Tamron VC 28-300 lens..

[NicolaB]

...does anyone have one, and are they any good?

I'm looking for a lens that's a bit more portable than my Bigma,which I love for specific "photography trips", but isn't really suitable for carrying on 10 mile hikes, but still has good long range capabilities for opportunistic bird shots. The price of the Tamron really appeals, and I've read some good reviews, but was hoping for some more advice before biting the bullet.

I was also looking at the Nikkor 70-300, but that doesn't have such a good wide angle range so I'd still have to keep my 18-55 kit lens on me as well...

hmm...

[squishy]

i cant tell you about the lenses, but 28-300mm is a really good range to have. i have a fujifilm S9600 (fixed mount), which has that focal range, and being able to take it down to wide angle when i want is really useful.

hope that helps at least a little bit

[NicolaB]

Thanks, that's what I thought about the range, but was wondering if it was too good to be true! It sounds to me like a good solution for a "Do It All" lens to take if I'm hillwalking without having to take masses of kit. It looks suprisingly small too considering what it can do.

[squishy]

it wont be as sharp at 300mm as a prime or a lens with a smaller range, but it is a great range to have when you are just walking around.

[Lancashire Lad]

Looking at a few on-line reviews, the 28-300 seems to have some mixed reviews. (One said "doesn't always focus at high zoom" and "makes painful grinding noise when zooming sometimes").

They also do an 18-250mm Aspherical, (which is only marginally more expensive), and gets better review opinions. Of the two, I'd be tempted to go for that one.

Besides that, they do an 18-270mm Aspherical with optical stabilization, which has some good reviews, (but that one costs over £400.00). If the budget will stretch, this one seems to be the best of the bunch, but at that sort of price, there may well be more options from other manufacturers.

Sigma do an 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC optically stabilized Nikon AF zoom (at about £330.00), which has had some very good reviews, if you don't really need to go up to the 300mm end of things.

I have the Nikon 70-300, which is a fine lens for the price, but as you say, to cover all bases with that, you would also need to carry a wide angle zoom as well.

Regards
Mike.