Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD

Purchased: May 2024
Status: In Active Use

Entry Date: 29/5/2024

The focal length range and the wide aperture of this lens had been very appealing to me for some time now, and furthermore so when most reviews online do give high praises to its image quality.

I decided to rent the lens over a weekend for an assignment to see its performance for myself, and decide if it would be an worthwhile investment.

(Details of my experience with the rental unit are written in this post here.)

Some of my initial concerns with the lens include:

  • Autofocus speed and accuracy in single point, pin-point and subject detection modes

  • Build quality of the lens

  • Zoom creeping of the lens

  • Weather resistance of the lens

While testing out the rental unit, I tried to find out as much as possible about the lens, and here are some of the observations regarding the lens’ handling that I had made:

  • The lens boots up slow on the Z6II, both from the Power OFF position or from camera sleep. In fact it boots up slower from sleep than from switching the camera on.

  • AF-S, AF-C with single point or subject detection modes with the Z6II were pretty consistent and accurate.

  • AF-S with pin-point mode was sluggish and somehow misses AF a bit more than I expected (in the range of 5% or so images)

  • AF speed seems to be quite distant dependent (on the Z6II), but is generally relatively fast as long as large focus distance shifts are not required. I would put the AF speed at a tad slower than that of the 24-120/4S for normal use cases; but when large focus distance shifts are required it does slow down quite significantly.

  • Build quality is good with tight tolerances, but the barrel material/lens hood material do feel and look like they can be scratched easily. The lens barrel also seem to attract more dust than what I am used to with the Nikon barrels.

  • Weather resistance seems to hold up to their claims, and the tight zoom ring do give good confidence about the weather resistance and also prevents zoom creeping.

  • The exposed USB port does feel like it is a liability towards the weather resistance and robustness of the lens.

As to the image quality of the lens:

  • Using it as a “constant f/2.8” lens, the lens is sharp in the focal plane, especially at the middle zoom ranges. Sharpness does fall a bit at longer focal lengths, but still perfectly useable and way above the typical acceptable limits. While it lacks the minute detail acuity when compared to the Nikon S-line lenses, it is still able to resolve details well, and the lens is not hit by a huge loss of contrast when focusing at close distances.

  • There seems to be quite a strong bit of field curvature, and focus-and-recompose methods do introduce softness in the initial focal place, even if it was just a small recompose. It was better to frame the subject and move the focal point over (or use subject detection modes) and achieve focus just directly before shooting.

  • Background blur is generally pleasing (when used at f/2.8) without much harshness even with complicated backgrounds (like branches etc.) Specular highlights however do show quite strong signs of onion rings within them.

I was satisfied with the performance of the lens, and decided to get a copy for myself after my experience with the rental unit.

Entry Date: 3/4/2025

I have been using this lens for about a year now, mainly for outdoor location-based assignments.

Here are some extra observations I have of the lens:

  • Lens Handling

    • The zoom ring remains snug and the lens does not show any signs of zoom creeping. Weather resistance also seems to hold up so far.

    • The lens balances really well on the Z6II and it is possible to use the combination single-handedly. However, the lack of a tripod foot for the lens made the kit front heavy when mounted on a tripod - while the lens mount should have no issues supporting the lens, the tripod itself feels a bit too imbalanced, and hence for studio-based work where I am using a tripod I still prefer using the 24-120/4S for this reason alone.

    • Using this lens with the lens hood in shooting position is pretty much the same length as a 70-200/2.8 with lens hood reversed, meaning any bag that could fit a 70-200/2.8 with lens hood reversed could hold this kit in shooting position. This is a huge advantage (and one of the main reasons I was after this lens) since I can keep the body and lens combination in ready-to-shoot configuration.

    • The barrel really attracts dust (and fur) way more than I would like - especially so when the lens was new. I found myself having to to clean the outer barrel more often than the other Nikon Z lenses.

    • The smooth plastic barrel and lens hood are not just prone to scratches, but also prone to fingerprints - I personally prefer the slight “crinkle” material of the older Tamron lenses.

  • Lens Autofocus Performance

    • The AF seems to work well for moving subjects too, even on the Z6II, as long as the change in distances is not too abrupt or large. Subject detection modes do work well too.

    • It hunts a bit in low light situations (which I would say is more of a Z6II weakness than the lens itself), and the hunting itself is a slow process as it slowly racks focus to try to find a lock. However in AF-S when it locks it usually is accurate.

  • Image Quality

    • The variable close-up distance shooting is useful when there is lack of space to back up to, and since the maximum magnification ratio is similar regardless of distance it also helps with framing the shot easier.

    • Tamron’s color rendering seems a bit “warmer” (yellow-leaning) than the Nikon Z lenses, and sometimes it causes slight color matching issues when using two bodies concurrently on assignments.

    • The lens flares quite easily in backlit situations, especially at the wider focal lengths.

  • Misc

    • The serial number printed on the lens itself actually is not an exact match with the serial number retrieved from the EXIF file. After discovering this, I went to dig out the older images taken with the rental unit previously, and found the physical serial number and the EXIF serial number mismatched too. Strange.

Overall I am satisfied with the lens and using it on assignments does help simplify my loadout quite a bit, giving me allowance and more options to mix and match different gear.

If there was only one change I could wish for, it would definitely be the barrel/hood plastic material - after a year I still find myself not exactly a huge fan of this material, and definitely prefer the slight “crinkle/rough” feel of the Nikon lenses.