Finding a versatile lens that covers everything from wide to telephoto can simplify your setup and make shooting more convenient. The Tamron 28-300mm f/4-7.1 Di III VC VXD offers that kind of flexibility.
Coming to you from Jacek Sopotnicki, this detailed video review of the Tamron 28-300mm f/4-7.1 explores the performance, build quality, and optical strengths of this superzoom lens. Right away, Sopotnicki is impressed by sharpness across the zoom range, noting that the center is sharp at 28mm, even at f/4. However, corner sharpness improves significantly at f/5.6. While it’s no surprise that sharpness at 300mm drops slightly, it still holds up well, especially considering the lens’ wide focal range. The built-in vibration control (VC) also plays a role in delivering stable shots, though Sopotnicki points out that toggling VC requires accessing the camera menu since the lens lacks an external switch.
Sopotnicki evaluates the autofocus performance and praises the VXD motor’s responsiveness, noting how smoothly it operates. There’s no hunting or lag, even in challenging lighting conditions. One downside Sopotnicki mentions is the lens’ poor performance in generating star effects at smaller apertures, which might disappoint if you’re after those perfect sunbursts for night or landscape photography.
Barrel distortion is present at 28mm, and pincushion distortion appears at 300mm, but both are easy to correct in post-processing. Similarly, vignetting is minor and evenly distributed, which means it won’t require much work to fix. Sopotnicki emphasizes that chromatic aberration is well-controlled, with only slight color shifts, even at wide apertures—an impressive result for a lens with this kind of range.
One surprising feature Sopotnicki highlights is the lens’s close-up ability. At 28mm, you can shoot very close to your subject, achieving sharp results by stopping down to f/5.6. The bokeh isn’t perfect, with some noticeable cat-eye effects and uneven areas, but it’s decent for portraits when shot at longer focal lengths. He notes that while the bokeh won’t rival that of prime lenses, it’s acceptable given the lens’ versatility. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Sopotnicki.
