Everyone needs a workhorse lens in their bag. That can take many forms, depending on the "work" you're doing, but for many, a good zoom is the go-to choice. Is this Tamron zoom for crop sensors the pick of the litter?
The Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD (hey, Tamron, could you add a few more letters, this name is a little sparse) is a crop sensor zoom with great coverage, yet retains the fast f/2.8 widest aperture. At $799, this versatile little lens covers the equivalent of 25.5 to 105mm on a 35mm, full frame equivalent, and acts as a short-range telephoto lens that's still nice and quick. As if that wasn't vying for the position of your walkaround lens enough, it also weighs only 525g (1.2 lbs) despite having Vibration Control, which is similar to image stabilization. Most similar focal length zooms that retain f/2.8 as the widest aperture usually weigh nearing double that.
I've not had a chance to shoot with this lens yet, but it's an interesting option. While it ticks damn-near every box you could have for a walkaround zoom, its crowning jewel for me is its sharpness. As you can see in this video, it is tack sharp even wide-open. It does suffer a little from vignetting under certain conditions, but nothing that couldn't be automatically fixed in post-production. This certainly seems to be a lot of lens for a reasonable amount of money!
Have you got this Tamron telephoto? What are your thoughts on it?
