Объектив tamron 70-210 mm f4 di vc usd

A Strong Value Proposition

If you’re not a pro and you want a long zoom lens for an APS-C or full-frame Canon or Nikon SLR, the Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD delivers excellent value for your dollar. It’s not the sharpest or brightest zoom we’ve ever tested, but it doesn’t cost $2,500, either. Image quality is excellent through most of its coverage range, with a slight step back when shooting at maximum zoom—a downer for sure, but not a deal breaker in our book. Add an all-weather build, teleconverter compatibility, 1:3.1 macro capture, image stabilization, fluorine coating, and a compact, internal zoom design and you have a lens that’s an easy recommendation for photographers shopping for a telezoom on a budget, and an Editors’ Choice.

That’s not to say it’s without fault. There is some distortion and vignetting, though the distortion isn’t overwhelming, and the vignette disappears by f/5.6. We also feel that photographers earning their bread and butter shooting indoor sports and events will find that an f/2.8 zoom is worth the extra cost—it can gather twice as much light, giving you more freedom to freeze motion when capturing the fast-moving action of basketball or revelers on the dance floor at a wedding reception, as well as a shallower depth of field for portraiture.

But for photographers whose requirements aren’t as critical, opting for an f/4 zoom like the Tamron 70-210mm is not only a cost-saving proposition, it’s also a weight-saving one. The lens is about a pound lighter than comparable f/2.8 zooms. If you use an APS-C camera you’ll find that it pairs quite well with a smaller, lighter body like the Canon Rebel and Nikon D5xxx series. You’ll enjoy a bit extra effective telephoto reach with the APS-C sensor size as well—and you can even add a teleconverter to lock on to really distant subjects.

If you do need an f/2.8, we like Tamron’s SP 70-200mm G2, although it does tend to flare a bit when shooting into the sun. Canon has two current f/2.8 zooms, the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, now selling for under $2,000 due to the release of version III of the lens—optically the same, but with improved lens coatings for $2,099. Nikon has a pair of f/2.8 zooms, the f/2.8G ED VR II for $2,199, and the improved f/2.8E FL ED VR for $2,799. Both companies offer their own take on the 70-200mm f/4 as well, but at prices much higher than the Tamron.

Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD

4.0

Editors’ Choice

See It

$789.00 at Amazon

MSRP $799.00

Pros

Light, compact build.
Internal zoom.
1:3 macro reproduction.
Crisp optics.
Image stabilization.
Dust and splash resistant.
Fluorine protection.
Optional tripod collar available.
Teleconverter compatibility.

Cons

Image quality dips at maximum zoom.
Some distortion and vignetting.
Manual focus ring omits rubberized grip.

The Bottom Line

The Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD is a light, compact telezoom lens that delivers a ton of value.

Like What You’re Reading?

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.

Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Design and handling

The Tamron 70-210mm F4 feels light on a Canon 5D-series body, and is thinner, shorter and lighter than Tamron’s 70-200mm F2.8.

The Tamron 70-210mm F4 Di VC USD has a formal, tidy look about it with a matte finish, simple, thin lettering and a bold but sensibly sized ‘TAMRON’ logo. How you find its handling is determined by a couple of different factors — not least the camera you’re planning to use it with. Let’s take a closer look.

Key takeaways:

Zoom ring is placed at the end of the lens (at the opposite end to the camera)
Zoom turns in ‘Nikon’ direction (clockwise to zoom in as you look down the barrel)
Use of polycarbonates on the exterior keeps weight down, but lens has a more plasticky feel than some competitors that also use polycarbonates
Weather-sealing and fluorine coating are nice to have

In-depth

One of the Tamron’s biggest differentiators versus Canon and Nikon F4 options concerns the position of the focus and zoom rings. Whereas the first-party options have the zoom ring close to the body, Tamron has taken the opposite approach with the zoom ring all the way out at the end. Whether or not this bothers you will come down somewhat to personal preference, but it’s also important to consider that most zooms continue to use the opposite arrangement, and switching back and forth may take some getting used to.

Additionally, it can feel a little awkward having your hand all the way out at the end of the lens on larger, full-size camera bodies. The lens is so light compared to a 5D or 1D-series camera that I often found myself cradling the lens nearer to the mount, with the focus ring rather than zoom ring under my fingers.

