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Rating: 
Summary: Tamron gives a lot of bang for the buck
Review: I bought this lens about 2 moths ago. I used it to take pictures of the Formula 1 cars at the US Grand Prix. In that context, here is my review.I have a Minolta 400si, and I was using Fuji 400ASA film. I kept the "sports action" setting for all of the at-speed shots (most of the time the cars were going ~100mph - the highest speeds that I shot that day were ~150mph). Overall, I am very pleased with the lens. The downsides seem to be that the autofocus gets a little squirrely when trying to shoot through the cyclone fencing that the track. This is something that doesn't happen with my regular lens, and others around me did not have a problem with. I think that this is not so much a condition of the lens as much as a combination of the lens and the camera. As such, I ended up using manual focus for most of the pictures that I took. The problem is that there is very little friction on the man. focus ring. If you set it so that you are in focus at the desired point, and bump it even slightly, you will have to monkey around refocusing. With no optical aids (in the viewfinder), this can be a little frustrating. The zoom ring has a nice, tight feel and stays well set to whatever you choose. The lens hood that comes with the lens is a great procetor for the lens (especially when it is raining - well that and a plastic baggie - did anyone see the race... dismal weather). As far as sharp pictures, though, this lens is great. Even though it was VERY overcast that day, I never had any of the pictures suffer from the low light conditions. For the money, I think that it would be very hard to go wrong with this lens. It's a steal.
Rating:
Summary: Tamron gives a lot of bang for the buck
Review: I bought this lens about 2 moths ago. I used it to take pictures of the Formula 1 cars at the US Grand Prix. In that context, here is my review. I have a Minolta 400si, and I was using Fuji 400ASA film. I kept the "sports action" setting for all of the at-speed shots (most of the time the cars were going ~100mph - the highest speeds that I shot that day were ~150mph). Overall, I am very pleased with the lens. The downsides seem to be that the autofocus gets a little squirrely when trying to shoot through the cyclone fencing that the track. This is something that doesn't happen with my regular lens, and others around me did not have a problem with. I think that this is not so much a condition of the lens as much as a combination of the lens and the camera. As such, I ended up using manual focus for most of the pictures that I took. The problem is that there is very little friction on the man. focus ring. If you set it so that you are in focus at the desired point, and bump it even slightly, you will have to monkey around refocusing. With no optical aids (in the viewfinder), this can be a little frustrating. The zoom ring has a nice, tight feel and stays well set to whatever you choose. The lens hood that comes with the lens is a great procetor for the lens (especially when it is raining - well that and a plastic baggie - did anyone see the race... dismal weather). As far as sharp pictures, though, this lens is great. Even though it was VERY overcast that day, I never had any of the pictures suffer from the low light conditions. For the money, I think that it would be very hard to go wrong with this lens. It's a steal.
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