Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
Tamron just announced a trio of featherweight full-frame lenses for
Sony E-mount, each of which weighs less than eight ounces and offers a
1:2 macro capability. The new Di III OSD M1:2 range of F2.8 primes are
highly portable options for Sony shooters, which sacrifice lens
brightness for impressive compactness and light weight.
We're still waiting to see results from these new lenses, but we had
the chance to check them out in person at last week's Photo Plus Expo in
New York.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 20mm F2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 will be coming in the new year, and a
working sample wasn't available to use at the show but it's physically
and cosmetically extremely similar to the 24mm, shown here. The 24mm
F2.8 Di OSD M1:2 weighs in at 7.6 oz (215g) and measures 2.5in in
length. That's compared to 7.8 oz for the 20mm, and in fact all three of
these new lenses are essentially the same size, not including their
hoods.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
All three of the new primes feature 'front element focusing' which
basically means that when the lenses rack from their nearest to furthest
points, the front element moves within the lens, and the size of the
lens does not change.
The 'OSD' (Optimized Motor Smart Drive) focus motors provide silent
automatic focus, although on the a7III which we used, there is some
noticeable 'wobble' as the lens finds its mark. This could be a
pre-production issue (and it could be related to the horrible tradeshow
light) but we'll reserve judgement until we receive final shipping
samples.
This photo shows off the shallow petal-style hood of the 24mm F2.8,
and the 67mm filter thread, which is common to all three lenses.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
If you didn't get the message yet, these are tiny lenses, and so
light that when mounted onto an a7R II, they feel like they're hardly
even there. Some photographers will always lust after brighter, more
'professional' options but for everyday shooting, assuming the image
quality holds up, we anticipate these primes being very appealing to
casual Sony a7-series shooters.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 35mm F2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 looks almost identical to the 24mm, and
in fact shares a similar optical design, of nine elements in eight
groups (compared to ten elements in nine groups, for the 20mm and 24mm).
These contain LD (Low Dispersion) and GM (glass-molded aspherical) lens
elements and BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) Coating, to reduce flare
and ghosting.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 35mm doesn't need such a wide hood, and ships with a rather
attractive 'snoot' style hood which serves to protect the front element
not only from stray light, but also from accidental scratches and
scuffs.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The hood is removable, at which point the 35mm F2.8 is
near-impossible to distinguish from the 20mm and 24mm. The fact that all
three lenses weigh almost the same, measure almost the same in length,
and use the same 67mm filter thread could lead to confusion when groping
around in a dark camera bag, but we suspect that their combined weight
of less than 1.5 lb (about 680g) will more than make up for the
inconvenience, for a lot of photographers.
All three of Tamron's new Di III OSD M1:2 lenses will ship for $349,
with the 24mm and 35mm (featured in this article) shipping next month,
and the 20mm coming in early 2020.
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