Ok, so I just ordered (about 4 days ago) my new lense for my Canon 30D. It’s the Tamron 28-300MM lense. Since I can’t afford for now a really fast lense, I had to settle for a slower (this one is F3.5 at the wide angle and F6.3 at the telephoto side.).

However, after attending a few Tamron seminars and looking at the images on their website I decided that for the money ($378 out the door since I’m a student at a local photography school) it is a bargain and offers great quality.

There are a couple of reasons I decided to go for the Tamron lense:

#1 - The focul length it offers (from 28 to 300MM). This is a pretty wide range which will allows me to shoot both wide angle shots and really nice close ups when I’m shooting either a concert and/or air show.

#2 - The Macro capabilities. I love to shoot Macro photography, mainly of flowers and/or plants, so this lense will allow me to do this. It has a Macro Magnification of 1:2.9 and a minimum focus distance of only 19.3 inches.

#3 - The Tamron name - Tamron has a reputation for quality lenses at affordable prices.

I will write a review (with sample photographs) once I receive it (I can’t wait). I also own the standard 18-55MM from Canon and just purchased recently the 50MM F1.8 from Canon (only $80 but it’s fast and the quality is pretty good, not great, but good).

BTW, the image shown here was shot with the Canon 50MM 1.8. I’ll shoot other images with the new Tamron 28-300 as soon as I get it for comparison!

For more information check out Tamron’s site at http://www.tamron.com/lenses/prod/28300_di.asp and while you are at it, check out the photography school I attend at http://www.tri-communityphotoprogram.com/TC_ProgramInfo_Flyer.htm

Cheers!

- Marcelo Lewin

The Digital Media Dude