Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro for Nikon

Choosing a second lens for my Nikon D5000 was quite tough.

At first, I wanted to go for either a Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED or Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR (which were both more expensive). But at the end of the day, I finally went for the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro for Nikon (with built in motor) mainly because of the huge price difference.

As any other buyer, I googled for reviews for this lens. I was a bit disappointed since most of the sites used the same text from the official Tamron page. Same for the pictures of the lens itself.

So, this post is my share to the web, featuring shots and previews of my own 🙂

n.b : Once again, I love photography as a hobby. This post is nothing professional and has been written from my little experience only. The aim of this post is to provide some additional feedback for this lens from Tamron.

Another ebay experience!

I got a nice deal on ebay! It cost me only $130 + $50 shipping. However, just after my purchase, the seller increased the price by +$20 😛

Once I paid the taxes and other charges at the Mauritius Postal Office, the total cost amounted to around Rs6200. Later, I noticed the same lens on sale at a local photography equipment shot (Era) at around Rs9500. Well, personally I don’t find the difference that huge. It can help you to avoid those hassles like going to the post office, checking your mail box everyday and the huge stress before actually receiving the parcel. And sometimes, time is money!

It took me nearly 3 weeks to get the item shipped from Hong Kong to Mauritius for $50. I wonder why it took so long to come here for that price!

Some pictures of the lens

As promised, here are a few shots :

Show me the zoom!

If you are regularly of this blog, you may have surely read the article in which I explained a few things about camera lenses. Anyway, here is a picture which can give you an idea about how far you can zoom.

Please note that first 2 shots have been taken with a 18-55mm lens.

Some shots with the lens.

Some good and bad points…

The price is one among the best positive points of this lens which offers a wide zoom range as well as a macro feature. The macro feature can be enabled between 180-300 mm, bringing the subject much closer.

This is my second lens, the first one being the bundled kit lens (Nikon AF-S DX 18-55mm VR) of my D5000. Comparing these two, the 18-55 lens wins over the Tamron one on the built quality. I do not have much difficulty while shooting at 300mm in normal/bright light conditions. But if your hands shake too much, then you should carry a monopod or tripod if you want to push the lens at the maximum focal length.

You have perhaps read it somewhere else, it takes some time to autofocus, especially in low light conditions. In these conditions, I usually select one of the focus points manually on my camera before pressing the shutter button. If it still does not work, I push the autofocus switch from “AF” to “MF”.

A small tip : Remove the lens hood in low lighting conditions. It can help improve its ability to auto focus.

Is your camera bag big enough?

Finally, make sure that your camera bag can contain one more lens, especially if you wish to keep the lens hood on it all the time. The bag which I always considered as big and bulky is now not large enough to hold my 2 lenses at the same time. It takes the whole width of my bag and consequently, I need to choose only one of the lens before going out. Buying a backpack will cost me roughly Rs3000.

I also noticed that because of the large lens hood, a few other backpacks won’t be large enough. Either you look for a bigger one, or remove (or invert) the lens hood each time you keep the lens in the bag.

The last words

The same lens exists for different mounts including Canon. While choosing your lens, make sure that you get the correct one. There are two Nikon-compatible versions : one with a built in motor (for D40,D60,D3000,D5000, etc) and another one without a built in motor (D80,D90, etc). The words “Built in Motor” is clearly written on the box.

I think that one cannot expect much for a lower value lens, but IMHO it remains a good purchase, especially if you are tight on budget. Here ends my small review and I hope that you have got a better overview of the lens if you are planning to buy it.

Go for it, it is worth the money!