Tamron 28-300 vs 28-75+70-300

[Harlequin565]

Hi folks,

It's been a while since I've been with Canon, and recently picked up an EOS-30 which I'm really enjoying. It came with a very venerable Sigma 28-105 & a newer Sigma 70-300. I have no other EF lenses.

The 28-105 is sharp enough, but sadly is very fussy about when it will/won't focus and pretty much refuses to do anything apart from whine in & out at 105mm. The zoom ring is also quite stiff. For that reason, it's rarely on the camera.

The 70-300 is the el-cheapo Sigma one without IS. What I love about this lens is the 300mm reach, and the macro function. I do wish I had some help with image stabilisation though. The relatively narrow maxiumum aperture (f/5.6 I think at 300mm) and the fact that I generally tend to shoot ISO 400 film means that on cloudy days I can be testing the limits of my ability to hand hold and still get decent shutter speeds.

I'm not looking for L glass. I suspect the "top of the line" combo would be the 24-70 and the 70-200. That pair is very expensive, and very heavy. It also doesn't get me out to 300mm. This camera is mainly for when I'm out walking with the family and no one wants to wait for me to focus, or compose. No tripod. Occasional nature, occasional landscape, occasional candid portraits, both full body & headshots. These are memories, so quality & sharpness are less important.

It's my understanding that Canon don't really do a superzoom in EF mount (lol at the 28-300 which would be perfect if it was 3 digits instead of 4). Covering the shorter focal lengths appears to be the 24-70 f/4 which is £700. They have their own 70-300 with IS at £440. Sigma? The 24-105 f/4 is £570 and I couldn't see anything that went out to 300mm with OS and in 3 digits.

So that leaves me with Tamron. There is a 28-300 Di VC lens for about £600. This would be a single walkabout and is probably the solution I'm considering most at the moment. They also do a 70-300 Di VC lens for £300 and a 28-75 f/2.8 for £450. Having f/2.8 is actually quite interesting and useful and I wouldn't have issue with the min 28mm. In practical terms though, the superzoom would probably be more useful. If I need low light, I'll take a different camera with better lenses.

Has anyone got an opinion on the Tamron lenses? Or on anything I haven't mentioned? Everything here is based on research on Camerapricebuster, so it's entirely possible I've missed something.

Budget is £500-£800 with an obvious preference to keep it as cheap as possible.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr Badger]

A mint-ish used Mk1 Canon EF 24-105 IS L f/4 from a reputable online dealer such as MPB, WEX or FFordes would work well on your EOS 30, and makes for a nice walk-about lens for general duty and has that 'L class' build quality that I'm sure you'd appreciate. There can be a problem with an internal ribbon cable failing, but it's not massively expensive to fix (around £130 or so from memory?) but it's a good reason to buy one with at least 6 months guarantee just in case! Having said that, I've had mine for 6 years now (bought new) and (touch wood) it's not gone wrong yet!

There was also the Canon EF 28-135 IS lens, which was contemporary with the EOS 30. That's an even handier zoom range but, compared with the build quality of the 24-105 L, it's like a plastic toy and, while it gives nice enough results, I can't really recommend it these days, as (unless you drop lucky on a cheap one in full working condition - and they are known to break!) they still seem to fetch strong money for what you actually get... so I'd choose the Mk1 24-105 L over that for bang for buck and long-term durability every time.

As for the 70-300 range, I found 300 was never quite enough, so I sold mine! A used Canon Mk1 EF 70-300 IS (not the L version) in 'Excellent' to 'Mint-' condition would have cost (pre-lockdown) no more than £180 from a reputable dealer, but you're buying old technology, so need to stop down to around f/8 or smaller to get sharp(ish) results at the 300mm end. That's probably the case with quite a few similar lenses of that era though.

However, used lens prices seem to be high at the moment (most likely due to people having other things on their mind than trading in camera gear). So that used EF 70-300 IS is currently nearer the £200 mark for a nice one. Personally, I don't think it's worth that, so if I were you, I'd hold off buying a longer range tele-zoom at the moment, and concentrate on trying to find a good Canon 24-105 L with 6 to 12 months warranty. It's not the lightest of lenses (compared to non L plastic type stuff), but the optical and build quality will be remembered long after the weight is forgotten! If you want light then go for the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens, ridiculously small and optically very nice indeed, and such a handy focal length (for a fixed lens).

