Tamron AF 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro Review

Tamron AF 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro Performance

Sharpness at 55mm, at least in the centre of the frame is surprisingly good, outstanding even, for any lens, never mind one that costs so little. The clarity towards the edges of the frame falls short of good at maximum aperture, but improves as the aperture is stopped down, reaching excellent levels between f/8 and f/11.

Zooming to 100mm results in a noticeable drop in performance, although at maximum aperture sharpness is still good in the centre of the frame. Clarity towards the edges of the frame is fairly poor at this focal length and maximum aperture, improving to very good levels when stopped down to between f/8 and f/11.

Sharpness is much the same at 200mm as it is at 100mm, with clarity in the centre of the frame approaching good and being fairly poor towards the edges of the frame at maximum aperture. Stopping down to between f/8 and f/11 results in very good sharpness in the centre of the frame and good clarity towards the edges.

Resolution @ 55mm

Resolution @ 100mm

Resolution @ 200mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 600D using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations can be an issue at the telephoto end of the zoom range. At 200mm and maximum aperture, fringing just exceeds 1.5 pixel widths, which may be visible along high contrast areas towards the edges of the frame.

Chromatic aberration @ 55mm

Chromatic aberration @ 100mm

Chromatic aberration @ 200mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc. to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on Canon EOS 600D using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is very well controlled, with the corners being 0.5 stops darker than the image centre at maximum aperture throughout the zoom range. Stopping down one stop from maximum aperture results in visually uniform illumination.

Pincushion distortion is present throughout the zoom range, ranging from 0.52% at 55mm and 1.85% at 200mm. The level at 200mm is strong enough to become noticeable in some circumstances. The distortion pattern is uniform across the frame throughout the zoom range, which should make applying corrections in image editing software afterwards relatively straightforward.

A deep circular hood is supplied with this lens, which does an excellent job of shielding the lens from extraneous light that may cause loss of contrast or flare. Shooting into the light can result in loss of contrast, so care may need to be taken to avoid this effecting images too much.

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