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Lens review

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD

16 January 2025
Maciej Latałło

3. Build quality

The following chart presents a comparison between basic parameters of the Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD, its reflex camera predecessor, and other macro f/2.8 lenses with focal lengths ranging from 90 to 105 mm.

As you see the new Tamron is noticeably longer and a tad heavier than its older brother but it has to be said, its optical construction is also more complex. What's interesting, the Tamron is not lighter than the Nikkor and the Sony although they feature an optical stabilization module. The Tamron sticks out with an aperture with 12 diaphragm blades and, along with the Panasonic, the highest filter diameter.

In the photo below the Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD is positioned between the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8L IS USM and the Sigma A 35 mm f/1.4 DG HSM. It's clear here that the stabilized Canon with a longer focal length is roughly as big as the Tamron. Still the difference between the size of front elements of these two lenses is rather conspicuous.


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Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

The tested lens starts with a metal mount with contacts and a 31x23 mm frame. Inside that frame you get a rear element of the lens, 31 mm in diameter. It is immobile and, along with the frame, it is situated about 1 centimeter deep inside the barrel. The area around it is properly blackened, matted, and ribbed. From this side everything looks in perfect order.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

The proper body of the lens is covered by black plastics and starts with an immobile, smooth ring, with a silver stripe, a marking making an alignment with a camera easier, the serial number, and information that the lens was produced in Japan. Additionally you get an USB-C port that allows you to attach the lens to a computer and allot different functions to different buttons, correct the autofocus, or update the software, all with a help of the Tamron Lens Utility programme.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

Then the ring slightly decreases its diameter and turns into another ring, with inscriptions stating parameters of the lens, its filter diameter, amounting to 67 mm, the logo of the company the name of the model (F072), along with information that the lens was designed in Japan. On the left you see a round, programmable button, and an autofocus range switch, allowing you to choose from three ranges: FULL, from 0.7 of a meter to infinity, and from the minimum focusing distance, amounting here 0.23 of a meter, to 0.7 of a meter.

A manual focus ring, 33 mm wide and completely covered by ribbing, is another part of the lens. It is a focus-by-wire construction, you can't find any distance or DOF scale on it but the ring moves smoothly an is properly damped. Even if you turn it quickly running through the whole distance range needs an angle of over 300 deg. When you turn it slower you are able to reach over 700 deg. These are high values, allowing you very precise settings.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

The lens ends with a hood mount that surrounds a non-rotating filter thread, 67 mm in diameter, and an immobile front element, relatively flat and relatively small, with a diameter amounting to just 36 mm.

If you take photos in the 1:1 mapping scale, so officially from a distance of 0.23 of a meter from the main imagining plane, the front element is situated in a distance of almost 8 centimeters from the photographed object.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

According to the producers the lens is supposed to be able to perform well in all weather because it's sealed and its front element features fluorine coating that makes it dirt, oil, and water resistant. Still, you might wonder about the resistance of the unsecured USB port on the barrel of the lens.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality

When it comes to optical construction you deal here with 15 elements positioned in 12 groups. Four elements are made of LD (low dispersion) glass. Inside there is also a circular aperture with as many as 12 blades that can be closed down to a value of f/22 at the maximum.

Buyers get in the set: both caps, a redesigned hood with a sliding window, allowing an easy access to filter adjustments. You can rotate such filters like polarizes (PL) and neutral density (ND) without the need of removing the hood during shooting.

Tamron 90 mm f/2.8 Di III Macro VXD - Build quality