they’re about the same, but if a smaller and lighter package is important to you, try the Tamron; however, if you like taking sweep panoramas, get the Sony version.  Tamron screwed up something in the lens protocol, and the panoramas are improperly exposed, blurry and badly stitched as a result.  Tamron claims they’re working on a fix, so we’ll see.

The good news is that the lens compensations adjustments in select NEX cameras correct the Tamron for CA, distortion and light fall-off or ‘shading’ as Sony calls it.  It’s probably using the same corrections as the Sony 18-200mm.

The Tamron 18-200mm is optimized for sharpness at F/5.6-6.3, which is fairly impressive, and seems to be better than the Sony at the long end around F/6.3.  At the wide end, (18-50mm), both lenses are very sharp across the frame, but both seem to lose contrast as you zoom out to 200mm, especially off-center.  I don’t have the Sony NEX 18-200mm anymore, so I didn’t compare the two directly.

Tamron 18-200mm lens for NEX

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  • Matthew Durr

    Thanks for the review, but a quick question: since some of the appeal of the Tamron is that it comes in black and is smaller than the Sony 18200, do you think it’d be worth updating the review to take note of the size/aesthetic differences? I’ve heard many people say that the Tamron just “feels” better. Though I’m not sure how that could be tested.

    Also, what’d you do to your Tamron box? Dirty desert hands? :)

    • http://photojottings.com/ Kurt Munger

      I did mention that it matched the NEX-7 in the introduction, along with the size at the end too. Not sure what happened to the box, it was brand new when I got it. The 18-200mm is not really the ‘go to’ lens for the NEX-7 IMHO.

      • Matthew Durr

        I’m assuming you believe the Zeiss 24mm is then? :)

        • http://photojottings.com/ Kurt Munger

          Right you are!!