The Tamron 70-210mm F4 is a little front-heavy on smaller camera bodies, though the front-mounted zoom ring makes this setup more comfortable since you’ll want your hand further out on the lens for support.

On the other hand, the arrangement makes some sense on smaller, lighter camera bodies; the center of gravity is pushed out, and so supporting the lens near the end of the barrel results in less strain on the hand gripping the camera.

So even if you don’t necessarily mind having the zoom and focus ring positions swapped, what about the directions they turn for zooming and focusing?

Though the Canon 70-200mm F4L II and Tamron 70-210mm F4 are similar in size, their handling philosophies are quite different.

As you hold the camera normally and look down the barrel, the Tamron zooms in by turning the ring clockwise. This is the same as all Nikon zoom lenses, and the opposite of Canon zoom lenses. Nikon shooters will feel right at home, but for Canon users that have a lot of muscle memory built up, this could potentially cause confusion.

In terms of overall build quality, the Tamron feels reasonably solid, but its smooth exterior feels a little more plasticky than the textured polycarbonate used on competing models. The distance scale is a nice touch, and you get a bayonet-mount hood included in the box. Though we can’t disassemble nor torture test the lens to investigate the internal weather seals, the rear mount does have a visible gasket to protect against dust and moisture incursion.

Controls on the Tamron 70-210mm F4 are more limited than options from Canon and Nikon.

Ease of Use

The Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD is comparatively compact and light for a 70-200mm lens, measuring 17.5cms in length and weighing 860g, which is about half the weight of Tamron’s 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. This is one of the principal reasons for choosing an f/4 lens over an f/2.8 one.

Subsequently this lens is well suited to both a professional-grade, full-frame camera like the Canon EOS 5DS R, which we used for testing the lens, and a smaller APS-C body like the EOS 80D, where you’ll benefit from an extended telephoto reach of 112-336mm thanks to the 1.6x crop factor.

Build quality is very good. The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD feels solid enough in your hand, with the outer barrel made from metal rather than from plastic. The matt finish does pick up dirty marks, though, which can be difficult to clean off. The lens is designed in Japan and made in the Phillipines.

The zoom ring is generously wide and has a ridged, rubberised grip band. The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD doesn’t extend at any point when you zoom out from 70mm and the filter ring doesn’t rotate, good news for filter users.

The focusing ring is slightly narrower, but still generously sized. There’s a distance scale that runs from the closest distance of 0.95m to infinity, but no depth of field scale. An AF/MF switch on the side of the lens makes it easy to switch between the two focusing systems.

The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD features a USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive) that allows near-silent auto-focusing. Importantly, this solution allows instant manual override even when the focus mode switch is in the AF position. Focusing is fully internal, meaning the length of the lens always remains constant. In use, we found the focusing to be very quiet and satsifyingly fast with the lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R body.

The final control is the VC On / Off switch, which turns the lens’ built-in Vibration Compensation on and off. In practice we found the system reliably offered around 4 f-stops of compensation, obviously dependant upon your own particular hand-holding technique, making it much easier to use the lens in low-light conditions.

The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD benefits from a moisture-resistant construction with seals located at the lens mount area and other critical locations, which helps to prevent moisture from penetrating the lens, although we’d hesitate to use it in the rain for a prolonged period.

The lens is supplied with lens caps, a large flower-shaped lens hood, and a soft bag. The filter size is 67mm.

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are impressively well controlled with this lens — the examples below show the worst-case scenario.

The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD offers a classic focal range for full-frame DSLR owners.

70mm

210mm

Light Fall-off and Distortion

With the Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD wide open at f/4, you can see some noticeable light fall-off in the corners at both ends of the zoom range. Stopping down helps, although to completely get rid of this phenomenon, you will need to use an f-stop of f/8 or smaller.

Vignetting at 70mm

Vignetting at 210mm

Macro

The Tamron 70-210mm f4 Di VC USD is not a macro lens, but it does boast the best magnification and closest focusing distance among 70-200mm F/4 interchangeable lenses for full-frame DSLR cameras. The close-focus point is at 0.95cm from the film/sensor plane and the magnification ratio is 1:3.1. The following example illustrates how close you can get to the subject with the lens set to 210mm to aid magnification.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. One of the reason to buy a fast telephoto lens is to be able to isolate the subject from the background. Tamron was apparently very much aware of this requirement, as they employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades for a pleasing rendering of the out-of-focus highlights. Based on what we have seen, we can say that they largely succeeded. Below you’ll find some examples, but you are also encouraged to check out our sample images.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following pages.

