Tamron AF 18-270mm f 3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras
by Tamron
Sales Rank: 20 Our price: $649.00
Features
Extremely fast Piezo drive focusing motor
Vibration Compensation for ultra sharp images
Compact design
long zoom range for versatility
Designed for APS-C sized sensors
From the Manufacturer
pzd-new
The acclaimed Tamron 18-270mm VC ultra zoom for APS-C format DSLRs has reached an astonishing new level of compactness, performance, and speed with the addition of PZD (Piezo Drive), an innovative ultrasonic autofocus motor based on an advanced piezoelectric design. The result is a lens that's considerably lighter, and noticeably shorter and slimmer (filter diameter: 62mm) than any previous lens in its class, and provides faster, quieter auto-focusing.
Signature features that have made this amazingly versatile lens the world standard in its class have been retained. They include a 28-419mm equivalent (15X) zoom range, an improved, lightweight, compact Vibration Compensation (VC) system, macro focusing to 0.49m (19.3 inches) throughout, and, of course, superlative imaging performance.
Technical Specifications
Focal Length: 18-270mm Format Size: APS-C Di-II Maximum Aperture: F/3.5-6.3 Diagonal Angle of View: 75°33' - 5°55' Lens Construction: 16 elements/13 groups MFD/Max. Mag. Ratio: 19.3" / 1:3.8 (at f=270mm) Filter Diameter: 62mm Overall Length: 3.5" Maximum Diameter: 2.9" Weight: 15.9 oz. Diaphragm Blades: 7 Standard Accessory: Hood
Piezo Drive (PZD) Ultrasonic Autofocus Motor
Ultrasonic motors are divided into two categories depending on the principle that generates the energy to move the drive: traveling wave motors and standing wave motors. Traveling wave motors include the ring type ultrasonic motor used in the recently launched 70-300mm F/4-5.6 VC USD as well as other lenses, but this lens employs a newer technology, the PZD (Piezo Drive), which functions on the standing wave principle.
A standing wave ultrasonic motor utilizes high-frequency voltage to extend and turn the piezoelectric (piezoceramic) element, thus moving the entire element in a standing wave movement. The metal tip is the contact point of the element to the rotor, and moves in an elliptic motion from the swiveling motion of the moving element, and the friction from this motion turns the rotor. Standing wave ultrasonic motors have the distinct advantage of being smaller than their traveling wave counterparts, and therefore allow a more compact SLR lens size.
PZD Technology Diagram
Di II Lenses are designed for exclusive use on digital cameras with smaller-size imagers and inherit all of the benefits of our Di products. These lenses are not designed for conventional cameras and digital cameras with image sensors larger than 24mm x 16mm.
15x Zoom Ratio This lens covers an extremely broad range of focal lengths, from an extra-wide 18mm length to a telephoto 270mm length (the 35mm equivalent of 28mm to 419mm). The resulting 15x zoom ratio is the world's largest, representing a wide cross section of Tamron high-power zoom design technologies. Plus, the vibration compensation works throughout the entire zoom range, giving you the freedom to create a wide variety of images. The lens lets users capture once-in-a-lifetime panoramic landscape images or close-up pictures of children smiling, all without getting too close to the subject or changing lenses. Other details include a macro magnification range of 1:3.5, a minimum focusing distance of 19.3 inches, and a 72mm filter diameter. The lens, which measures 3.1 inches in diameter and 3.9 inches long, carries a six-year warranty.
18mm zoom - 270mm zoom
Vibration Compensation (VC) Shake can ruin your photos, particularly when taking telephoto shots or shooting in low light conditions.Simply flip the VC switch on and you'll notice the difference immediately.
VC delivers blur free - handheld images for incredible results
VC mechanism employs a three-coil system
Lens element compensates for vibration using 3-steel balls (making movement quiet & smooth)
Exceptional images at slower shutter speeds – reduces the need for a tripod
Bring out contrast to motion & stillness
Eliminate the need to shoot with a Flash
VC Off - VC On
Low Dispersion (LD) Glass for Greater Lens Sharpness
Add sharpness to your image with Low Dispersion (LD) glass lenses
Low dispersion (LD) glass elements in a lens help reduce chromatic aberration; the tendency of light of different colors to come to different points of focus at the image plane. Chromatic aberration reduces the sharpness of an image, but glass with an extremely lowdispersion index, has less of a tendency to separate (defract) a ray of light into a rainbow of colors. This characteristic allows the lens designer to effectively compensate for chromatic aberration at the center of the field (on axis), a particular problem at long focal lengths (the telephoto end of the zoom range), and for lateral chromatic aberration (towards the edges of the field) that often occurs at short focal lengths (the wide-angle end of the zoom range.)
Internal Focusing (IF) System Internal focusing provides numerous practical benefits to photographers including a non-rotating front filter ring that facilitates the positioning of polarizing and graduated filters, and more predictable handling because the lens length does not change during focusing. Even more important, Tamron’s Internal Focusing (IF) system provides a much closer minimum focusing distance (MFD) throughout its entire focusing range. In addition, IF improves optical performance by minimizing illumination loss at the corners of the image field, and helps to suppress other aberrations that become more troublesome at different focusing positions.
Zoom Lock (ZL) Another original Tamron mechanical engineering concept is the Zoom Lock (ZL), a simple convenience feature that prevents undesired extension of the lens barrel when carrying the camera/lens unit on a neck strap.