As for a superzoom - I've never found the results from one to be worth the compromise. Also, more importantly, will a new third-party lens work on your old EOS 30 film camera? Genuine Canon EF lenses will, including the IS, L and STM ones, but there's no guarantee that a modern Canon fit lens from a third-party manufacturer will. I bought a Sigma 100-400 zoom last year to use on my Canon 6D, and the user manual states: "For Canon mount, the optical stabilisation (OS) function will not work with film SLR cameras except the Canon EOS-1v". I've tried it with my EOS 30v and it seems to work OK, but I've not tested it exhaustively yet, or tried it on an EOS 30 or EOS-3, so can't comment at all there. So don't take it for granted a new third-party EF fit lens will work! That's the downside to third party lenses, even in Canon EF fit, they may well not have the same backward or forward compatibility that OEM lenses have.

If you can hold on until Coronavirus restrictions allow, we could meet up and you can have a look at the Canon 24-105 L, the 28-135 IS, the 40mm STM and the Sigma 100-400. You can see what they're like then. In the meantime, if you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, then see if you can find a nice, used, Canon 40mm pancake lens (expect to pay less than £100 for a mint one) and make do with that until you've had chance to look at some of the above mentioned lenses and the prices ease a bit.

 

[Harlequin565]

So don't take it for granted a new third-party EF fit lens will work!

Ah... crap...

I've made the descision not to bother with primes [yet] on the Canon. I've got an R3M with the Voigtlander Ultron 35m f/2 as well as the Nokton 40mm f/1.2 which is a superb setup for "street" or very light work. I also owned the 24-105 when I shot Canon digital and never really thought it had the build quality or optical quality that an L lens should deliver. I was dissappointed after spending all that money.

I might write to Tamron, see what they say.

Thanks for the lengthy reply though!

 

[Mr Badger]

I've been happy with my 2014 24-105 L on both my 6D and on my EOS-3 when I've used it with that - perhaps the later ones were better? As for optical quality, you might notice the difference between the 24-105 L and the 24-70 L f/2.8 on a 5D IV or 5D SR but I doubt you will on a 35mm film camera. Also, you'll be paying less than half the cost they were new for a mint-ish used one! This shot (I know I've posted it before, but it illustrates my point) was taken on Ektar 100 with my EOS-3 and 24-105 L. It's a high res scan so click to view full size in Flickr.



As for the Mk1 Canon EF 70-300 IS, it's OK if you stop down at the longer end (to regain corner sharpness) and it's not bad at all at the 70-200 range - it was quite well regarded in its day. Once again, on a film SLR then you'll probably be happy enough with the results, and it's a small enough lens for the focal length by today's standards. Also, generally speaking, a Canon EF lens from several years ago will probably focus faster and more reliably than a third party equivalent. The only reason I sold mine was that I wanted a 400mm top end rather than the 300, which I found was never quite long enough. There's a review of this lens here: https://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/70-300mm-is.htm

The current Mk II Canon EF 70-300 IS model apparently focuses amazingly quickly and has improved IS, according to the reviews I've read. Mr R certainly seems to like it: https://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/70-300mm-is-ii.htm Other reviews are available though, but I find Ken tends to take account of real-world type use, rather than just lab test and/or static test type comparison shots. I know one of the F&C regulars has this lens (I can't remember which one!) so maybe ask there what he thinks of it?

As for writing to Tamron, I phoned Sigma's technical dept (who were very friendly and helpful) but they couldn't say which film cameras would work fully with their 100-400 lens, apart from the EOS-1v, as they'd tested it with that. The unofficial impression I got was that it might well work, but there's no guarantee, so the only way is to try it. As I said, it appears to be OK with the EOS 30v, but I'd need to run a full film through it to test it fully at all settings (and there are quite a few of them!) to be certain. So I suspect Tamron may give much the same answer, as they can't really be expected to retro-test one of their new lenses on every Canon EOS film SLR made over the years, as most of them have been obsolete for well over a decade, and there were rather a lot of them too!

Hope this is useful and best of luck choosing.

 

[Harlequin565]

So in case anyone is interested...

I lucked out and saw a second hand Tamron on Ffordes' site, so went for it on the basis I could send it back if it didn't work.

But it does, and it's a stellar lens for walkabout. It's actually a lot more compact than I thought it would be, and works perfectly with the EOS30. Eye control is fine, AF is quick, accurate and almost silent, sharpness is easily good enough for me and the VR allows my to shoot 300mm at 1/90 which is just brilliant.

I really wanted to avoid multiple lenses and this seems to be a perfect solution. Thumbs up from me!

 

[Mr Badger]

Glad you got sorted out, the EOS 30 is a great little camera and that lens should make for a very versatile set up - isn't it quiet for an auto-wind SLR too?. Don't forget to share the results with us.

I took a few more test shots with the Sigma 100-400 on my EOS 30v last weekend and the OS does appear to work OK with it (looking through the viewfinder anyway) but I'll let you know when I get the film developed! I'll try it with the 30 and the 3 next, it will be interesting to see if it works with them too.