Tamron Does It Again

Note - There are two different versions of this lens, the f3.5-6.3 that we are reviewing here and one that starts with a f3.8 (it's a cheaper version). When I was researching this lens I found that many were calling the f3.8, the f3.5 version so make sure of what you're looking at as the f3.5 is a sweet little lens for the money.

Are My Needs, Your Needs?
- The whole point of using an SLR or a DSLR is having the versatility in changing lenses, but there are times when I want to go out of town and take one lens, not a whole backpack bag of lenses. I wanted a lens that would cover a wide range, focus quickly, not search for my intended subject, be relatively sharp and I wanted it in a compact lens at a good value..not too much to ask right? As it turns out, it's not too much to ask at all as Tamron delivers all that in this little lens.

My Experience
- I originally purchased the Canon 75-300 to get more range than what I currently had. I thought with the name Canon and using it on a Canon camera (30d) I would be safe. Not true. This Canon 75-300 (this was not the USM model and has no IS feature) has to be the worse lens Canon has ever made. I used it at my sons football game and granted it's not a low light lens, but even with the ISO cranked up to compensate for the low lighting their should never be that much noise in an image. I decided to give it a fair shot and try it in full sun, but when blown up to a 100% crop in Photoshop the poor quality was still there, but i'll save all this for my Canon 75-300 review.

I went back to the store to return this lens and I tested the Tamron 70-300 with 1:2 macro feature for $199.00. This was a nice little lens for the low price and beat the Canon model hands down, it even came with a lens hood where Canon did not. However, my goal as stated earlier was more to find a good multi-range lens so I really wanted to go a bit lowers than 70mm. I own the Tamron 28-75mm and love it so the Tamron 70-300mm would pick up where my range left off and I would have only been carrying two lenses, but I tried both the 28-300mm and the 18-200mm in the Tamron and I was quite impressed with the Tamron 18-200.

I had been looking at also purchasing a Canon 10-22mm or Sigma 10-20 but I think the 18mm end of the Tamron will be wide enough to suit my needs. There was little if any vignetting on the test subjects I performed. The lens looked sharp at several ranges I tested 18mm, 70mm, 100mm and 200mm.

The Specs (for the technical minded)
- Tamron 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 LD Aspherical (IF) Macro
- Six Year Warranty inside the USA (One Year Warranty Outside the USA)
- Includes a flower pedal type lens hood
- Distance Index
- Focusing Ring
- Zoom Index Mark
- Zoom Lock Switch (nice feature on most Tamron lenses keeps the lens from sliding open when hanging from your neck, being carried, etc...)
- Focal Length Scale
- Metal Lens Mount (feels like a solid little lens)
- Compact size (length 83.7mm and diameter 73.8mm)
- Weight 398g (very light lens)
- Auto or Manual Focusing on the lens
- Lens Construction 13 elements in 15 groups
- Filter Size 62mm
- Focusing Range 0.45mm


For those of you into "L" series glass let me say that this certainly is not, but for the money you will be hard pressed to beat the quality of this lens in the economy class Canon lenses. You also will get a hood with this lens, where Canon would charge you extra for the hood on top of charging you more for the lens. You can pay for the Canon name, but honestly third party lenses are greatly improving by leaps and bounds so don't be so quick to dismiss them. Most stores will let you try the lens for 30 days, I know Best Buy does, so you have nothing to lose by trying one out. You can also negotiate the price even if you can't find a competitor that carries the brand locally for their price match. The lens usually goes for around 379.00-429.00, I was given 10% off in the store so final price was around 359.00.