Almost Perfect All Around Lens for Me
Tamron SP 35-150mm f/2.8-4 VC is almost perfect all around lens for me.
Pro:
Lens is sharp at all focal length. I feel confident shooting at any focal length with this lens. Other zoom lenses have weak performance at certain range. This lens had no weak range. (Perhaps at 35mm because of vignetting but easily corrected and forgiven because it's still sharp and has max aperture of f/2.8 instead of f/4 like most other premium lens of this kind.
Faster aperture than most lens of this kind. 35mm - f/2.8, f/3.5 in between, 105mm -150mm f/4. Some complain that this is variable aperture lens. Non-issue with the variable aperture is faster than constant f/4 lens. If you want constant aperture, just set variable to f/4 or above.
Build quality is excellent with weather sealing. It's a hefty lens and feels very solid.
Image stabilizer (VC) is very quiet and very very good. I prefer it over Canon 24-105mm f/4 mark I (very noisy) and even mark II which I had both. One of the best from my experience.
Auto focus is quiet, quick, and most importantly accurate. I have no problem on any of my DSLR or on Mirrorless adopted. No micro adjustments were necessary. Still, while I didn't measure, Canon 24-105mm lenses seemed tiny bit smoother. Still, this lens is sharper than Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L at all focal length when I compared it.
Pro/Con:
This lens has unique range of 35-150mm. Not very wide and not very long. Well, many people use 24-105mm f/4 lens on cropped sensor cameras very happily. It's almost like that. (36-158mm) 35mm is wide enough for me for most shots with people in it. I do have ultra wide angle lens when I want something very wide. I do like 150mm reach over 105mm. So I don't miss 24-35mm as much as I love 105-150mm extra reach. It really depends on your style, subject, and most used range. I use 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm primes. These are my most used range which this lens covers and bit more.
Con:
The front focus ring moves during auto focus. Also means no full time manual focus. I don't care for full time manual focus, but a premium lens like this shouldn't have focus ring move during AF. BIG no, no. Such a shame...
Zoom ring moves in opposite to Canon zooms. Well, annoying at first but not a big deal as you get used to it quickly as you use it.
I strongly recommend this lens for those who shoot people. For those who shoot outdoor events and family and friends during outings. This is the just right lens for me. 24-70mm f/2.8 (love the quality but too short for close ups), 70-200mm f/2.8/f4 (love the quality but not wide enough as one lens and one body, and TOO big), 24-105mm f/4 was the best fit for me until this lens. 35mm f/2.8 to 150mm f/4 and not too big with great build, image quality, AF, and VC. Perfect.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned