What lense is next......

[furney7@hotmail.com]

Thanks Sue, now you throw another lense into the mix! I started off with a £99 basic Tamron and then was stretched to the £330 Tamron with VC and talking about £380 for the Canon. I agree that if i am spending £330 i should spend another £50 if the lense is better! I have read several reviews on both the Tamron and the Canon and both get great write ups. I think i have talked myself round to spending around the £300 mark so it is down to those two i think.

Thanks for all the advice!

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by Sue Allen

If considering the Tamron Vc version you might as well spend an extra few pounds and get the Canon 70-300 IS - this is much much better than the old 75-300 IS [even talked of as approaching L class in some reviews]. I've used an older Tamron 70-300mm which was'nt bad but subject to pretty bad purple fringing - I assume some of that has been corrected in the more expensive version. I used the Canon 70-300 IS when I had my 40D and it was almost as good [!] as the Nikon 70-300 VR.

Sue

Interestingly, the Tamron has out performed the Nikon in the latest tests. In fact, it's far sharper than the Canon as well. It was tested in AP a few months ago and was cheaper and better performing, hence my recommendation.

If it's a choice between the Canon 70-300mm IS and the Tamron, then it's a no brainer - the Tamron is cheaper, sharper and has a more effective stabilisation system. That might all change when Canon update the 70-300mm but, for now, the Tamron is the best performer in the class.

[Sue Allen]

Ah ...tests
I'd still favour the Canon as I assume there would be little real difference in actual use and from previous experience I'd expect the USM to deliver faster AF - certainly would'nt dream of buying the Tamron over the Nikkor. My only experience of using a VC lens was a 28-300mm that my friend made the mistake of buying cheaply on ebay [a bit soft and with the worst lens creep ever encountered!] - it may have been a characteristic of that particular lens but it really did slow down the AF as it came into play in a rather odd way. Never been too bothered about IS/VR/VC/OS etc. personally - as most things I photograph move, I rarely use slow shutter speeds!

[furney7]

Thanks for all the advice. I finally purchased the Tamron 70 - 300 VC last week and so far so good!

I need to try it out properly but looks like a good choice.

Thanks again!