# Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Image Quality Examination



## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 13, 2015)

I did an in depth breakdown of the image quality from the new Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 VC lens with a number of crops and examination of what it all means. 

I don't think that I am letting the cat out of the bag by saying that this is a very compelling lens. My full review is yet to come, but for those of you looking for some early info, take a look at the article here: http://bit.ly/1E5uvqD

P.S. Here is a photo of me taken with the lens this morning as the sun rose out on a frozen river. It was about 40 below...and my trigger finger is still a bit numb 5 hours later!


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## mackguyver (Feb 13, 2015)

40 below - you're crazy!!! Thanks for sharing this, and it looks like Tamron continues to really step up their game. Those crops at f/11 look really good for a lens this wide. How does it compare to the quality wide open?


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 13, 2015)

mackguyver said:


> 40 below - you're crazy!!! Thanks for sharing this, and it looks like Tamron continues to really step up their game. Those crops at f/11 look really good for a lens this wide. How does it compare to the quality wide open?



I'll attach a good size wide open image here for people to pixel peep. Another that I took in the crazy cold this morning. This was shot in RAW, but has been converted with a Lightroom sharpness setting of 60 at 1 pixel width. You can see there is some vignetting, but it's actually not bad (wait until you see it compared to my Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 - now THERE is some vignetting!). Depth of field is smaller, obviously, but resolution is still excellent.


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## mackguyver (Feb 13, 2015)

Thanks, Dustin, and that's very impressive at f/2.8. The vignetting is small and still no CA. I can't tell much about the edge sharpness as it's either sky or out of focus (due to the aperture). I was thinking it might be one of those lenses that gets a whole lot better stopped down (like the Rokinon), but this looks really impressive all around. I look forward to seeing your completed review. 

P.S. Try to keep those fingers - you'll need them this summer as well


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## StudentOfLight (Feb 14, 2015)

Thanks Dustin,
I've been looking to trade in my EF 16-35 f/2.8L II USM but wasn't sold on the 16-35/4 IS or the upcoming 11-24/4. This new Tamron however looks promising... Can't wait for your review. The 15-30mm is due to be released here in South Africa at the end of the Feb, probably only beginning of March. I'd appreciate your insight on whether to trade in the 16-35 or hold off.


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## m8547 (Feb 14, 2015)

> There has been absolutely no correction for chromatic aberrations to this image, and yet I don’t see fringing in the transition from dark to light in the branches, nor do I see them in the crops of the snow (which would also really show off CA).



I see a bit of CA in both of these crops. It's not bad, but it's definitely there. Luckily it's easy to correct even without a lens profile.

I'm still waiting for the perfect wide angle lens. I want f/2.8 and low coma for night sky shots, and I want excellent image quality. I have a Tokina 11-16 now, and it's almost perfect, but I want to switch to full frame for some extra high ISO performance. I'm pushing the limit of my T3i doing night shots with the 11-16. Longer exposures give me star trails, and higher ISO has too much noise. I want a full frame lens that does at least as well as the 11-16. The Canon 16-35 f/2.8 ii and Tokina 16-28 are close, but it's hard to tell if they would be better. The 16-35 f/4 is looks good, but without f/4 I lose most of the low light advantage of a full frame sensor.


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## andrewflo (Feb 14, 2015)

Very nice thanks for sharing. Whoa 40 below that's insane! Sounds like that VC might come in handy for handheld


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 14, 2015)

andrewflo said:


> Very nice thanks for sharing. Whoa 40 below that's insane! Sounds like that VC might come in handy for handheld



That is definitely true. The lens seemed to perform fine in the extreme cold, though...so that's a positive.


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## Hjalmarg1 (Feb 15, 2015)

StudentOfLight said:


> Thanks Dustin,
> I've been looking to trade in my EF 16-35 f/2.8L II USM but wasn't sold on the 16-35/4 IS or the upcoming 11-24/4.


Unless you shoot action, there isn't any UWA zoom lens as good as the 16-35mm f4L IS. It's sharp across the whole frame fron edge to edge. I traded my 16-35mm f/2.8L II for the newest f4L IS version.
If the Tammy is as good as the canon 16-35mm f4L IS in terms of sharpness, contrast and IQ and, with the f2.8 & VC it will be a killer.


