Tamron 18/250

Does anyone have this lens and if so what is your opinion on it please also if you could post a sample photo that would be helpful.

I don't have one, but if you want to base a buying decision even partly on photos taken with it, it would be helpful if you could suggest what sort of photos you're looking for.

Considering the zoom range, it is supposed to be very good, as is the Pentax equivalent, to which it's very similar.

There have been several threads with pictures taken with both of them, IIRC, so a search would probably give you much of what you want.

I dont have one either so this may be of dubious value... I had an extensive play with one on Saturday evening. My neighbour across the street bought one for his Canon (not sure which model but 10mp) and I was pretty impressed. Very nicely balanced and a quality feel to it and the focus was stunningly quick but I dont know if there would be a difference across brands. Pictures were impressive but no time to closely examine for CA etc. Good on the Canon - must be better on a Pentax!

I suspect that might just be the Canon.

I had a play with the Pentax one on my K10D in Chris's shop - I bought the Sigma 10-20 instead in the end - and the focus was acceptably quick, comparable with a lot of Pentax-fit lenses, but not stunning by any measure.

Nothing wrong with the pictures though. The well-documented barrel distortion at the wide end was very apparent if there were straight lines near the edge of the frame, but apart from that I'm sure it's capable of very good results, and the convenience of the thing is outstanding - especially since the SR compensates quite a lot for its slowness (not on Canon, though )

Have a search on the forum for hotshots4u2c - his photos are mostly taken with one I believe. He seems very happy with it.

Thanks guys for the input. Chris I am looking for a lens I can stick on my camera and have just about as much coverd as possible I just like to shoot what catches my eye. Also it would be nice just to carry the one lens to lighten the load.

then you can't do any better than the Tamron 18-250/Pentax DA 18-250 (same lens, different badge).

It's the best of the super zooms. It will never equal a good zoom pair like 16-45 + 55-300, but if all you want is maximum versitility from one lens it has no equal.

Hello there,

I bought the Tamron 18-250mm in october last year, and i use it with one of my 2 K10d bodies.

The price, zoom range, IQ are absolutely incredible for what the lens is. I wanted to buy it for your same reasons, and soon decided that I didn't need another Zoom lens to cover any lenghts. This is not to say that other (fast f2. lenses are not better, because they probably are, but the difference is so marginal that I can definitely do without them. Instead I started buying primes and if I need the absolute quality of image (say for photoshoots or live bands), then I use those fixed focal lenghts which provide the speed and quality needed).

The Tamron is really really good, its not particulary fast (f3.5-6.3) and the image quality is (IMO) much better than the kit lens 18-55mm and also better than the 18-55mm Mark II. As a walkabout lens its incredibly versatile, and it suffers from very little distortion at both zoom ends, whilst if you just stop it down a little (f7.1 - f8 - f11) it becomes really quite sharp.

I believe that if you want an inexpensive walkabout lens that you can leave on the camera all the time, then this is the one for you. Consider though that this defies the purpose of the SLR.

If on the other hand you do a lot of low light photography, and need a faster lens, then you should probably go with the 2 DA* (16-50mm and 50-135mm), but then you would spend about 3 times more than with the tamron.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Nathan

From www.photozone.de/Reviews/Pentax%20Lens%20Tests/367-pentax-smc-da-18-250mm-f35-63?start=1 :

"Typical for extreme range zooms the Tamron exhibits a fairly hefty amount of barrel distortions at 18mm (~4.3%). However, beyond the wide end the problem is actually very well controlled with only slight to moderate pincushion distortions"

Thanks again guys I found the info very helpful.
Regards Ian