The First Session With My New Tamron 15-30mm 2.8

[JimMcClain]

I've been anxiously waiting for the Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD to become available at B&H. The email notification came late last week and it was delivered to me this morning. I've only shot 18 pictures with it, so I can't tell you much about it, but I did want to share with you these 5 images taken at 15, 18, 20, 24 and 30mm respectively.

They were all hand-held shots on my Nikon D810, aperture priority at f/11 and ISO 64. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I set the camera for bracketed shots (+/- 1 stop) the day before, so these aren't perfect examples. I know, stoopid me. Lightroom does allow me to match the exposure levels, but even that isn't perfectly accurate. AND... Lightroom does not have a lens profile for this lens yet, so no profile was selected or customized for these pictures.

Yes, they are all B&W. I didn't want to make these color because of my failure to take bracketing off - and because these aren't what I consider well composed images. I did, however, make some adjustments to WB, highlights, shadows, black and white points, clarity, tone curve, noise and sharpness. Once set for the primary image, I copied those settings to the other 4 pictures. I added no vignetting, which I usually like some of on my pictures. I wanted you to see for yourself how much natural vignetting there was with this lens at different focal lengths.

I'll try to get out again tomorrow (or as soon as I can) and try to get better test pictures. This isn't meant to be scientific or lab quality testing by any means. I just wanted to share some pictures for the benefit of those considering this lens.

Jim

 

[funwitha7d]

what jumps out at me is the detail in the wagon wheel, that got to be giving you a good vibe for future shots

 

[jsecordphoto]

My buddy got one of these from tamron to try out a few weeks ago, mostly to test out for astrophotography. It definitely looks sharp, and handles coma well. What do you think about the distortion at 15? He noticed an odd distortion profile and it almost reminded me of the rokinon 14mm in the shots he sent over

 

[JimMcClain]

what jumps out at me is the detail in the wagon wheel, that got to be giving you a good vibe for future shots

Oh, absolutely. I was very please with that. I wish I had used my tripod and stopped the aperture down a lot more to see if I could get that detail all over - not that there was anything very interesting to get detail of in that scene.

What do you think about the distortion at 15? He noticed an odd distortion profile and it almost reminded me of the rokinon 14mm in the shots he sent over

I didn't notice any obvious distortion. You can see for yourself in the first picture. What was notable, was that not having a lens profile preset was not a big disappointment (there is, apparently, a profile if you convert to DNG or use ACR, which I don't). Of course, I may see a big difference once Adobe adds one, but it's not obvious to my eyes.

Thanks for the comments,

Jim

 

[JimMcClain]

I wasn't feeling well enough to go out and shoot more with this lens until today. Then again, I mighta shoulda stayed home. I was mostly disappointed in all my shots today. Partly because I just wasn't 100% (at least not in my mind) and partly because I'm not used to a lens like this yet. Ya jest cain't shoot anything with it, ya know.

So, this picture is from the previous session. The distorted wide angle fits this image well. Shot with a Nikon D810, Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD at 15mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 100, hand-held.

I did get one image today that I thought was useable, but I will post that in a different TPF forum.

Jim