Tamron has formulated this lens to be suitable for digital cameras and film cameras, with an imaging circle covering the 35mm sized frame. The smaller APS-C sized sensors fall within this area, albeit giving a 1.5x magnification.

Tamron lenses usually have an attractive design, thanks in part to the gold trim and deeply grooved rubber zoom rings. It feels good too, with a nice balance and easy handling, however the focus motors are somewhat slow in comparison to some of the other lenses. The Tamron has its own pace – leisurely – especially when focusing from near to far distances. The motor is quite quiet though, so it won’t disturb wildlife as much as other lenses.

Image Quality
The lens performs best at smaller apertures, which is unusual, though it’s not a bad performer overall. Chromatic aberration is about average, showing no particular advantage of Tamron’s digitally-integrated lenses over other makers’ standard lenses.