Ease of Use
Sharpness: 70mm
100mm
135mm
210mm
Sample Images
Lens Specs
Rating & Conclusion
Main Rivals
Review Roundup

Razor-Sharp Photos

I tested the 70-210mm with Canon’s 50MP full-frame SLR, the 5DS R. Despite the zoom’s relatively low cost and the extra stress that a high resolution image sensor puts on lenses, the 70-210mm delivered sharp results throughout its range, although results are a bit crisper when shooting toward the wide end.

At 70mm f/4 it manages 3,652 lines on Imatest’s center-weighted sharpness test. That’s significantly better than the 2,750 lines we want to see at a minimum from a lens paired with the 5DS R. Resolution isn’t completely even throughout the frame, with the central third putting up excellent results (3,929 lines), while the mid parts show 3,516 lines and the outer periphery lags slightly behind at 3,300 lines.

Narrowing the aperture rises all tides. At f/5.6 the average score climbs to 3,884 lines, with most of the frame meeting that figure and the outer edges lagging so slightly behind (3,572 lines) that it’s barely worth mentioning.Peak performance is at f/8 (3,894 lines), and the story is the same—clear results from center to edge. We see a drop in resolution at narrower f-stops, presumably due to diffraction—3,637 lines at f/11, 3,219 lines at f/16, and just 2,573 lines at f/22. For best results, don’t narrow your settings beyond f/16.

At 135mm f/4 the lens shows 3,844 lines, an excellent result. There is a dip at the edges of the frame, which show about 3,025 lines, which remains a very good result. Edge quality improves at f/5.6 (3,158 lines) and the center resolution enters the outstanding range (better than 5,000 lines), for a strong 4,260-line average. Results are not that far off at f/8 (although edges are better, 3,400 lines). Diffraction plays its part at narrower f-stops—we see 3,463 lines at f/11, 3,060 lines at f/16, and 2,480 lines at f/22.

We see the lowest resolution at 210mm. At f/4 the lens manages 3,161 lines on average, but while the central area of your image is in the very good range (3,490 lines), resolution dips to 2,923 lines (good) as you move toward the middle third and peripheral areas of the frame. These are acceptable numbers, but not on the same level as you get at 70mm and 135mm.

At f/5.6 the average scores ticks up to 3,239 lines, thanks again to very strong image quality at the center (3,722 lines). The mid parts and edges hover around 3,000 lines. Peak performance is delivered at f/8 (3,499 lines) and f/11 (3,449 lines)—most of the frame is in the very good range, hovering around the average, and edges show around 3,200 lines—noticeably better than at wider angles. We see the expected drop in resolution at f/16 (2,931 lines) and f/22 (2,459 lines).

There is also a bit of image distortion. We see a modest 1.2 percent barrel distortion at 70mm—straight lines are drawn with a slight outward curve. This gives way to about 1 percent of pincushion distortion at 135mm—the outward barrel curve reverses and lines have a slight inward bow. At 210mm there’s a more noticeable pincushion effect, about 1.4 percent. For most shots you won’t notice, but if you do have a scene that requires perfectly straight lines, be prepared to do some software work to correct the effect. If you use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC for image management and editing, you’ll be happy to know that there is a one-click correction available.

That same profile corrects for any vignette as well. The 70-210mm is not immune to the effect, caused by light not being gathered as efficiently at the edges and corners as compared with the center. The darkening is only noticeable when shooting at f/4, but we do see a pronounced vignette at 70mm (-2.4EV), 135mm (-2.1EV), and 210mm (-2.3EV). If you shoot with a Nikon camera you can enable Vignette Control, which should be enough to negate the effect when shooting JPGs, but Canon cameras don’t apply in-camera adjustments to third-party lenses. Regardless, if you shoot Raw on either platform, you’ll need to make the corrections yourself when processing images.

