Tamron 28-200mm f 2.8-5.6 RXD III is the latest zoom lens launched by the Japanese manufacturer for Sony FE. After Tamron 70-180mm f 2.8 VXD III I was honestly expecting a 100-400, so I was surprised to see this all-in-one, a kind of Swiss Army knife of lenses.
Specs:
To test it, I thought of a scenario that would make the most of its versatility and light weight, so I took it with me in the mountains with the Peak Design Travel tripod, that I will tell you about separately.
Piatra Craiului Mountains are among the most beautiful mountains in the country, but the lack of water, the narrow ridge and the routes with many climbing sections on the rocks make them among the most difficult. Every gram counts in the backpack so I reduced the photo kit to the maximum, curious to see if I can handle a single lens.
Piatra Craiului, southern ridge @ 28mm f6.3
Construction
The lens case is almost identical to Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 RXD III, the lens hood is the same for both lenses. They are so similar that in the photo kit I couldn’t tell them apart without reading what was written on them.
The difference is that Tamron 28-200mm f 2.8-5.6 RXD III extends with two sections to be able to reach the 200mm focal length.
Otherwise, the same metal frame and protected against moisture with a rubber gasket, also uses 67mm filters.
With the 575g it fits well on Sony a7 III.
Image quality
Sharpness
In general, all-around lens are a compromise, and they do not excel in this regard. The new Tamron is surprisingly sharp across the focal range. The wide end is perfectly usable at f 2.8.
For a long time I wanted to photograph chamois, I was lucky to have a whole herd @ 200mm f5.6
Colors
The colors and contrast are good, it resembles the colors of the rest of Tamron lenses from the series.
Duo @200mm f5.6
Distortions / Vignetting
It distorts and vignettes quite loudly, but it is something to be expected at an all-around. Being new, there is no correction profile for Lightroom yet.
They use to come back in the evening to the place where they were sleeping @ 97mm f6.3
Flare and chromatic aberrations
The flare is well controlled, but in terms of color aberrations the lens is not the best, the good part is that they can be easily removed in Lightroom.
Bokeh
It’s certainly not a “monster bokeh”, but it produces a decent blur, especially on the tele side.
Portrait of a beautiful lady @ 200mm f6.3
Focus
It uses the same motor as Tamron 17-28mm f 2.8 Di III RXD and Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 RXD. It works well, but due to the large focal range, not as good as the other two zooms. Especially at 200mm, where the aperture is f 5.6 and in low light, it still tries to focus. In my tests, I noticed that it is more accurate if I leave AF-C than AF-S even if the subject is static.
Moving subjects are decently tracked on the Sony A7 III, but on an older body the results probably won’t be that good.
It behaves well even if we zoom in while watching the subject. And such a long focal range allows us to follow the subject a lot, for example if we have a runner approaching us.
A remarkable thing is that at 28mm it can focus at only 19cm from the subject, being able to achieve some close-up perspectives.
Close-up with edelweiss flowers @ 28mm f9
Strengths
Weaknesses
I recommend it for
I recommend it for landscape, travel, sports, photo reporting, beginner photographers and for those who want just one lens in the photo kit.
Capricious weather gives us interesting perspectives, long exposure with a ND400 filter
Alternatives
Alternatively we have the native Sony 24-240mm lens which has a larger focal range and stabilization, but which exceeds for the image quality.
After so many chamois, we have the opportunity to see a bear in the distance, the image is a crop from @ 200mm f5.6
Conclusion
Tamron 28-200mm f 2.8-5.6 RXD III brings some new things to the all-in-one lens series. The f2.8 focal length and the ability to focus very close to the subject at the wide end, all in a very compact volume, do not sacrifice image quality despite the large focal range. The price being more than decent, it will surely find its place in the kits of amateur and professional photographers.
Tamron maintains an incredible pace in launching the lenses for the Sony FE mount. They have already announced a new lens for the fall of 2020, Tamron 70-300mm f 4.5-6.3 Di III RXD which will have only 545g, becoming the lightest 70-300 on the market.
Me when a new lens for Sony appears @ 200mm f6.3
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