Tamron 24-70?

[mikoh4792]

Is this lens softer at wide apertures significantly more than it's competitors? I'm wondering if this would be a good lens to pair with my Nikon d7100. I understand 24 isn't wide for APS-c but that's not what I'm looking for. I will be doing a lot of close work with reptiles, and it is the focal range I feel most comfortable with. Would there be better options(with IS, sharp glass, fast AF, close minimum focus distance)?

I'm not really a fan of the sigma lenses. Not that they aren't good lenses, but I feel most of them have really tight focus windows(not a lot of room to manually focus)

 

[Braineack]

it's still very sharp at 2.8.

it doesn't focus close and at short range i dunno why you'd want to use 2.8.

better options would be the tamron 90mm VC macro lens.

 

[mikoh4792]

it's still very sharp at 2.8.

it doesn't focus close and at short range i dunno why you'd want to use 2.8.

better options would be the tamron 90mm VC macro lens.

Sorry, by close I mean around 1 feet minimum focus distance. I already have a dedicated macro lens(105mm 2.8g) but I shoot different sized reptiles(sometimes big, sometimes small) so I'm thinking a zoom would be better for when I don't have much space to move around and want to get different types of shots( capture the reptiles entire enclosure, zoom in on the reptile...etc)

 

[Overread]

I've not had mine long enough to really give it a good testing (and its got stiff competition against the 70-200mm f2.8 IS L MII) but I'd say that its more than sharp enough at the wide and long end at f2.8 close up. You will see it being somewhat softer at 70mm than at 24mm (which is typical of nearly all zooms in that their long end is weaker than their shot) but still more than usable, especially once you sharpen.

Focusing close it should be more than enough for lizards - esp if you can get some flash in for lighting them. Otherwise if you want closer your macro will suit.