Tamron 16-30 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2
10. Autofocus and focus breathing
Autofocus
The tested Tamron is equipped with the VXD motor that is supposed to ensure a fast, silent performance. These promises weren't empty because the lens joined with both the Sony A7R IIIa and the newer A7R V is silent and very quick. Running through the whole distance range and confirming the focus takes just about 0.2-0.3 of a second, without any visible focus play, wavering, or oscillation. Differences between the AF-S and AF-C modes are very slight, with a slight advantage of the second one. Overall this performance is brilliant, definitely worth our praise.When it comes to the accuracy of the autofocus the lens performed without a hitch. It's true that these parameters don't set the bar too high but it doesn't change the fact that the Tamron cleared it easily.
Photos below show that the tested lens doesn't have any problems with front or back focus tendencies and it concerns both bodies, used in our test.
| A7R IIIa, 24 mm, f/2.8 |
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| A7R IIIa, 30 mm, f/2.8 |
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| A7R V, 24 mm, f/2.8 |
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| A7R V, 30 mm, f/2.8 |
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Focus breathing
Focus breathing tests show reframing images as you oversharp them. We conduct the test by manually passing from the minimum focusing distance to infinity with the aperture stopped down; then we check how the field of view of the lens changed as a result.A frame change ranging from 0 to 5% we consider to be low. Between 5 and 10% you can speak about medium levels. Usually such values constitute also the maximum efficiency level of any breathing compensation algorithms, present in some bodies. Between 10 and 15% focus breathing is high, above 15% its level can be called very high.
The test video of the Tamron lens is shown below:
