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Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 1:2.8 XR Di II LD IF VC Asph.
A fast standard-zoom with image stabilization for half-frame cameras (APS-C) of all major manufacturers, such as Canon (testet here), Nikon, Pentax, Sony and probably others.
It is good mechanically and optically, but significantly worse than the Canon 17-50/2.8 IS in both regards. The non-VC-version seems to be better optically, too, according to reviews on the net.
It is an "SP" lens, Tamrons professional line of lenses, but still not comparable to Canon L-lenses. Optics are good in fact, very good compared to any similar lens for "fullframe", but there are so many optically great fast standard-zooms for APS-C, that this lens is nothing special and even falls a bit behind in comparison. Similar "fullframe" - lenses are simply a lot worse and normally lack image stabilization, which works great here.
This is a lens that may be the reason to NOT ever buy a "fullframe" - camera: There simply are no comparable lenses for "fullframe", together with the excellent "super-zooms".
I have sold mine, because I simply don't need it.
COMPATIBILITY
Like all APS-C lenses for Canon from third-party manufacturers I know of, this lens does not have the rubber ring on the back to prevent it from being mounted on a "fullframe" or film-body. But besides the fact, that it does physically mount, it never covers the full frame at any focal length, it only works with hard, mechanical vignetting - you always get a small circle surrounded by black. The smaller sensor of APS-C-cameras let's this lens have an angle of view like a 27-80mm-lens would have on 35mm.
Warning: There's always potential compatibility-issues with third-party lenses and newer bodies, but this has never occured with Tamron-lenses in the past, so that I personally rate this risk as "existent but low" (other than for Sigmas). And keep the price in mind when judging this risk.
PRICE
It sells for € 290,- at this moment on Amazon and for above € 200,- used on ebay, so it's not worth it, buy it new. Especially with third-party manufacturers there are quality-control-issues from time to time and you never know, how some other person handled the lens. Eliminating this risk is worth more than € 100,-.
ACCESSORIES
The lens is shipped with a shade, I don't use, as it kind of doubles the sizen of the lens, at least for storing and transport.
It uses 72mm filters, and while the front moves when zooming, the filter - thread doesn't rotate, making the use of grads and polarizers easy. It looks, feels and handles great with a 77mm step-up-ring.
GREAT.
MECHANICS
Made in China.
Metal lens mount.
Mostly made of plastics.
"SP" is the name for Tamron's high-quality line of lenses, like Sigma's EX or Canon's L - lenses. But the highest quality a manufacturer offers, of course, differs between them and so Tamron's SP - lenses are nowhere near the quality of Canon L. Apart from that comparison, it still is quite nice, even if it feels a bit below other SP - lenses I own, like the 70-300 VC and the 10-24. The lens extends significantly when zoomed, but there is only very slight wobbling and the focus - ring feels a bit loose and scratchy, while the zoom-ring is a bit stiff, while not sticky or scratchy. Again, far from the ball-bearing-L-quality, but nice and still light.
AF accuracy is very good, nearly identical on my Rebel, Rebel XTi and 40D. I can't measure any correction needed for any shots, real or test targets.
It uses a crappy, loud and slow conventional micro-motor. It's relatively fast still, but that's at least partly because of the very short focus-path, which makes manual focussing hard.
The AF ring rotates while focussing and you need to move a switch to focus manually. This is not a problem, because the ring isn't near my fingers, when I grip the lens intuitively.
Focussing is internal, see above.
Tamrons image stabilization "VC" works really great for me, in fact I get better results with it than with the Canon-variant. But camera-shake is a personal characteristics, so this may differ for your type of tremor or amount of coffee consumed. I can shoot at 1/6th of a second and get sharp results. However, I don't find it that helpful in this lens: I did only use it for shooting people in low light and the shutter-speed I need for stopping blur of moving people is very near the speed I need to handhold this lens without IS: Maybe I got more sharp shots at 1/25th or 1/50th, than I'd have gotten without, but that's still only OK for people e.g. sitting at a table and this is a range I get some good shots at 80mm equivalent without IS, too, especially if I can rest my arm on a table. I always used other lenses for landscapes.
The inner mechanics are a bit fragile, with important things made of plastics and very thin plastic-pieces in places that are likely to break and thin metal where it is deformed over time, like the zoom-barrel, that widens over time and develops play.
Overall, mechanics are OK, but not great for the price, an OK lens with a solid body, not more.
ERGONOMICS
Very good. It is small and light for a 2.8 - zoom and handles really well. I hold it right intuitively, gripping it exactly right to zoom or focus.
