Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 Lens

Tamron is introducing a new lightweight, wide-angle lens for both Canon and Nikon mounts. It’s in full-frame format, which makes it especially interesting for photo and video shooters who tend to have a wide angle zoom on their cameras for much of their shooting.

The new Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 DI OSD lens weighs only a pound and is 3.6-inches long, which Tamron says is the smallest and lightest in its class. It has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 at the wide end, and f/4 at 35mm.

For crop sensor cameras, this lens would be more of a normal lens equivalent of 27mm-56mm, which is a pretty good range for everyday shooting. One benefit of this lens is it has moisture reduction, so you can shoot it in humid or even rainy environments.

The “DI” stands for “Digitally Integrated,” meaning it has some electronic features that work specifically with digital cameras. OSD stands for Optimized Silent Drive, which means quiet operation.

Inside the housing, the lens is made up of 15 elements in 10 groups, which have Tamron’s Broad-Band Anti-Reflection (BBAR) coating to reduce reflections, ghosting, and flares. The front of the lens has a a fluorine coat to make it easier to clean.

Although it’s quite affordable for an ultrawide lens at f/2.8 maximum aperture, the downside is it doesn’t have image stabilization. Yes, you don’t really need it at the wide end, but at the long end video will start to get shaky if used handheld.

Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 lens for Canon EF

Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 lens for Nikon F