Wide-angle lens lovers have been anticipating the Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 wide-angle fast zoom lens with internal stabilization for quite a while now. Despite having been listed on B&H's website for some time, there's been no indication of what it'll cost — until now.
As reported by Sony Alpha Rumors, Dutch camera store DeWinkel listed the lens at a (surprisingly low) 1,499 Euros, or approximately $1,872, as seen below.
This lens in particular has been getting people pretty excited as it's taking aim at the legendary Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens which retails around two grand.
Of course, the Tamron will be among the first wide-angle zooms to include vibration compensation, VC (or VR as known in Nikon circles, IS in Canon), and certainly the first f/2.8 wide zoom to do so. Many report this could be a real game changer for Tamron. It'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the competition.
[via Sony Alpha Rumors]
The lens looks great, but I'm not sure if the VC will be worth the extra $1,100 more than the Tokina equivalent, which I've heard is pretty damn good. Either way, it's nice to have another competitor in the ultra-wide zoom range, and the thing is a lot more pleasing to look at then the majority of Tamron's lenses.
I'm curious how this compares to, say, the sigma 18-35 f1.8. Sure, that one does not have IS and is slightly less wide, but is faster and only $800. Would the IS on such a wide lens and the 3mm wider angle be worth the price difference?
This is a full frame lens. The sigma is a crop sensor lens so while they seem like they are in the category, the 18mm on the Sigma is effectively a 27mm on full frame making it not an ultra wide lens.
Ah yes....a 'slight' detail I missed :P Thanks for clearing that up.
When has $1870 ever been "surprisingly low"?
Well, I'll be stating the obvious here but, it depends on the state of the market. The referential here is that this is a wide angle f2.8 zoom lens for full-frame cameras. If it qualitatively compares to and/or tops lenses like the Nikkor 14-24 f2.8, it could indeed be a "surprisingly low" price.
The nikkor 300mm f4 for example sells around 1.4k$ at the moment, which is still relatively "affordable" considering most telephoto primes of this level sell for 4k+$ ;)
When tamron products sell in europe, they are always more expensive for some reason (VAT?) by about 17-22% putting the US price around $1499, not $1872. The 70-200 i think, came out at $1499 here and was 1,499 Euros over there. Not sure if that is the case for this lens, but makes sense