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## donn (Feb 15, 2015)

Thanks for your insight Dustin, love your reviews! I myself is very satisfied with Tamron SP lineup lately. If I haven't recently bought my 16-35 F4, I would have definitely went for this one.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 15, 2015)

donn said:


> Thanks for your insight Dustin, love your reviews! I myself is very satisfied with Tamron SP lineup lately. If I haven't recently bought my 16-35 F4, I would have definitely went for this one.



The 16-35 f/4L IS is a great lens. I held off because I knew this lens was coming and I wanted to test it first. Having use a number of wide angle options in the past six months (Zeiss 15, Rokinon 12mm (mirrorless), Canon 16-35L, Samyang 24mm T/S and now this Tamron, I can safely say this Tamron is my new pick for a w/a option. Literally the only thing that I can find wrong with it is the fact that it is large (and it is really big!) and doesn't take traditional filters. I've not minded using square filters with my Samyang/Rokinon 14mm, so I can handle that with this lens.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 15, 2015)

I've got a new video where I interactively look closely at the resolution at major apertures (f/2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, and 11) in a direct comparison between the new Tamron, the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, and the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC on the wide end. The results are pretty amazing.

Take a look: http://bit.ly/1Aac03H


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## BeenThere (Feb 15, 2015)

Looking at the corner crops at f11' one can see some elongation of the specular highlights in the snow (coma). No wings though. Is coma the same at f2.8? Thanks for the preview!


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 15, 2015)

BeenThere said:


> Looking at the corner crops at f11' one can see some elongation of the specular highlights in the snow (coma). No wings though. Is coma the same at f2.8? Thanks for the preview!



Take a look at the new video and judge for yourself. I haven't been able to shoot at night yet, unfortunately, because it has been snowing here pretty much non-stop and there hasn't been any clear skies. I will be posting a new article somewhere in the next 24 hours with a lot more crops from another series along with comparisons to other lenses.

If I get a look at the night sky (I only have two more nights with the lens before it moves on to another reviewer, unfortunately), I will definitely be looking at coma. I was just written to by another photographer who has the lens in hand and he stated that the lens is awesome at night. Low coma and very crisp points of light. My new resolution comparison with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 (my current astraphotography lens) makes me think that he's probably right. http://bit.ly/1Aac03H


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## Lawliet (Feb 15, 2015)

TWI by Dustin Abbott said:


> If I get a look at the night sky (I only have two more nights with the lens before it moves on to another reviewer, unfortunately), I will definitely be looking at coma.



Backup plan: use a LED, from across the room the smaller ones should come reasonable close to being a point source.
A pinhole in front of a larger light source would work as well, just don't set anything on fire.


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## donn (Feb 15, 2015)

TWI by Dustin Abbott said:


> I've got a new video where I interactively look closely at the resolution at major apertures (f/2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, and 11) in a direct comparison between the new Tamron, the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, and the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC on the wide end. The results are pretty amazing.
> 
> Take a look: http://bit.ly/1Aac03H



Nice video. The tamron seemed to perform very well!


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## old-pr-pix (Feb 15, 2015)

Wow! 40 below - was that degrees C or F? (Oh wait, it doesn't matter!) It's only -7F here today with wind chill around -25F. I probably won't be out shooting. In film days I used to do shots like that often; but, now I prefer to follow the manufacturer's recommendation on camera operating temperatures - I stay warmer that way. Any issues with your 6D at those temperatures?

Great Sunday morning inspiration however. And, the lens looks interesting as well. Looking forward to full review. Thanks.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 15, 2015)

old-pr-pix said:


> Wow! 40 below - was that degrees C or F? (Oh wait, it doesn't matter!) It's only -7F here today with wind chill around -25F. I probably won't be out shooting. In film days I used to do shots like that often; but, now I prefer to follow the manufacturer's recommendation on camera operating temperatures - I stay warmer that way. Any issues with your 6D at those temperatures?
> 
> Great Sunday morning inspiration however. And, the lens looks interesting as well. Looking forward to full review. Thanks.



