There are certain 70-300mm lenses that are simply better than others. And in our opinion, Tamron’s is incredible. In fact, we think that it’s so great that we took a look at our review done several years ago and issues an update. We previously updated it when testing it with the Nikon Z9. However, we recently used it with the Sony a9 III and fell in love with the images we were able to make with it.
Below is the updated text from our Tamron 70-300mm lens review, and you can read the entire thing right here.
Sharpness Update March 2024
As time has gone on, I’ve come to apprecaite this lens more and more. The sharpness lends itself to a painterly effect when combined with the right lighting and the right settings on a Sony sensor. This lens isn’t as vibrant as the brand’s higher end lenses, but that gives it more of the look of a vintage painting. Many brands wouldn’t like this and instead strive for absolute perfection in their own eyes. But the idea of shooting photographs in the pursuit of art is in strong contrast to that. Diado Moriyama says that cameras are imperfect ways of capturing reality. With that said, no cameras or lenses can really do it. Since this is the Sony system, you can easily embrace it to make painterly images of birds.
This, again, is not to say that it’s not sharp. But instead, it’s so sharp that you can love the images it makes as you think through your creative vision for the images you’re making.
Conclusions Update March 2024
In March of 2024, we’ve updated this review with a new apprecaition for this lens. It’s lightweight, weather resistant, fast to focus, and can give you images that you’ll be really proud of. More importantly, it also can give you a painterly look that’s really missing from modern photography.