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This Tamron Announcement is Kinda Weird. But it Makes Sense

Chris Gampat
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Last updated on 02/09/2026
02/18/2026
3 Mins read
A Tamron camera lens stands on a table with blurred orange pumpkins in the background.
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Tamron is sincerely one of the lens makers that I personally love the most. They’re partially owned by Sony and they constantly show the world that good lenses don’t need to be insanely pricey. And sometimes they do some really weird things that I don’t understand. Today, they’re announcing the new Tamron 35-100mm F2.8 Di III VXD. I really didn’t understand why — and then I looked in my bag of Nikon camera gear and it suddenly made sense.

I’m the owner of a Nikon 24-120mm f4 Z lens. I sincerely love the range and versatility that it gives me and I’ve never once really wanted the lens to have a faster aperture. But there are still folks who crave a 24-120mm f2.8 lens of some sort. Tamron makes something in that range for APS-C; and this new Tamron 35-100mm F/2.8 Di III VXD is the closest that we can get.

It’s not as wide as 24mm, and it’s not as long as 120mm. But it can cover most of what your 24-70mm can do and more in some ways. Most importantly, it’s really small and keeps Tamron’s philosophy around using the 67mm filter thread.

Tamron 35-100mm F2.8 Di III VXD Specs and Important Stuff for Photographers

  • 67mm filter thread: which means that you can share the same lens filter with most of the other Tamron lenses that you own. This is elite in so many different ways because you can keep all your filters in one size.
  • Developed as a lightweight alternative to the 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD, which we’ve given multiple awards to.
  • 4.7 inches long, which is smaller than the iPhone. That’s the Sony variant and the Nikon variant is 0.1 inches longer.
  • 8.7 inch close focusing distance at the wide end
  • Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive motor: which is designed for silent autofocusing. That’s important for many event photographers.
  • Moisture-resistant construction and fluorine coating: which is important not just for inclement weather, but also for long-term longevity.
  • 9 aperture blades to give the standard smooth bokeh everyone is used to these days.
  • Sony mount price: $899 USD / $1249 CAD
  • Nikon mount: $929 USD / $1299 CAD

This lens is shaping up to be a pretty affordable option for anyone who wants a walkaround lens and doesn’t really need anything wider than 35mm.

Also being announced today are the less exciting Tamron lens utility update to version 5.0 and Tamron link, an accessory that lets you control your lens wirelessly. That’s more for video shooting than anything else.

Tamron is innovative here in that they’re making a lens that hasn’t been made before. But at the same time, it’s easy to think that this is a weird announcement. I’m sure that photographers will understand how useful something like this will be once they use it. What’s really nice is how small the lens is, promising to be. Sure, it won’t have internal zoom, but that would be kind of ridiculous.

Sample Images

These images are provided to the Phoblographer by Tamron.

A woman with curly hair smiles outdoors, wearing a purple sweater and gold earrings.
Modern rooftop terrace with metal railings, glass building, and a view of the sea under a clear blue sky.
Woman with short brown hair and blue sweater standing indoors by sunlit windows with greenery outside.
Mountain landscape at sunrise with green hills, distant peaks, and a colorful sky.
Woman in a dress sits on the floor, leaning on a bed by a sunlit window in a moody room.
Woman in a gray dress sits on a velvet sofa near a large plant in a bright, stylish room.
A person serves steaming fried rice with vegetables from a large pan onto a plate at a food stall.
A woman in a checkered dress leans against a wooden-framed glass door indoors, looking at the camera.
35-100mm f2.8 image quality lens motor nikon sony tamron wide
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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.
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