My 6D has never balked at me in any kind of weather conditions. It really is an excellent camera.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 16, 2015)

Finally got a peak at the sky last night. So cold, though, that I didn't linger too long and wasn't in the best of conditions. Still, I'm pretty impressed with the low coma and the very nice performance for a night sky shot. I've processed this to make up for the light pollution and allow the stars to shine, but I would say this lens is probably doing as well as the Rokinon other than not having as dramatically wide a field of view.



Frozen Stars - Tamron 15-30 VC by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

I've got a few more that I will share shortly. The specs: ISO 1600, f/3.2, 15 seconds. The aperture wasn't to add sharpness so much as trying to get the exposure I wanted.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 16, 2015)

I went into my catalog and compared some nightscapes from the Rokinon and the 16-35 f/4. The Tamron has less distortion towards the edges, and that caused more stretching on the Rokinon. The performance from that Tamron is good enough that I feel I could let the Rokinon go in favor of the Tamron and not lose anything.

The 16-35 f/4L was simply not as good for astraphotography, in my opinion. I never got the starpoints to render as sharply, and, of course, you have only half the available light to work with.

One big plus is that the focus window is accurate on the Tamron. I just put it on infinity before going out to shoot and got a very sharp result.


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## BeenThere (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks for doing this. When you add a few more, as mentioned, a corner crop in the star field would be really helpful. Thanks again, I always enjoy your reviews.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 17, 2015)

Here's a wide open one for you to peep at a bit here. I've processed it a bit to help the stars pop (and to try to deal with the light pollution everywhere), so at a pixel level there is some extra noise, but it will also make it very easy to check for coma and determine whether it is acceptable for your purposes.

I'm working on the final review right now. The video review is already done and uploaded, but it is still unlisted until I am ready to go live with everything else.


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## andrewflo (Feb 17, 2015)

Very cool thanks Dustin.


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## Djaaf (Feb 18, 2015)

Very nice Dustin. 
It seems like there's a bit of decentering, but it's barely noticeable (top left corner is a bit worse than top right corner). And the coma seem to be on par with the Samyang 14mm, which is quite the achievement. 

I'll have to see it with my own eyes to see if the size will really be an issue or not, but right now, i'm awfully tempted.  

Djaaf.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Feb 18, 2015)

Djaaf said:


> Very nice Dustin.
> It seems like there's a bit of decentering, but it's barely noticeable (top left corner is a bit worse than top right corner). And the coma seem to be on par with the Samyang 14mm, which is quite the achievement.
> 
> I'll have to see it with my own eyes to see if the size will really be an issue or not, but right now, i'm awfully tempted.
> ...



I don't know if you have seen the Nikon 14-24mm, but it is just marginally larger than that. Weight wise it falls right between a 24-70 f/2.8 (840g) and 70-200 f/2.8 (1470g); it is 1100g.


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## Rommel (Feb 26, 2015)

All at F2.8 on 5D Mk3 and 15mm


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## wanderer (Mar 9, 2015)

Rommel, could you please post RAW files of these photos. Or at least 100% crops. Thanks


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## mackguyver (Mar 9, 2015)

Have you guys seen this from DPReview - it mirrors Dustin's observations:
Prepare to be impressed: Tamron 15-30 F2.8 vs. Nikon 14-24 F2.8


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Mar 9, 2015)

mackguyver said:


> Have you guys seen this from DPReview - it mirrors Dustin's observations:
> Prepare to be impressed: Tamron 15-30 F2.8 vs. Nikon 14-24 F2.8



Thanks for sharing. That was very interesting. I've got another copy coming in a couple of weeks so that I can do the direct comparison with the Canon 16-35 f/4L (and maybe f/2.8L, too).


