Tamron 70-200 2.8 VC G2 Nikon Mount

Just took delivery of my G2 last Friday, the 19th. Impressed with the build quality of this lens, but not so much with the performance I've gotten out of it so far. So I thought I'd come here to see if I'm alone and if I'm not, what others did to correct or resolve some of the issues I'm having with it.

First, I'm having some focus problems pretty much all through focal and aperture range. I am getting pretty good images around the 135 mil mark at f/4 and above, but that's just about it. Things just get softer at 70 and 200. I don't have enough experience to determine whether it's a fine tune or bad copy issue. I don't have a console yet, but it is on my immediate list. Thing is, I'm not sure whether to pick one up locally and make the attempt to pull my G2 in so that it matches all the favorable reviews,... OR to send my current copy back and have a console accompany the replacement G2 to me.

Second, images seem to be way over exposed with exposure compensation is set to zero on both my D500 and D810! A full stop of under compensation seems to bring the shots into the exposure I'm used to getting with my old VR II. Is any else seeing global over exposure with this lens? I'm blowing out skies like crazy with this G2 shooting the way I normally shoot. I've learned that what you camera says about metering a scene is just where you start guessing, so I'm not upset that the G2 doesn't always agree with whatever Nikon I'm using,... but! Now I've read in one of the reviews that the T-stop with the G2 is different, but the impression I got from that review was that the image would be darker (appear a little under exposed) if you use no compensation,... I'm thinking this copy delivers the opposite. I mainly use Matrix metering, but I've experimented with the other metering modes as well.

Just hoping to get some feedback. Not wishing the worst on anyone else, but if any one is have any of these problems, I'd sure appreciate hearing from you. Thanks!

I haven't had mine long enough to fully test but the first few photos I took were extremely sharp with excellent bokeh.

My wife took some shots of our kid's soccer game with the Canon 80D over the weekend and her photos appeared to be overexposed with way too much color saturation. She likes to use the automatic scene modes and is pretty good at remembering to select the proper white balance so it very well might have something to do with the lens.

Let's keep playing around and keep each other informed!

Chris

Sorry if this isn't exactly apples-to-apples, but I have your lens's predecessor, the 70-200 2.8 VC, non G-2. A while ago I sent the lens back for a hood issue and a once-over and they found what they call a close-focusing issue. Honestly, I never noticed it and the lens has been just awesone ever since. I own both this and the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR II you mentioned and when looking at my RAW files, I really can't tell which pic was taken with which lens (on both a D610 and D750) Externally the Nikon is more refined, but performance-wise they are extremely close in IMO. No focus or exposure issues with the Tammy, so I'm guessing you may have a bad copy. I'm probably going to sell my Tamron because I'm thinking about picking up a different lens, and I have the Nikon. If I were not a little snobbish about the Nikon, I'd be tempted to move it keep the Tamron knowing I could get more for the Nikon. That's how good my Tammy has been.

I called the email honoring the return and exchange. I also ordered and received the console since starting this thread. Went through a routine I read on another thread suggesting that once I get the console, to take all of the focus parameters down to -20 and save to the lens, then take them all to +20 and save to the lens, detach and reconnect the lens, then pound on the reset to factory default button and save to the lens. Did that, and the AF seemed to lock on with more accuracy. Sounded silly, but I swear I do see some improvement. Could be my brain is playing tricks on me and wants to see an improvement. Has done nothing for the consistent over exposure however,... and why would it, there are no parameters for exposure. LOL!

The weekend, I plan to spend an hour or so doing a serious tune of all focus parameters the proper way and see what I get. I'm hoping to keep this one because I'm hearing of other problems from other owners that I'm not having,... like a slightly noisy AF and/or VC, and slight snags in the zoom ring. I got none of that.

The shots I did take seemed much sharper at the ends of the focal lengths and wide open. I'm really liking this lens. Only complaint is the position of the zoom ring. Reaching my left hand out to zoom forces me to give up being able to steady the thing with both hands.

EricJrSax wrote in post #18363378
I called the email honoring the return and exchange. I also ordered and received the console since starting this thread. Went through a routine I read on another thread suggesting that once I get the console, to take all of the focus parameters down to -20 and save to the lens, then take them all to +20 and save to the lens, detach and reconnect the lens, then pound on the reset to factory default button and save to the lens. Did that, and the AF seemed to lock on with more accuracy. Sounded silly, but I swear I do see some improvement. Could be my brain is playing tricks on me and wants to see an improvement. Has done nothing for the consistent over exposure however,... and why would it, there are no parameters for exposure. LOL!

The weekend, I plan to spend an hour or so doing a serious tune of all focus parameters the proper way and see what I get. I'm hoping to keep this one because I'm hearing of other problems from other owners that I'm not having,... like a slightly noisy AF and/or VC, and slight snags in the zoom ring. I got none of that.

The shots I did take seemed much sharper at the ends of the focal lengths and wide open. I'm really liking this lens. Only complaint is the position of the zoom ring. Reaching my left hand out to zoom forces me to give up being able to steady the thing with both hands.

Read the lower comments. The Nikon mount version has issues...https://www.flickr.com …iscuss/72157677​838858423/

Originally I planned to pickup the G2 version too. I picked up the version 1 instead, used. It has some focusing issues but is fixable. The whole exposure issue has something to do with the aperture blades not opening or closing properly..since they determine your exposure.