Tamron SP AF 90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 Lens for Nikon

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I took it along for my first trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip festival. Part of me was excited for this as-close-to-Holland-as-you-can-get-in-the-USA experience, but I wasn't very happy about the fact that I was going to be doing tripod work. Full-Frame, 67mm filters, 25.7 oz./730 g, 1.4× maximum macro magnification, 0.85'/10.2"/0.26m close focus.

Well, change of true aperture value at very close distances happens to almost all macro lenses but as far as I know only Nikon cameras show the true aperture, maybe some other brands started doing so too. However, there are two meaningful issues with the Laowa that prevent me from recommending it wholeheartedly. The first is that it has the worst working distance of the lenses I’ve tested here: just 10 centimeters / 3.9 inches at 1:1 magnification. The second is that it’s a completely manual lens that doesn’t even have a CPU chip for recording EXIF data (aside from the Canon EF version of the lens). It also doesn’t autofocus or allow you to change aperture via the camera itself – only the lens’s aperture ring. As a result, you’ll have a darker viewfinder when stopping down your aperture on the Laowa, unlike any of the other lenses here.Good choice for macro, but twice as expensive as the 100mm f/2.8 USM for doing exactly the same thing. Is the difference between 1.01× magnification (on the Tokina) and 1.09× magnification (on the Nikon) worth worrying about? Not particularly. It’s nice that the Nikon can focus a bit closer in a pinch, but the difference is small enough that you can crop the Tokina a bit to get a similar field of view as the Nikon. In practice, you’d have to crop a 24 megapixel image from the Tokina to about 20.5 megapixels to match the Nikon’s narrower field of view. The differences between the other lenses (excluding the Laowa) are even less.

While there are some macro lenses which break this mold, the majority of macro lenses on the market represent focal lengths that are characterized as having a perfect balance of telephoto properties to create flattering portraits. The most common macro focal length is in the 100mm neighborhood which many headshot photographers characterize as being the perfect headshot focal length. Macro Lenses Focus Close

Of these six, the Tamron, Irix, Laowa, and Sigma are all exceptionally sharp. The Nikon is a slight step down, and the Tokina is a further step down. However, considering how extreme these crops are, none of them look bad to me. The Sigma and Tamron macro lens objective elements are deeply recessed (better-protected, harder to clean) while the Canon's is not.

Prime macro lenses in the ~100mm range tend to be pretty darn good, regardless of who builds them, so competition for the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 is pretty stiff. It holds its own pretty well though. As of this writing in mid-November, 2006, other lenses we've tested in this range include the Canon 100mm f/2.8, the Nikon 105mm f/2.8, in both its original and recent VR-equipped versions, and the Sigma 105mm f/2.8. In terms of sharpness, the Tamron 90mm does very well, and may in fact be the sharpest of the group, from about f/4 through f/11. (The Sigma may be almost imperceptibly sharper at f/11 and f/16.) All four lenses show very low shading and distortion. In terms of CA, the Sigma wins out over the other three, and the Tamron is slightly worse than the two manufacturer primes.(Although the differences there are small enough that they may be inconsequential.) Price-wise, the Tamron and Sigma are almost a toss-up, both running about a hundred dollars below the price of the manufacturer's lenses. (Except the new Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR lens, which is a bit over twice the cost of the Tamron, due in part to its inclusion of Vibration Reduction technology.)

ePHOTOzine's expert Gary Wolstenholme takes a long, lingering look at a macro lens that has an enviable reputation. Compatibility Nikon Z8 only tested with models A022, A025, A032, A035, B028, F012 and F045. Canon EOS R, RP, R5, R6, R3, R7, R10, R6 Mark II, R50 and R100* The Tamron SP 90mm F/2.8 Di MACRO 1:1 VC USD (Model F017) is quite a big and bulky lens, measuring almost 12cms in length and wighing in at 610g. You can use it on a smaller APS-C body, where the focal length will change to 145mm or thereabouts, or a full-frame camera like the 5DS R (as shown below), where it retains the 90mm focal length and feels much better balanced.