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## BeenThere (Mar 29, 2015)

Based to a large extent on Dustin's early review I purchased the new Tamron. One of my interests is night photography and the night shots from Dustin's review looked promising. I was specifically interested in the Coma performance wide open and did some comparisons with a few other wide angle lenses to see how the new Tamron faired. Bottom line was that it did very well in the comparisons. Perhaps my new favorite starry night lens. My results are posted here:

http://www.ronbrunsvold.com/tools/wide-angle-lenses-for-night.html


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Mar 30, 2015)

BeenThere said:


> Based to a large extent on Dustin's early review I purchased the new Tamron. One of my interests is night photography and the night shots from Dustin's review looked promising. I was specifically interested in the Coma performance wide open and did some comparisons with a few other wide angle lenses to see how the new Tamron faired. Bottom line was that it did very well in the comparisons. Perhaps my new favorite starry night lens. My results are posted here:
> 
> http://www.ronbrunsvold.com/tools/wide-angle-lenses-for-night.html



That's a very interesting comparison. Nicely done. I too was rather unimpressed with the 16-35 f/4L IS as an astraphotography lens, although I am retesting it as compared with the Canon 16-35 f/2.8 II and the Tamron 15-30 VC as a part of my three lens shootout I'm working on.

P.S. Those using a mirrorless body should also consider the Rokinon 12mm f/2. It turns in a very nice performance and the distance scale is more accurate than the 14mm Rokinon.


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## telemaq76 (Mar 31, 2015)

I just received mine today. Very sharp even wide open, great result at 2.8 on the stars, faaaar better than the 16-35 2.8 II at 2.8 . Strangely i tried a sunset and the highlight are very high, white are overexposed, if you understand what i mean, ( sorry english is not my native langage ) . Seems the lens has a lot of contrast. And great to have an Is, i like to shoot handheld


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## TeT (Apr 1, 2015)

TWI by Dustin Abbott said:


> Here's a wide open one for you to peep at a bit here. I've processed it a bit to help the stars pop (and to try to deal with the light pollution everywhere), so at a pixel level there is some extra noise, but it will also make it very easy to check for coma and determine whether it is acceptable for your purposes.
> 
> I'm working on the final review right now. The video review is already done and uploaded, but it is still unlisted until I am ready to go live with everything else.



While everyone is still looking; what is your quick fix for making the stars pop and light pollution...? I mostly use Photoshop for post..


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Apr 1, 2015)

BeenThere said:


> Based to a large extent on Dustin's early review I purchased the new Tamron. One of my interests is night photography and the night shots from Dustin's review looked promising. I was specifically interested in the Coma performance wide open and did some comparisons with a few other wide angle lenses to see how the new Tamron faired. Bottom line was that it did very well in the comparisons. Perhaps my new favorite starry night lens. My results are posted here:
> 
> http://www.ronbrunsvold.com/tools/wide-angle-lenses-for-night.html



Ron, with your permission I would like to link to your findings in my upcoming three way shootout. You've given more time to this than what I will have time to do.

P.S. My single greatest challenge with shooting nightscapes with the 16-35mm f/4L IS has been because infinity focus (manually) isn't calibrated properly. You can focus beyond infinity, and as a result get blurry results. This has been true on both copies I've used thus far. With familiarity I would find the proper place to focus, but sometimes during the length of time that I have lenses I don't always get an opportunity to spend a lot of time figuring that out. The Tamron 15-30 was much easier - I just twisted the dial to infinity, went out and shot, and got great results.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Apr 1, 2015)

TeT said:


> TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
> 
> 
> > Here's a wide open one for you to peep at a bit here. I've processed it a bit to help the stars pop (and to try to deal with the light pollution everywhere), so at a pixel level there is some extra noise, but it will also make it very easy to check for coma and determine whether it is acceptable for your purposes.
> ...



Curves are your friend. I will often first make a selection where I am working only on the sky. You want a tone curve with low shadow (to make the sky dark) and pull up the highlights (to make the stars really show).


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## BeenThere (Apr 1, 2015)

TWI by Dustin Abbott said:


> BeenThere said:
> 
> 
> > Based to a large extent on Dustin's early review I purchased the new Tamron. One of my interests is night photography and the night shots from Dustin's review looked promising. I was specifically interested in the Coma performance wide open and did some comparisons with a few other wide angle lenses to see how the new Tamron faired. Bottom line was that it did very well in the comparisons. Perhaps my new favorite starry night lens. My results are posted here:
> ...


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Apr 2, 2015)

BeenThere said:


> TWI by Dustin Abbott said:
> 
> 
> > BeenThere said:
> ...



That was a strength for the first copy of the Tamron 15-30 that I test. Infinity was right around the hard stop.


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