Tamron has announced the development of a new super zoom lens designed for use on full-frame or APS-C format cameras.
The 4x "ultra" telephoto zoom offers a focal length range of 150mm - 600mm and is designed to appeal to wildlife and sports photographers. Mounted on an APS-C camera, the focal length range effectively increases to 233-930mm.
Featuring a maximum aperture at the wide end of f/5, this shrinks to f/6.3 at the full telephoto end.
The lens features 20 elements in 13 groups for superior optical design. The front group contains three LD (low dispersion) glass elements for enhanced optical correction effectiveness, which should enable the lens to compensate for on-axis aberrations at the telephoto end of the optic.
Beautiful bokeh
Featuring a nine-blade circular diaphragm, beautiful background blur (bokeh) should be possible. The circular diaphragm retains a nearly circular shape even at two stops down from its maximum aperture.
The lens uses Tamron's proprietary VC (vibration compensation) image stabilization system, which promises to produce sharper images. It also features an ultrasonic motor drive for swift and accurate autofocusing.
Silkypix Developer Studio for Tamron, a raw format image development processing software will come bundled with the lens to correct aberrations (chromatic aberrations of magnification, distortion, peripheral light fall-off), based on the optical data.
As this is just a development announcement, pricing and availability is not yet known. It is likely to be available in mounts for all of the major manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon and Sony.
