George A. Kalogeris photoblog

Disclaimer:
All you ‘re about to read does not rely on scientific tests.
It’s all about conclusions, feelings, thoughts, second thoughts and decisions based primarily on experience out in the fields…

I own and shoot with both the Nikon and Tamron 24-70 lenses. For still images I prefer the Nikon because the edges of the images seem a little better in terms of sharpness and vignetting. But for my main job (weddings) or travel, I NEED the Tamron at every single occasion for its VC. When day finishes, I have many more stable images in low light than I ever could imagine with the Nikon.

Some days ago I did an extensive test trying to use only primes (the AF-S 50mm f/1.8 mainly) so I could make a whole session in dim light conditions.
My subject was a badly lit couple that was not moving except when changing pose.
I tried to use the prime so I could achieve higher speed. Let’s say I tried to justify its purchase. The main reasons you’d want a fast prime is its lightness and its brightness.
So I shot handheld but standing still at 1/30 and 1/60 mainly at iso 3200.
When I returned home I was surprised to see many of beautifully created images were blurry, I could see the lights as a line instead of a spot in their eyes. And I could tell it was a blurry image only at 100% magnification!
Out in the fields, I had to check the full image after every shot, so I was sure it was not blurry. I was so frustrated…

The other day, I took with me only the Tamron, it gave me speed of 1/15 instead. Yet, everything was stable and sharp, no lines instead of spots, no deleting due to blur, no clumsy photoshop actions.
I was feeling so delightful and relieved that I must admit I kissed the lens. My conclusion was this lens could act as a “brighter” lens than the primes!

Yes, I know the bokeh can be nervous, some even complain about onion rings,
Yes, the AF takes some more milliseconds more to begin rotating,
Yes, the zoom ring is very fat and quite stiff to move and has a longer rotation distance
Yes, sometimes I can hardly remove the hood, it feels like it could break

but

it is very lighter, means you can easily hold it, pack it, carry it, shoot again and again during the whole day
it is very shorter, means it can fit into any bag, or you can walk between crowded places with the camera on shoulder
it has VC, means it can replace all fast primes in terms of speed needed to maintain stable shots
it is very sharp, means it is equal to the Nikon and very close to the primes. Stop down half an EV and you can’t tell it’s a zoom
it is cheaper, means you can buy one more lens or even a 2nd camera!

That’s for now

Thanks for reading