Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD review

The Tamron 35mm strikes an appealing compromise between speed and quality. It does weather pretty well too…

(Image: © Future)

Digital Camera World Verdict

Built for all weathers, the Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD is a solid wide-angle prime for landscape and other outdoor shooting pursuits. Excellent autofocus, a four-stop stabiliser and a generous maximum aperture all combine to deliver a lens with real versatility and quality. It’s a little heavy, and sharpness could be better when wide open, but for the price this is a solid buy that’ll deliver great results.

Pros

  • +

    Extensively weather-sealed

  • +

    Excellent auto and manual focusing

  • +

    Smooth bokeh

Cons

  • -

    Some sharpness issues

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When buying a prime lens, you often need to choose between a fast aperture rating or image stabilization. Typical of Tamron’s recent primes, the full-frame SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens combines a reasonably wide aperture rating of f/1.8 with a 4-stop image stabiliser. You can’t get quite such a tight depth of field as with an f/1.4 lens of the same focal length, but there’s not a great deal in it.

The Tamron is larger and heavier than Canon’s competing 35mm f/2 stabilised lens, but still it weighs in at under half a kilogram and feels well balanced on Canon’s APS-C format bodies, where it gives the same effective focal length of 56mm. 

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Matthew Richards

Matthew Richards is a photographer and journalist who has spent years using and reviewing all manner of photo gear. He is Digital Camera World's principal lens reviewer – and has tested more primes and zooms than most people have had hot dinners! 

His expertise with equipment doesn’t end there, though. He is also an encyclopedia  when it comes to all manner of cameras, camera holsters and bags, flashguns, tripods and heads, printers, papers and inks, and just about anything imaging-related. 

In an earlier life he was a broadcast engineer at the BBC, as well as a former editor of PC Guide.