Monster zoom!
Tamron unleashes its whopping 16-300mm superzoom
Tamron has announced the world’s most powerful superzoom. The 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 is designed for DX Nikon SLRs, and gives a record-breaking 18.8x zoom range. Previously, the superzoom with the biggest range was Nikon’s own 18300mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED VR. However, 2mm is a significant difference at the wide-angle end, and should make the Tamron even more flexible.
The all-in-one lens includes Tamron’s ‘VC’ Vibration Compensation system. It also features a Piezo Drive (PZD) motor for fast, silent ultrasonic autofocus, which Tamron claims enables the lens to be made smaller than if conventional ring-type autofocus were used. The fact that it weighs just 540g would bear this out.
Quality counts
Construction appears to be sound: the lens contains 16 elements in 12 groups, and has seven iris blades, which retain a circular shape even when the aperture is two stops below maximum. It has a minimum focus distance of 39cm, which makes close-up photography possible (and gives a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2.9 at 300mm). It also comes supplied with a petal-shaped hood, and takes 67mm filters.
In theory, this new Tamron could meet pretty much all your needs. However, lenses that appear to do everything don’t always do it to the highest possible standard. Also, the aperture at the longest zoom won’t allow a fast shutter speed. We really want to get this in the lab to see how it performs.
Price and availability are yet to be announced.