This lens is a great telephoto for the price. You can't beat the price ($399 at the time of this review - $449.99 - $50 rebate). The lens is very sharp and takes great pictures. It is slow in the dark or shadows ... meaning if you try to even auto focus on something in a room at night without a lot of light then you will have problems ... not a good low-light lens ... also a heavy lens due to size and VC ... noisy VC. I give it four stars however for it's VC and zoom capabilities - as for this price you won't find any better. I will use this lens for kids sports (indoor with light and outdoor), the zoo, wildlife, portrait, and general close-ups.
As another note, I use this lens on a Nikon D90. I have seen another comment on here about it not exposing correctly on the D90. I have not had any problems and exposure has been right on, with and without a speedlight sb700 flash at all apertures and focal ranges.
You can view some of my pics taken with this lens here: [see comments section]
(UPDATE 11/30/2011)
After taking a bunch of indoor shots of my niece's gymnastics meet, I reduced my rating to 4 stars. Although I do love this lens, it is not so great wherever there is not direct light (i.e. sunlight) - it is extremely slow focusing sometimes and you must also adjust the shutter speed and/or ISO accordingly which will give some blur or grain for any indoor action shots. Although the slowness is not a defect of the camera, it is inherent within the wide-open end of the aperture range F/4-5.6 . The drop of the star is for the slow focusing in anything but pretty bright light. It is still IMHO one of the best zooms for the price that is out there. If you need a zoom for low-light to medium-light action shots, better save major $$$ and pick up a 70-200mm F 2.8 or whatever.
(Update 8/26/2012)
I had this lens out again today. I would say it qualifies for a 4 to a 4.5 . I love the optics and everything is great except the slow focusing. I mean it hunts sometimes even in shade when it is sunny out. No other Nikon 3.5-5.6 lens I have does this. I'm not talking dark here. If you read other reviews by googling: "tamron 70-300 VC slow focusing", you will see what I mean as others state it can be slow. I have taken excellent pictures of birds and wildlife with this lens. It is true though that unless you are shooting in bright to semi-bright conditions or using a strobe, you may wish to take a look at a f/2.8 fast lens. Just be forewarned it's possible you may miss a shot or two if you need to focus in overcast or darker conditions. Is it worth the price? Absolutely and I would buy it again and again!
(Update 4/30/2013)
I have been extensively shooting this lens at the zoo, on vacation, mostly wildlife and sports, mostly now on my D700 FX camera. Although it is true that the focus can hunt in darker conditions, this lens is superb for the cost. The VC is outstanding and I love how the image does "freeze" in the viewfinder. I paid $399 for this lens and it is worth every penny of that. This is probably my "best" lens although it may be one of the cheapest. I got my "bang for the buck" out of this baby. Lightweight and a lot of utility, especially on my FX D700. I am increasing the rating to 5 stars. This *should* be my final update.
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This Item  Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 SP Di VC USD XLD for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $170.00 | -22% $133.20 New Price: $169.90 | -25% $1,049.95 New Price: $1,399.00 | -7% $549.99 List: $589.95 | $396.95 | -35% $359.99 New Price: $549.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | — | — | Get it May 17 - 22 | — | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Image stabilization | ||||||
| Auto focus | ||||||
| Picture quality | ||||||
| Quality of material | ||||||
| For landscape photography | ||||||
| Sold By | SKR camera store | TEKlinq | Electronics Basket | Global Camera USA | Amazon.com | Xpress Products (We track Serial Numbers) |
| lens type | Telephoto | Zoom | Telephoto | Telephoto | Telephoto | Zoom lens |
| compatible mountings | Sony/Minolta Alpha | Nikon DX | Nikon F (FX) | Nikon F (FX) | Nikon F | Nikon F |
| lens design | Zoom | Zoom | Zoom | Zoom | Zoom | Zoom |
| focus type | Ring-type ultrasonic | Micro-type ultrasonic | Auto Focus | Ring-type ultrasonic | Auto Focus | Auto Focus |
| minimum focal length | 70 millimeters | 55 millimeters | 150 millimeters | 70 millimeters | — | 70 millimeters |
| max focal length | 300 millimeters | 200 millimeters | 600 millimeters | 300 millimeters | — | 300 millimeters |
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Excellent lens for the money!
I am a professional photographer publishing my photos on a wide variety of products. I decided this year to focus on more bird photography to be able to add more bird related products to my catalog of images. Prior to using this lens, I had purchased a Nikon 55-200mm lens, and while it does a fabulous job and captures great photos, I needed something to get me "closer" to the birds. I chose this Tamron lens on the recommendation of someone. I read all the reviews first, and considered the cost difference between this lens and the comparable Nikon lens. With the rebate, this lens was about $200 less expensive, so I decided to give the Tamron a try.And I must say, I LOVE this lens. My bird photos are the best they've ever been. Because I can get closer with the zoom on this lens, I am able to get much more feather detail and clearer, crisper photos overall with the lens. The excellent Bokeh this lens produces is an added bonus. I always try to make my finished photos as artistic as possible, and the Bokeh produced from this lens really helps to create my artistic vision much better.The only thing I don't like is it is not as responsive in low light - it takes longer to focus and has a bit more grain in the low light photos. It also doesn't capture a great moving shot unless the lighting is extremely good. But I have that same issue with all my lens. Until I can earn enough from my work to justify the additional cost of a faster telephoto zoom, this lens will do just fine! In the meantime, I counter this issue with planning ahead a bit and making sure to schedule my outdoor sessions on days when I know sunlight will be good.I have had the lens about a month now, and have enjoyed countless hours with it near my bird bath and feeders. Most of the visiting birds are used to me now. And I have so many good photos of all of the species now, it's hard to decide which ones to publish! Oh, and I forgot to add - the flower shots are *amazing*. I'm currently running a slide show of Iris flowers on my front page of my site (JaiArt.Com) if you want to see examples. Most of the photos featured in the slide show are taken with this lens.All in all - I say if you're looking for a good quality telephoto zoom for a great price, this one is definitely worth it!
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Top reviews from other countries
Jack McInnes
One of the best zoom lenses available for the money
Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2019Style: NikonVerified Purchase
Ciro
Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD
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Audrey F.
Watch out for the model reference!
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Audrey F.
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gbvalor
Ha superado mis espectativas
Reviewed in Spain on September 30, 2015Style: NikonVerified Purchase
