I used to have a Canon lens which I had bought along with the DSLR camera I had purchased from the same maker. But after one year during which I had to move a lot in terms of job prospects it was neglected a lot and hardly used. When I did get back to it though I found that it had acquired a serious case of mildew and the optics had been totally destroyed. So I decided to get myself a new lens. I wanted one which could work with both my Canon and older Nikon. From experience I knew Tamron had the Mount-All feature which enabled the user to attach it to any build of camera. I scoured the internet and found the Tamron A005 lens which came for $164. Amazon delivered it and till now I am very happy with my budget lens. The main trait I liked about the lens was that it was very light even though it had such a large range. I could carry it around easily without tiring out. Tamron is well known for its optical zoom and I had no doubts about the experience I would have. This piece did not disappoint me. I was able to zoom in till I saw a woodpecker on a distant tree almost a thousand yards away or the minutest curves in the wind-blown clouds. I thought that I could use the lens as a sniper scope even. I have used the lens once in a horse race and the other time in my favorite F1s. Capturing speed motion might be its specialty as I got absolutely still images in both circumstances. There was not even a smallest amount of blur in the images. I have to say that the ones I clicked with my canon flash did have speed trails in F1 races. The lens has a macro filter and gave me one of the best close-ups I had ever clicked. The function in a professional lens is not that prominent but Tamron has totally changed my theory on that. My wife’s picture with our Labrador is just amazing and it looks so cinemascope that we have decided to frame it up. When I went to New York on a job tour I decided to take my Canon and Tamron along with me. Once on a free Sunday, just to while away some stress I hit the streets and started taking random clicks. I was able to capture three large skyscrapers side by side from top to bottom with the help of the lens. I experimented capturing the same thing without it and I could just manage to get two skyscrapers that too without the whole longitudinal height. From that day on I fell in love with the accommodation of my Tamron. Now this one is a problem that might have occurred due to mishandling but is worth mentioning. After using it for about 6 months I found that when I zoomed in, even the smallest amount, it made a queer buzzing sound. Though it does not bother me much but I decided to include my experience in the review. A problem I did notice was that I was unable to open the lens to light. I used the flash and even set the aperture to the fastest degree possible but was not able to shoot pictures at a golf course in the evening. When I used a mountable flash though, the pictures were fine. I did still manage to find another glitch, even in such a perfect device. The zoom scrolls could have been less complicated. At first I it was very hard for me to adjust the zoom on the lens as there were quite a few dials more than on a traditional camera lens. But within a month I got used to the whole thing. That wraps up the review. If you are looking for a budget professional lens then Tamron A005 is the last word. It has been serving me very well and I am totally satisfied with the quality of my pictures.
Actually I did not know that you could get a lens to fit both Nikon and Canon. I thought the lens fit one or the other. But it would be simpler to build a system that uses on brand of DSLR. I am a Nikon owner and have a high regard for Nikon but I also respect Canon Cameras as well. To me they are both quality cameras. When I bought a few off brand lenses you got the mount to match the brand but I have not bought lenses for a number of years. Ryder13
I bought a few Tamron lenses in the late 90's and was generally pleased with the quality of them. They're certainly more cost friendly than the Canon or Nikon counterparts. I had a wide angle Tamron aspherical lens, and a Tamron zoom lens. The only issue I had was with a lens cleaner I used on them that caused the coating on the lens to become discolored. Not sure if that was an issue with the lens or the cleaner. It didn't seem to affect the images too much though. I had a mix of Tamron and Sigma lenses, and between the two I was much happier with the build quality and the image quality of the Tamron lenses. The Sigma lenses I had were slide zoom lenses, and in a relatively short amount of time they became loose and would slide on their own if I pointed the camera up or down.
