Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 VXD for Nikon Z-mount

27 May

Written By MJ

This was one of the lenses that I had been envious of Sony users for a long time, and when the Z-mount version was announced in September 2023 I was definitely excited and grateful that Tamron had decided on this lens as one of the earlier ports to the Z-mount.

Having this lens would be a great help in solving my problem of having to switch between the 24-120/4S and the 70-200/2.8S during shoots - not that these 2 lens are slouches, and in fact I love using both of the lenses very much, but if I could have one lens that could do the work of both it would make me more efficient and also allow more options for me to include things like prime lenses in my double set-up.

That being said, having had a slightly negative experience being an early adopter (looking at you Z8 strap lugs), I decided to wait a bit for normal user reviews to roll in to see how the lens performs with the Z-mount bodies.

Based on the E-mount version’s reviews and user feedback, the general consensus on the lens has been positive with regards to the sharpness and overall image rendering, and I do not expect much difference between the E-mount and the Z-mount variants regarding the image quality.

Personally the few areas that I had interest or concerns in are:

How fast and accurate is the autofocus in normal modes and subject detection modes for Z bodies?
How fast and accurate is the autofocus in pin-point mode?
How prone is the lens to zoom creeping?
How weather resistant is the lens? (The exposed USB port seem like a weak spot to me)

After renting the lens for a bit to determine if it could properly act as a replacement for my 24-120/4S and 70-200/2.8S pair for assignments, there are some interesting observations that I encountered:

The lens boots up slow - even slower than the 24-120/4S. However, it is even way slower when waking up from sleep, so much so that many times I thought I had forgotten to turn on the Z6II I was using it with.
AF-S, AF-C and subject detection modes on the Z6II were pretty consistent and accurate, so I do not have much issues there with it.
AF-S pinpoint on the other hand is a slightly different story - perhaps the motor is not properly suited for racking contrast autofocus, but it feels sluggish and does miss focus a little more than I would like (I’d say in the range of 5% or so during my time with it)
Field curvature seems pretty strong on this lens, so using focus-and-recompose methods (even if it is a slight recompose) tend to make the initial focal plane soft - best to frame first and move the focus point (or use subject detection AF modes) to the intended subject and focus.
With proper focusing techniques, images are sharp in the focus zone and background blur is generally pleasing. While it lacks the minute detail acuity of the Nikon S-line lenses, the lens resolves detail very well and I think deserves praise for being able to do so given such a wide zoom range.
While I mentioned that background blur is generally pleasing, specular highlights sometimes show strong signs of onion rings within them.
The lens hood does feel and look like it can be scratched really easily.
I still do not like the idea of an exposed USB port.

While I think I might need some time getting used to its quirks (especially the field curvature), I am definitely pleased with the performance of the lens, and can see it being my primary workhorse lens with the 24-120/4S and 70-200/2.8S helping to fill in certain niche use cases.

After returning my rental unit I went on to purchase one copy for myself, and am definitely looking forward to working with the lens and trying out new combinations of set-ups to improve my workflow and quality of work!