3rd party lenses

[Robert Butts]

Any wedding photographers love their 3rd party lens or lenses...considering Tamron 17-50

[tony fanning]

Tried it twice and had two duff copies. Went for the Canon 17-55 2.8IS in the end and would rather cut off my hand than get rid of it.

[Lightworks Imaging]

I love my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. Sharp as a tack (especially considering the price). Only thing I could want from it would be IS. Other than that, great lens. Great price.

[tim]

I had a Tamron 28-75 which was great, but missed focus a little more often than i'd like. It ended up needing repairs after a few years, the last 18 months sitting on a shelf, the blades got stuck. I have a Tokina 12-24 F4 that's three years old that has the same problem.

I have similar feelings about Tony as the 17-55, though I won't let you cut me hand off to get it, if you have a knife you can have it because I have two of them - it's that good. My first broke when I dropped it from 1.5 meters (5 feet) onto a hard floor, it was returned "uneconomic to repair" - fair enough. The second two have been fine.

My Canon lenses have all been mostly fine. I had a little work done on the 50 F1.4, I think Canon replaced the IS unit in the 70-200 F2.8 IS under warranty when I sent it in for general service, it seemed to be working fine to me.

[samnz]

One of my favourite 3P lenses for weddings was the Tam 28-75/2.8. I tried other 3P variants such as Sig 24-70/2.8, Tam 17-50/2.8 and recently the Sig 17-35/2.8-4. The latter coming a very close second in terms of IQ, however hindered by the variable aperture.

I didn't jump for joy with the Tam 17-50. Perhaps all the hype got me too excited ... dunno. I did like the wide angle / group shots / close quarter opportunities though...however my Tam 28-75 had much more appeal in terms of focus and sharpness.

Give the 17-50 a go! It might be an absolute winner for ya. It's a definite winner in a 'tight situation'...if you get my drift.

[form]

There are two things the Tamron 17-50 does worse than the Tamron 28-75: Heavier vignetting and corner deterioration, and more CA. So I returned the 17-50 and kept the 28-75.