This lens has become a bit of a cult classic, third party lenses should not be allowed to be this good. I purchased mine when I first started moved up from my D40x to my D300, I knew I wanted a fast, large aperture lens but could not afford the Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8. I knew I had to look for something that would be useful and would not be cast aside when I eventually moved to the Nikkor. I looked long and hard at the alternatives and in the end placed my hard earned dollars into this lens, it has not been a mistake.

Many Nikon and Canon users have been troubled by the cost of the Nikkor and Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 lenses. There is no doubt that both these lenses are very nice lenses, but the price tag is steep, and many photographers planning to make the jump to FX (or full frame) in the coming years it seems rather silly to buy a DX or EF-S lens. ENTER the TAMRON SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II (Model A16).

Look, Feel, Controls and Use

The Tamron is a significantly smaller and lighter than its Nikkor and Canon brethen. Like the Canon this lens extends as you zoom. With a 67mm filter thread and all plastic contruction it is hard to believe that underneath this guise lies a very capable lens that can hold its own against its much more expensive rivals. I will be talking about the Nikon mount version.

Tamron provides no fast Silentwave/USM motor, this lens is screwdriver driven (with micro motor being added to the Nikon mount in the updated A16N II), if autofocus is not your thing, then there is a nice manual focus ring, but you have to flick to MF on your camera body. There is a large, smooth zoom ring, but no aperture ring (making this a G lens). What Tamron does provide you with is a large petal shaped lens hood to keep that glare under control.

There is only one switch on the A16N, a simple zoom lock that prevents the lens growing in size when being carried. The later A16N II version adds a second switch to allow you to move from AF to MF.

The A16N, Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 with its lens hood in place.

The zoom is smooth and easy to turn. The manual focus is smooth, almost a bit to loose for my liking and has a very short throw; going from minimum focal distance to infinite with a 1/4 turn of the ring. It is this same short throw that enables the Tamron 17-50mm to be blistering fast to autofocus for an AF-D equivalent lens, the revised micro motor version is significantly slower. The AF is fast and sure, there is no hunting, just a slight buzzing sound as the lens focuses. The large aperture allows you to keep shooting for longer when the light is fading and also allows you to blurr the background to create attractive portraits.

Image Quality

If this lens falls down in build quality compared to its rivals, this is where it makes up for all that lost ground. The Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 lives up to the SP (Super Performance) tag, it is just as sharp as the Nikkor AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 and the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS. This lens is sharpest when your at the longer end of the zoom, and stopping it down to makes it even sharper. That said it remains very sharp throughout the zoom range with a wide open aperture, even into the corners of the frame.

This lens is more prone to flare, but using the supplied lens hood keeps this at bay. Be careful when using this lens with filters, stackinga C-PL on top of a standard UV (ie both having at least 5mm filter thickness) produces noticable vignetting unless you have stopped down the lens. Overall there is little to complain about.

NOTE: Both versions of this lens have exactly the same optical formula and differ only in the addition of the micro motor to add AF compatibility for the D40/40x/60 series bodies and the new D5000 which lack an AF drive motor (screwdriver).

The Verdict

This is my workhorse lens, if it breaks then I will replace it if I can find the original A16N version, unless I have moved to FX. I have no problems recommending either version of this lens to anyone who wants professional quality without the price. However I do prefer the non micro motor version of this lens as the AF on compatible cameras is much faster.

This is my opinion of the Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II if you want an indepth technical review I recommend reading Thom Hogan.