Tamron 16-30 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2
11. Summary
Pros:
- very good image quality in the frame centre,
- good image quality on the edge of the APS-C/DX sensor,
- sensible image quality on the edge of full frame,
- negligible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- proper control of lateral chromatic aberration,
- low astigmatism,
- silent, accurate, and very fast autofocus,
- moderate vignetting on the APS-C/DX sensor,
- good performance against bright light,
- practically zero focus breathing,
- sensible price/parameters and price/performance ratio.
Cons:
- very high distortion on uncorrected JPEG and RAW files,
- huge vignetting on full frame,
- noticeable spherical aberration.
Nowadays these compromises most often can be found in vignetting and distortion categories because these two aberrations can be easily corrected with software. Of course such a correction increases noise in frame corners in the first case and limits resolution and adds empty pixels in the second case but most of producers still think such a price is worth paying.
The Tamron 16-30 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 is a perfect example of such an approach. You get all the things mentioned by us – a lens sharp across the focal and aperture ranges with demanding parameters with two main flaws, vignetting and distortion. Taking into account the fact that the Tamron is priced a tad below $1000, I am sure such a lens will be interesting for many amateur photographers, especially that the rival Sony FE 16-35 mm f/2.8 GM II costs almost three times more and is just slightly better. What's more, the Tamron can also be bought as the Nikon Z version, becoming a very tasty morsel indeed and a rival of its predecessor which was sold completely with the Nikkor system in mind.
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Remembering that the reflex camera Tamron 15-30 f/2.8 weighed over one kilogram and the diameter of its barrel amounted to almost 10 cm you might wonder whether limiting physical dimensions and weight so much is really worth all the trouble. Would a hypothetical Tamron 16-30 mm f/2.8, weiging 600-700 grams, with a barrel diamenter of 80-85 mm and a filter thread of 72-82 mm be a better option? It's an open question.
