Tamron 45/1.8

[Tristin]

Looks like a great lens!  The color isn't as good as the Voigtlander 58mm and it is poor in the starburst department, but still looks like a fantastic performer.  The 35mm looks particularly appealing to me, assuming it performs this well.  The VC appears to be very effective, distortion looks low and the contrast wide open is certainly nice.

[Airy]

From what I read, the 45 has less CA. VC is better than reported by testers (they would mention 1/8s as a practical limit) : on Df and in quiet mode, going down to 1/4s is ok if you accept some misses. Not sure we can get down to 1/2s or even 1s as with the OM-D and a 20mm lens. I have yet to give it a try. But it is very usable and, IMHO, useful.

Concerning the colors, the comparative shots with Voigtländer 58/1.4 might be misleading because of different brightness. I'll try to redo that in PP.

[Airy]

There, not perfect (because framing was different) but more comparable. Tamron, then Voigtländer. Maybe there is a slight magenta cast with the Tamron, and slightly less vivid colors.

[Frank Fremerey]

That's a compliment, thanks. And the monument deserves to be accompanied by Reger's motet "Frieden auf Erden". Do you know it ? in the present context, it impresses even more.

I did not know it yet. They way you took it impresses me.

[Airy]

The natural vignetting, although not strong (little more than 1 stop), makes a difference. Here's the very same shot, corrected for vignetting (there is a profile for that lens in LR). Sun shone from the ledft, this is why the upper right corner is still relatively dark.

[Airy]

My provisional bottom line : thirty years ago, Tamron built a reputation with nearly one single lens, the 90/2.5 macro (became 90/2.8 when AF was introduced).

Many good lenses were produced since then, but nothing impressive if I'm well informed. I stayed with Canon FDs and (since 2009) mostly with Nikkors. But this new lens is great.

[Airy]

Concerning accessories and handling :
+ Lens cap sits firmly, won't come off by itself, and is easy to put in place. Fine.
+ Lens shade (rigid) can mounted reversed. Given the overall bulk, that's important.
-- AF and VC switches are easily knocked into another position, e.g. when grabbing camera from bag or tucking into bag. This is the most likely reason for getting unsharp pictures, happened at least three times in two days of use.

[Airy]

Another shot wide open, late afternoon (around sunset or so). Shadows lifted in PP, otherwise no tricks.

[Airy]

This one at minimum focussing distance and f/4. Bokeh is not creamy, but does not show unpleasant outlines, nor LoCA or that sort of things (with very few exceptions).

[David H. Hartman]

Airy,

When cropping with visable vignette on might correct the vignette, crop and then add a touch of false vignette using a tool like filter> distort> lens correction> in Photoshop. I like a bit of subtile vignette to center the eye.

Just a thought...

Dave

[JJChan]

Airy
Nice lens but more importantly good skills to use it. Thank you also for photographs around Paris - it will be a long time before I get a chance to get there again.

JJ

[Airy]

Airy,

When cropping with visable vignette on might correct the vignette, crop and then add a touch of false vignette using a tool like filter> distort> lens correction> in Photoshop. I like a bit of subtile vignette to center the eye.

Just a thought...

Dave

David, I did not correct nor reintroduce vignetting in this thread because 1) vignetting is low, and 2) it is for others to judge if the vignetting produced by the Tamron is up to their taste.

Otherwise, I only recently discovered that LR allows easy post-crop vignetting to be set, which indeed may be useful to "center the eye", as you wrote.