Are tamron lenses good for my nikon?
I have a 4-months old Nikon D3100 and planning to have a new lens (it comes w/ a 18-55mm)
i wanted to have a lens by nikon (either 55-200mm, 55-300mm, 18-200mm) but my budget isn't suited for these ones (especially the 3rd lens)
so i'm thinking of buying a tamron lens (either 55-200mm, 18-250mm, 18-270mm)
well will it be a great decision choosing tamron over nikon?
how about quality and performance issues? Any advice?
thanks for the answers.
PS:
i'm an amateur one, not (yet) a professional
If you can, save your pennies and buy the Nikkor lenses later
If you still want to buy generic lenses, look at Tokina lenses, they are the best of the third party lens makers
Personally i tend to decide which lens is best by looking at SINGLE lenses, and not branding certain manufacturers as better or worse. There are many good lenses from many different manufacturers.see which one fits your budget best and compare them with others of the same price.remember never assume a nikon lens will be better than a sigma lens, for instance.nikon have many poor lenses in their range
Tamron has few motorized lenses. If your budget doesn't cover the Nikon 55-200 then the only cheaper option is sigma's motorized 70-300
I have used a Tamron lens in the past (on a 35mm camera, not digital but that should not make a difference) and had no problems either with the lens itself, the clarity of the pictures or the electronics of the camera. Best advice is to take the camera with you, ask to try out the lens, and see what you think of the result.
I bought a Tamron 28-300 Aspherical (no distortion like a fish-eye) for my Nikon D80 years ago, and I love it! It is my main lens especially when I travel and I have no complaints. I do not know what your budget is, but I found it on Amazon for about $373. I have never done a side by side comparison of this lens and a Nikon, but I found this review of a more recent model (vs Canon lenses), you might be interested in:
http://photo.net/equipment/tamron/28_300_Di/
Conclusions
In answer to the original question "Does the Tamron 28-300 deserve respect", I'd have to answer that it does. While I think you could probably do better with two zooms, one covering something like 28-100mm and one covering 100-300mm, not everyone wants to do that. For those who don't, the Tamron 28-300 may be a good choice.
There's no doubt at all, for example, that the Tamron 28-75/2.8 which I recently reviewed is a much sharper lens than the Tamron 28-300/3.5-6.3 (and it's obviously faster too). Both lenses cost about the same (around $380) and are pretty close in size and weight. Whether the additional 75-300 range is worth the compromises in lens speed and image quality is an individual decision to make. For some people it is, for others it isn't.
The bottom line is that if you hate swapping lenses, need one small, light, lens to do everything, and you're prepared to make some compromises, the Tamron SP AF28-300/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro isn't a bad choice. It also comes with Tamron's standard 6 year warranty, which is a plus.