• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Features Presented By

The Best Zoom Lenses For Photographers on a Budget

Chris Gampat
No Comments
10/03/2022
5 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 G2 review images sony a7r iii EDITED 2.81-20s1600 1

We get it: finding the best zoom lenses is a pretty difficult task when no one is making a bad one. But some are truly more innovative, unique, or balance things just right better than others. Professional photographers demand the best zoom lenses for the variety of work they do on locations and in studios. Further, passionate photographers everywhere love to be able to capture and create scenes they can share with engaged onlookers everywhere. So to make it easier for you, we dove in and found some of the best zoom lenses money can get you. Here they are.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Table of Contents

  • How We Chose the Best Zoom Lenses for Professional Photographers on a Budget
  • Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD
    • Why It’s the Best
    • What We Think
  • Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD
    • Why It’s the Best
    • What We Think
  • Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2
    • Why It’s the Best
    • What We Think
  • Tamron 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2
    • Why It’s the Best
    • What We Think

How We Chose the Best Zoom Lenses for Professional Photographers on a Budget

Here’s some insight into how we chose the best zoom lenses:

  • The Phoblographer’s staff aren’t allowed to comment on products we haven’t reviewed. You can see more about this on our Editorial Policies page. With that said, we’ve reviewed every single one of the best zoom lenses and more. Beyond that, we also shot all the product images you see here.
  • We recognize that not every photographer uses a full-frame mirrorless camera. For that reason, this roundup of the best zoom lenses includes those for Sony mirrorless and Fujifilm cameras, as well as Canon and Nikon DSLRs.
  • This is a sponsored roundup from Tamron reinforcing our high praise of their products. You can see that praise reflected in our full reviews which are hyperlinked throughout the article. 
  • The best zoom lenses aren’t anything without a good photographer behind them and a bit of maintenance. We recommend cleaning the contacts on your lenses and cameras every now and again. In fact, we’ve got an article here on how to do that, to supplement your research.

Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD

Why It’s the Best

  • Small
  • Weather sealed
  • Under $1,000
  • Image stabilized
  • Basically a 24-105mm at f2.8
  • Lightweight

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“The Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD is the full-frame equivalent of a 26-105mm f2.8 lens. The depth of field will be around f4.2 in full-frame too. But the light gathering and true aperture will still be f2.8. This is the first time we’ve ever gotten a lens like this. Add onto this the vibration compensation, sharp optics, and weather sealing features, and then realize it’s under $1,000. To me, this sounds like a no-brainer.”

Buy Now

Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD

Why It’s the Best

  • Beautiful image quality
  • Works with Sony’s autofocus algorithms on the Sony a1
  • Weather sealing
  • One of Tamron’s most solidly built lenses to date
  • Integrated USB port
  • Lightweight for what this is; a very innovative lens
  • Feels great in the hands
  • F2 aperture to start is nice!
  • Works very well on older Sony cameras if you’re using the appropriate autofocusing type
  • Can do pretty well in continuous autofocus
  • I adore that this isn’t one of Tamron’s sharpest lenses because it means that I don’t have to spend a ton of time retouching every pore
  • $1,899 isn’t too bad of a price

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“Where to start? The Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD is the only lens on the market that begins with an f2 aperture and goes down to f2.8. Tamron has a similar lens for DSLRs that starts at f2.8 and stops down to f4. But obviously, this f2 is a full stop faster. Tamron has also done a world’s first with building a USB port directly into the lens. This port is sealed the same way as one is on a phone. That means you can get rid of the dock to update the firmware. With this lens, you don’t necessarily need a 28-75mm and a 70-180mm lens. Instead, you’ve got one lens to do everything you’d realistically need. It’s brilliant.”

Buy Now

Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2

Why It’s the Best

  • Beautiful image quality
  • Works with Sony’s autofocus algorithms
  • Weather sealing
  • Integrated USB port
  • Lightweight
  • Feels great in the hands
  • Works very well on older Sony cameras if you’re on the appropriate autofocusing type
  • Can do pretty well in continuous autofocus
  • It’s only $879.

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“The autofocus on the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2 is very good. The only time I had any sort of trouble was with tracking a cat moving closer to the camera. (Specifically this was on the Sony a7r III; with the Sony a1 it was a bit better.) And for what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone would buy this lens with the intention of photographing their pets moving closer. You should also know that Sony owns part of Tamron, so the autofocus is bound to be fantastic!”

Buy Now

Tamron 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2

Why It’s the Best

  • Fantastic sharpness
  • Great colors if you white balance and edit the right way
  • Reliable autofocus
  • Image stabilization
  • Weather sealing
  • Feels good in the hand
  • Very versatile
  • Not too heavy
  • Not badly priced

What We Think

In our review, we state:

“In situations where you’re shooting more environmental portraiture, you’ll find that the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD does a fantastic job. It’s saturated and, even when it comes to skin tones, you’ll find the saturation a bit higher than normal. But it’s surely manageable if you’re using good shooting and editing techniques. By that, what I essentially mean is a locked white balance and finding a way to keep the various colors in the scene separate from one another for editing in specific color channels.”

Buy Now

This piece is presented in partnership with TAMRON. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

best zoom lenses fujifilm image quality lenses nikon review tamron Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2 Zoom Lenses
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

The Best Prime Lenses for the Leica SL2-S

Next Post

The Gorgeous Leica 40mm f2 Lens Should Make a Return

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug