tamron 28-75mm

i'm looking to buy a tamron 28-75mm and was wandering if anyone can confirm they are worth the price tag (£360)or is there a better alternative for the same price?

I had the Tamron 28-75 for some time and found it very good, initially used it with a Pentax MZ-3 film camera and found the results as good as most prime lenses up to print sizes of 10" x 8". The one I had was an early example with a serial # starting with three zeros, made and assembled in Japan, later ones were assembled elsewhere and apparently the quality control suffered. They may well have resolved the QC problem later.

Things I liked were the image quality, compact size, light weight and 67mm filter size, however the range was never that useful to me on a DSLR so I eventually sold it. The Sigma 24-70 EX DG is a good alternative, more useful range (just!), bigger, heavier, well built and takes 82mm filters which are expensive.

IMHO for £360 I'd be tempted to buy the Pentax smc DA 17-70mm F4 ED (IF) SDM Lens for £369 from SRS about the same size as the Tamron, takes 67mm filters etc unless you really need the f/2.8 aperture or you want it for a film camera.

John

hi John,
i liked the iq from the tamron and this was the main reason for picking it.i will take a look at the pentax 17-70mm.any idea how this would perform indoors too?would the fact that its an f4 be too slow on this lens?

thanks for your suggestions.

Should be OK indoors depending on the camera, just raise the ISO one stop to compensate. Very happy with mine, it's hardly been off the camera since I got it despite owning a DA*16-50/2.8

John

Hi David,

Just noticed you have a K-r, I was looking at your Blacksmith shot, lovely image BTW. Shot at ISO 1600 f/5.6 and the K-r handled it beautifully at high sensitivity, you shouldn't have any problem with the DA 17-70 IMHO.

John

thanks again John.
i have some good shots with my manual lenses but i find manual focus quite difficult with anything thats moving hense the need for something more af with good iq.
will do some more researching on the other glass you mentioned.

david