Anomalous Dispersion (AD) for Better Color Correction
Anomalous Dispersion
Anomalous dispersion (AD) glass is a special type of optical glass that is used to achieve more precise control of chromatic aberrations, thereby enhancing overall imaging performance. Glass of this type provides an abnormally large partial dispersion ratio (amount of diffraction) for light of specific wavelength ranges (colors) within the visible spectrum. By combining AD glass having these special characteristics with elements made of normal glass having different dispersion characteristics, it is possible to control the dispersion factors of a specific wavelength. This enhanced level of control results in much lower levels of on-axis (central) chromatic aberration for telephoto lenses (or zooms used at tele-photo settings) and a significant reduction of lateral (peripheral) chromatic aber-ration for wide-angle lenses (or zooms used at wide-angle settings.)
Aspherical Lens Elements (ASL) Tamron uses several hybrid Aspherical lens elements in many lenses
Achieve the ultimate in image quality with Aspherical Lens Elements (ASL)
bearing the Aspherical designation. These innovative optics allow us to achieve the ultimate in image quality, and at the same time produce lenses that offer remarkable zoom ranges in extraordinarily compact packages. By perfecting theses cutting-edge advances for series production, Tamron has advanced the state of optical design, and virtually eliminated spherical aberration and image distortion from the high-power-zoom series.Through the effective application of Hybrid Aspherical Technology, one lens element can take the place of multiple elements without compromising performance. This is what allows us to produce remarkably compact long-range lenses that deliver a uniformly high level of image quality at all focal lengths and apertures.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism ....Versatility never comes without cost: GENERAL + First impression when mounted to my t2i was "wow". I could hardly believe how small this thing really is considering it's zoom range! It's also very light (only a tiny little bit heavier than a Tamron 17-50 2.8!) You can carry it around easily and my t2i felt very well balanced with it. - A good start + the lens comes with a lens hood (you see Canon!?) and with a 5 years warranty. That's quite a package, even though the lens hood (being suitable for all offered focal lengths) cannot really help when you are zoomed in to the max. BUILT QUALITY +- the lens is manufactured in China. Quality appearance is ok, but nothing to rave about IMAGE QUALITY Resolution +- considering it's enormous range, I was surprised how sharp this lens can get. Resolution is not the reason why I finally opted against the product. It never really gets razor sharp, but at least at most focal lengths it will get the job done. As long as you don't plan to print really big, contemplate your pictures at 100% view on a monitor, or plan to crop details, things will look quite all right (i will upload a few samples, to show you). There are only a few focal lengths at which it delivers really poor resolution unless stopped down at least two f-stops. Unfortunately two rather important settings are among these problematic ones. At the end of the zoom range (250-270 mm f 6.3) and at it's beginning (18 mm f 3.5) pictures can look plainly soft. Especially at the long end, this can be very disturbing as you need a whole lot of light anyway when shooting at 270mm. At f8 things look better, but you won't blur your background that easily and of course you will need quite bright light to get these shots free of shake. Speed - As I just said, the lens isn't what you would call fast at any rate. Moreover you need to stop it down to gain decent IQ at some settings and last but not least, it's higher minimum apertures kick in rather early (e.g. at a "portrait length" of 100mm it is already 5.6!) - a major draw-back for a so called "all purpose lens". I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who plans to shoot a lot in low light. Vignetting +- Vignetting is visible but I've seen worse (especially if you (again) take into account the long range). It also can be corrected quite easily. Chromatic aberrations - Purple fringing can be a problem at almost all focal lengths. Stopping down helps but it does not reduce CAs to zero. Contrast - Contrast in general is not the strong point of this lens. between 24 and - say - 200mm it is alright when stopped down a little. In general I had more work to fine tune contrast than usual. Colors +- Due to the somewhat weak contrast colors aren't too snappy and sometimes I felt, I could see some kind of yellowish cast. In general, however, colors looked good to me. Flares/Ghosting + I had no problems with flares IMAGE STABILIZER + The IS-System of the lens works quite fine and without too much noise (only a faint zzzzzzzzz). I wouldn't expect it to give you more than two to two an a half f-stops. When using your camera on a tripod you should definitely switch it off, as it visibly degrades IQ when used with a tripod AUTOFOCUS +- The new piezo drive was one of the reasons for me to give this lens a try (I don't like the focussing speed of my Canon 55-250 IS, which is both slow and noisy). The Tamron 18-270 PZD focus is almost inaudible and in general quite precise. Focussing speed however is not impressive. I believe there are many micro-motor AF-systems out there that do the job quicker. This system here is by no means comparable to Canon's USM...too bad VERSATILITY +++ Nothing to complain about here. Within a twist of a zoom-ring you can take almost every picture stye from landscape via Portrait to wild-life close-ups (if the beasts don't move too quick). The capabilities of this lens in this respect are nothing short of amazing. The one thing it doesn't do too well is macro. CONCLUSION If you are the kind of photographer that shoots mainly in bright light, if you usually watch your photos on smaller screens or prints, if you're not a "pixel-peeper" if you do not like carrying lenses around or just don't want to switch them if you're looking for a light all-round travel lens if you are more than anything a spontaneous photographer the Tamron 18-270 3.5-6-3 pzd is made just for you. However if you are seeking the "perfect picture" if you like snappy colors and contrasts if you are a "sharpness-victim" if you like to print big or crop your images to point out details if you're searching for high end built quality You will have to look elsewhere and make your compromises on versatility instead of image quality. Now please. don't take my 3-star-rating too negatively. I don't mean to bash this product, but to give you an impression of my experiences as objectively as possible. The TAMRON 18-270 offers a great solution for people that appreciate versatility more than anything else. As a super-zoom it is definitely worth a try. However imho too many compromises have to be made to buy this flexibility. And since you don't buy it for peanuts, I can't give it my recommendations without reservations. Good luck with your decision
with the addition of PZD (Piezo Drive), an innovative ultrasonic autofocus motor based on an advanced piezoelectric design. The result is a lens that's considerably lighter, and noticeably shorter and slimmer (filter diameter: 62mm) than any previous lens in its class, and provides faster, quieter auto-focusing. 