Технические характерстики

Модель	A034
Фокусное расстояние	70-210mm
Максимальная диафрагма	F/4
Угол обзора (по диагонали)	34°21′ -11°46’　(for full-frame format)23°01′ -7°46’　 (for APS-C format)
Конструкция объектива	20 элементов в 14 группах 3 низкодисперсных элемента + флюориновое покрытие
Минимальная дистанция фокусировки	0.95m
Максимальный коэффициент увеличения	1:3.1
Размер фильтра	Φ 67mm
Максимальный диаметр	Φ 76mm
Длина	Canon 176.5mm (6.9 in) Nikon 174mm (6.8 in)
Вес	Canon 860g　(30.3 oz) Nikon 850g (30 oz)
Количество лепестков диафрагмы	9 (круглая диафрагма)
Минимальная диафрагма	F/32
Эффективность стабилизации изображения	4 ступени экспозиции (соответствие стандартам CIPA) Для Canon: используется EOS-5D MKIII Для Nikon: используется D810
Стандартные аксессуары	Передняя и задняя крышки объектива, Бленда, Чехол для объектива
Совместимые крепления	Для Canon EF, Nikon F (FX)

Другие функции

Два эксклюзивных новых телеконвертора.

Два эксклюзивных новых телеконвертора могут использоваться с объективом Tamron A034 70-210mm F/4, обеспечивая увеличение фокусных расстояний в 1.4 и 2.0 раза; максимальное фокусное расстояние достигает, таким образом, 420мм. С телеконверторами объектив A036 становится полноценным ультрателезумом.

Совместимость с консолью TAMRON TAP-in

Опциональная консоль TAP-in обеспечивает связь объектива с персональным компьютером через порт USB, что дает возможность вам с легкостью обновлять встроенное программное обеспечение объектива, а также производить настройку параметров автофокуса и системы оптической стабилизации.

Дополнительное крепление для штатива, совместимое с быстросъемными площадками Arca-Swiss

Для объектива A034 можно заказать поставляемый отдельно кронштейн с креплением Arca-Swiss. Крепления Arca-Swiss позволяют с легкостью отсоединять и присоединять кронштейн к монтажной площадке треноги в ходе съемки. Для того, чтобы вес объектива с кронштейном оставался минимальным, мы выполнили кронштейн из легкого, но прочного магниевого сплава.

Крепление объектива к треноге дает стабильную опору при съемке, в отличие от крепления к треноге камеры, предотвращающего размытие изображений. При креплении к треноге объектива фотограф сохраняет возможность поворачивать камеру с объективом вокруг оси, что облегчает выбор композиции. Расширьте свои возможности съемки с помощью штатива, который позволяет снимать то, что вы хотите, как хотите, даже при медленных скоростях затвора.

Система электромагнитной диафрагмы теперь используется и в объективах для камер Nikon

Система электромагнитной диафрагмы, которая была стандартной функцией у объективов для зеркальных камер Canon, теперь устанавливается и в объективы для байонета Nikon (доступно только для камер, совместимых с электромагнитной диафрагмой). Стала возможна более точная регулировка отверстия диафрагмы, поскольку лепестки диафрагмы приводятся в действие и управляются двигателем посредством электронных импульсных сигналов.

Быстрый автофокус и эффективная система стабилизации

Благодаря механизму внутреннего зуммирования физическая длина Tamron 70-2 10 mm F/4 Di VC USD не изменяется во время изменения фокусного расстояния, тем самым минимизируя сдвиги центра тяжести объектива и обеспечивая более стабильную работу. Кроме того, фотографу не нужно отходить назад, даже когда пространство для съемки ограничено, например, при фотографировании через проволочное ограждение в зоопарке.

Надежные системы следящего автофокуса и оптической стабилизации чрезвычайно важны для длиннофокусного объектива. Сдвоенный микропроцессорный блок Tamron’s Dual MPU (micro-processing unit) позволяет соблюсти баланс между этими функциями. Блок состоит из двух отдельных микропроцессоров: один отвечает за управление объективом, в том числе за работу автофокуса, другой – за систему оптической стабилизации изображения. Кждый микропроцессор оснащен собственным блоком обработки цифровых сигналов DSP (Digital Signal Processing), что позволяет добиться отличного быстродействия системы автоматической фокусировки и стабилизации изображения.

Развитие технологий Tamron позволило создать автофокус, быстрый, как молния, чтобы вы могли запечатлеть именно то мгновение, которое нужно вам. Ультразвуковой привод USD (Ultrasonic Silent Drive) обеспечивает быструю, высокоточную фокусировку, что дает фотографу дополнительную уверенность.