Tamron’s AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II Lens;:
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Tamron’s AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens is a well-made zoom that delivers
tremendous versatility in its focal length range with optical and mechanical
performance in excess of its modest price.
The estimated street price of the AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens is $399.95. For
more information, contact Tamron USA, Inc., 10 Austin Blvd., Commack, NY 11725;
(800) 827-8880, (631) 858-8400; www.tamron.com.
Canon Mount
The Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II lens I tested was in Canon EOS mount
but it was not an EF-S (Electro-Focus Short Back Focus) lens so it attaches
to many different Canon SLRs. Canon’s proprietary EF-S lenses have a rubber
ring surrounding the rear element and only fit the EOS Rebel, Digital Rebel,
Xt, and 20D. That ring slips deeper into the camera than an EF lens does and
will hit the mirror if you attempt to mount an EF-S lens on non-compatible Canon
digital or film SLRs. This means that Tamron’s Di II lenses will fit a
lot more Canon models, including the EOS D30, D60, 10D, 20D, Digital Rebel,
and Rebel Xt.
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Ya’mie is a Denver Bronco fan for lots of reasons and here
shows how Tamron’s AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens works great
for portraits, too. I used a Canon EOS 20D set at ISO 100 with
the lens fully extended to 200mm. Exposure in Shutter Priority
mode and using Canon’s Speedlite 550EX flash for fill was
1/250 sec at f/9.
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I’ve long been fascinated by Easter Island’s stone
heads, but haven’t yet been able to make the trip, so I’ll
have to make do with this sculpture I call “the real Easter
Island.” I zoomed the Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens to
80mm while attached to a Canon EOS D30 that’s been modified
to capture monochrome infrared images. Exposure was 1/100 sec
at f/16 in Aperture Preferred mode at ISO 400. A +1/3 stop exposure
compensation was applied. I digitally toned a duplicate layer
using PixelGenius’ (www.pixelgenius.com) PhotoKit, then
used Adobe’s Photoshop Eraser tool to erase everything on
that layer except the sculpture.
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What’s up, tiger lily? Tamron’s AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3
lens is more properly called “close focusing” than
macro because it only gets as close as 17.7”, but with a
magnification ratio of 1:3.7 (at 200mm) who cares. This photograph
was made at 200mm at the closest focusing distance, but since
it has a pretty high magnification at that focal length, it gets
me really close to this pink tiger lily. Exposure at ISO 800 was
1/125 sec at f/10 in Manual mode. The Canon EOS 20D’s built-in,
pop-up flash was used. In these kinds of shooting situations Tamron
cautions that you should remove the lens hood to avoid flash vignetting,
so I did and it did.
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Acknowledgements: Thanks to Greg Mathews of The Mathews Collection
(www.mathewscollection.com)
for allowing me to photograph some of the vehicles that appear in this story.
Special thanks also to Jeff Sipes at Bandimere Speedway (www.bandimere.com)
for his hospitality.
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