This lens feels relatively solid but only medium quality and is comparitively small and light. Size DOES matter, also see Lenses: What's important?. You can still hold a body with this lens in one hand. It fits in normal bags for transportation, but because of it's thin plastic body you shouldn't jam it in a bag or rucksack.
The focus-ring is a bit too loose and undampened, but positioned really well. It has no instant manual override. To switch between AF and MF you have to turn a switch near the mount.
On a medium-sized body like an EOS 40D, it feels nice and small, if one can say that about a 40D with 2.8-zoom.
There is a focus-scale without infrared-focus-indices and depth-of-field-scale.
72mm-filters are easy to get and very common and it looks, feels and handles well with a 77mm step-up-ring.
It extends to nearly double it's size when zoomed but the filter-ring does not move.
Overall: OK.
OPTICS
Optics of this Tamron are good but not stellar, especially the non-VC-variant seems to be a lot sharper at the borders and corners.
The minimum focus distance is 0.29m with a max. reproduction ratio of roughly 1:5, which is close enough.
Distortion is a bit surprising, with heavy barrel at 17mm, but about neutral from 28mm on, never changing to pincushion. This shouldn't be problem when not shooting brick-walls. The plane of focus is quite even.
Vignetting may be around one f-stop at 17mm and f/2.8 and does not get better when zoomed in. Stopping down even only one stop makes this nearly invisible.
The aperture is made of 7 rounded blades, giving you very smooth bokeh with good out-of-focus highlights and 14-ray-light-stars, if you manage to get any (stop down to f/16 at least). Great!
I have no information on this lens' usability for infrared-photography, sorry.
While I think, that a lens less prone to flare and especially ghosting is not always better, as at least ghosts can be a very nice tool to show the lighting conditions in your pictures, this 17-50mm flares a bit, is not as well controlled as the very best, but not really bad, it doesn't "glow-out" the whole image, when you have very bright lights like the evening sun at the border of the frame. Gladly, lamps, the moon, candles or similar light-sources in the dark aren't a problem and you can always avoid it by changing the angle a bit.
It's color reproduction seems to match my other Canon EF and third-party lenses. It does not have the little bit warmer overall cast, old Sigmas sometimes show.
Lateral CAs (purple/green fringes along high-contrast edges), when not corrected by newer EOS cameras (or nearly all Nikons), are visible, but very good, can maybe reach a width of about one pixel, I'd estimate.
Sharpness is one of the most overrated qualities of lenses. That being said, this lens is extremely sharp in the center even at f/2.8 wide open, getting very slightly worse as zoomed in and with an a bit more pronounced drop at 50mm. But it's still very good here and stopping down one stop makes it recover to the same sharpness as at the shorter focals lengths. The image borders are significantly worse, though, with the soft area getting bigger when zoomed in. Stopping down helps, but especially the corners do simply never get great.
There are a lot of sample-pictures on the web, so here are only three basic impressions:
100% Crop, EOS 40D, 17mm f/2.8 extreme top-left corner.
100% Crop, EOS 40D, 50mm f/2.8 extreme top-left corner.
100% Crop, EOS 40D, 17mm f/2.8 extreme top-left corner. It seems to be a little better at such closer distances.
This would be OK for an ultrawide and is really good in comparison to fast standard-zooms for "fullframe", but not in comparison to some other fast APS-C standard-zooms - there are better lenses for APS-C, even at better prices, if you can live without VC.
My sample of this lens was centered OK, with a tiny bit of difference between the corners on a non-disturbing level.
This lens is very good for what I needed it for: Few occasions where I shot indoors in low light and on the one hand didn't know, what conditions to expect and on the other hand did not have the time to change primes: weddings. In these situations, border sharpness, distortion on the wide end and manual focussing was irrelevant. But I have sold it now, I prefer my Sigma 18-125mm as my only standard-zoom.
ALTERNATIVES
There are a lot of alternatives and some are as good or better optically. The Tamron non-VC variants seem to be a lot sharper. The Sigmas don't seem to be real winners in this league, too, while the Canon 17-50/2.8 IS is worlds ahead of this lens, but also a lot more expensive. Even being the cheapskate I am, if I would plan to buy such a lens as my real standard-zoom (again), I'd safe for the Canon now or take the cheap non-VC Tamron. While Tamrons image stabilization "VC" works really great for me, I don't find it that helpful in such a lens: As I wrote, I only fast standard-zooms in very few situations where I can't change primes fast enough, which is always shooting people in low light, and the shutter-speed I need for stopping blurr of moving people is very near the speed I need to handhold such a lens without IS: 1/25th or 1/50th is the absolute limit and this is a range I get some good shots at 80mm equivalent without IS, too, especially if I can rest my arm on a table. I always used other lenses for landscapes.
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