Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

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David Collins
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Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

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I found a used Tamron EF-S 18-270mm lens on eBay, Not sure if anyone has any history with this lens or any other tamron lenses, does anyone have any bad experiences?
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~Z~
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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

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Only thing that comes to mind is that typically when a lens has that massive of a range to it, it's usually no where as sharp as lenses that don't have as much range. I believe that's still true, although I haven't shopped for lenses for a while.
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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

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18-270 isn't gonna be super sharp, what's the aperture?

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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

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Talk wrote:
Mon Apr 11, 2022 8:51 am
18-270 isn't gonna be super sharp, what's the aperture?
I bought it yesterday, but haven't gotten it yet, but I found that the model I got has a f/3.5-6.3 aperture online
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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

Unread post by ~Z~ »

So you asked for help about the lens, I told you it is unlikely to be a very sharp lens, then you bought it the next day... I suppose you must have got a great deal on it or had some other good reviews you did read about the lens? Hope it works out for you.

Here's a pretty in-depth review of the lens. Probably won't be great for moving subjects like trains: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/tamron ... 3-vc-pzd/5
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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

Unread post by PatAzo »

Give it a go and see what you think. Zooms are often better at the wide end than they are long. Depth of field is better and I suspect they get tuned to the lower area of their range as that is where most shooting is done. 18mm on a crop sensor is not a bad field of view wise but the prospective is of limited use for trains at least. 270mm unless you are shooing wildlife or sports to long. Speed wise it's o.k. Too slow for sports but fine for trains where you will probably be f5.6-f11 most of the time anyway.

It won't have blow your hair back performance but coupled with good technique it could give you what you want.

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Re: Tamron 18-270 lens for railfanning

Unread post by David Collins »

Well that took no time for it to get here :shock:, I'm taking it out for its first test run on Sunday over in Royal oak
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