Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6

Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6
Nikon Mount

This lens came in the mail earlier this week. I've been down with the flu so have only spent a few hours (over the past two days, when I'm lucid) working with it. It was purchased from Adorama for $70. It's new with a USA 6-year Tamron warranty.

I was looking for a lens to solve two problems for me:

1. The Nikon kit 18-135 lens is larger than I'd like for quick snapshots and carrying around all day.
2. The Nikon lens is a G lens, which means it has no aperture ring on the lens. I cannot use this lens uncoupled, such as with my extension tubes.

Inexpensive extension tubes
Cost around $10-15

 I love macro photography, always have. So I wanted to be able to drop a lens onto these extension tubes to play a little. The manual aperture is necessary so it can be fully open during focusing, then stopped down as desired for the final image. Without the manual ring, the G lenses rest at their minimum aperture with no way to open them up.

Pulsar watch, straight off my wrist

I took a series of shots with the Tamron and the extension tubes, playing with depth of field and exposure. As expected, the effective aperture shrinks as you add tubes. You're moving the aperture further away from the sensor, causing it to appear smaller. Just like a hole in a piece of paper. When it's right in front of your eye, it looks large. Move that piece of paper to arm's length and it is much smaller. The same principle applies to using extension tubes or bellows.

A little closer now

Since it's digital, I can guesstimate the exposure for my strobes and take a photo. If I don't like the exposure, I can change the aperture and shoot again. And so on.

This works out MUCH better than I used to have to do with 35mm film.

The lens is reasonably sharp both in normal use, and in macro use on the tubes. Focus is slower and noisier than the Nikon G lens. The Tamron uses a gear train driven by the camera body, while the Nikon has an internal USM motor. I was also able to send the lens into a perpetual focus hunt by pointing it at a horizontal line. The Nikon had no problems with that line.

Two things I don't like.

1. Fussy mounting- Hard to get it lined up just right so you can twist it into place. Then, once it's lined up, you end up turning the zoom instead of the lens body. A bit annoying, but once you get used to grabbing in a specific spot it's not bad.
2. Closest focus distance is much further away than the Nikon when mounted straight on the body. 

And the seconds keep ticking by...

 Overall, I rate this a 3 out of 5. It works adequately, but isn't as good as I'd like. If you add in bang-for-the-buck, give it a 4 out of 5. At $70 it's a steal.