Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens Review and Sample Photos (Model F017 with VC)

[@MicaelWidell]

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[@stephenbarlow2493]

Just a few notes from someone who has been doing macro photography for well over 35 years and who uses an AF macro lens, with IS (Canon 100mm L). I tend to do field natural history photography, both close-ups and macro proper. I agree with the general points about 2x being better, especially for FF. Same with AF, which I'd hardly ever used for macro even on lenses that had it, until a few years ago. However, there is a whole range of nature photography where AF and IS are useful, and which take up a large proportion of the images that field nature photographers photograph, and these are butterflies, especially larger ones, dragonflies, small reptiles, amphibians and plants/wildflowers. Strictly speaking this is close up photography, not macro photography (1:1 and greater), but it tends to be done with macro lenses, and by photographers which might be photographing true macro subjects in the same session. At less than 1:1 especially 1:2-1:4, suddenly AF and IS become far more useful. IS is actually effective at these distances and AF can be useful, when you are older like me and your eyesight isn't as good as it was or with active subjects like butterflies constantly moving around. Also after I started using AF more, mainly because I'd got used to it, doing more bird photography, you find cases where it opens up new types of shooting. Often for instance you might be holding the camera lens with just one hand, using the other hand to holding something out of the way, or the perch the subject is on, meaning you have no way of changing magnification on the lens, because if you use your other hand, the subject will take off or flee. However, all your other points hold true for 1:1 or greater, using flash etc.

[@teyaparker3872]

Thanks for your review! I agree that sometimes the most simple photos are the nicest ones.. congratulations on the birth of your daughter who is no doubt now a lot older ☺️

[@timwynn6079]

Congrats on your new baby! I have the first version of this lens, it's one of my never selling lenses, and first version is made in Japan.

[@deirdremcquade9690]

Oh, congratulations on your growing family, Micael!

[@joannaz68]

Welcome back Micael!! Good to hear from you again, and thanks for another great video 😊👍

[@setaside2]

Congrats to the whole fam :) Completely understandable that your hands would be literally full! I will say another reason to purchase this lens is its stabilization, which is arguably the best in its category. Makes life a lot easier if one has to handhold most of the time.

[@laureenignarro8030]

CONGRATULATIONS to you, your wife and your son !! You guys make beautiful little humans. 🙃 Love that lens. I use it on my Nikon D500. Stay safe!!

[@jessicaduffy9936]

Great video as always. Welcome back! We've missed you.

[@paulcollingridge8387]

Congratulations on your new daughter. Good to see you again. I have just borrowed the Sony 100-400 GM for my lichen studies. Only 50% close up, but so sharp, excellent stabilisation and a unique perspective at 400mm and

[@roud11]

I bought the same lens and it's incredible, highly recommended if autofocus is something you want

[@sabyasachibanerjee124]

Congratulation to You and Your Wife for your newborn daughter. Hope she grows up to be a wonderful person. Excellent review as always. I have an older version of this lens for Nikon from 2005 . And have always been happy with it. Anything not captured well was obviously my fault :-)

[@blackukulele]

I have a Tamron 90mm macro, the 172E. I am very pleased with it.

[@adrianchoo337]

Congrats on the birth of your daughter! 😊 for the videos.

[@zollieuncle9647]

Congrats to your new family member!

[@columjevens4612]

Congrats on new arrival. .Best wishes

[@ahmdkhaled2699]

Congratulation on Your Child 🥰 God Bless Her 💓🙏

[@MomentCapsule]

Congratulations. 💕 Lovely baby girl. Great video of Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro, thanks for sharing!

[@SatanSupimpa]

Congrats on the new child and the completed transition to your new career.

[@coldeb8911]

Nice review. Having tried both the Laowa Macro Lens and The Tamron 90mm myself, the thing that sells the Tamron lens for me is the Image Stabiliser , it really does make a huge difference, the Laowa does give very nice images, but you really need to use a tripod as it does not have IS so using it hand held is hard work and frustrating to get the same equivalent shots, not impossible, but motion blur was a bit of a problem for me. On the Tamron 90 (Newer version) however the IS was incredible and probably the best you'll get on any lens you buy with IS. Sure it's always best to use a tripod for Macro, but that's not always possible in the field, I managed some stunning hand held shots with the Tamron, crisp and sharp and much better than I managed with the Laowa , and I didn't need to work so hard to get them. I have since returned the Tamron now but I fully intend to purchase my own very soon. I used it on a Canon 80D crop sensor.

[@MikhailOom]

I've been using this lens for a couple of years for now. It is really very sharp and have outstanding autofocus (much faster than, for example, in Sigma 105 mm macro). However, I had problems using this lens with my old Nikon D800 and partly with D850. Sometimes I experienced unexpected autofocus freezing. This problem was gone (almost gone) only when I updated both lens and camera firmwares. So be aware of such things.

[@sofievanherle4570]

Congratulations! Welcome to the world, sweet little girl!

[@tomlee812]

I have the Nikon version and It has been very reliable and very sharp. It pairs well with extension tubes too. Highly recommended.

[@photobizmethod]

Great review Micael! You made me consider this as a fellow macro photographer. Btw, congrats to you and your beautiful family 💛

[@MicaelWidell]

Thank you :)

[@proartwork7189]

Congratulations on your newborn. 🙂

[@nikonmark37814]

I have two of the Tamron 90 f2.8 VC, one for my Canon 5Ds and one for my Nikon D800 and both are incredibly sharp and the auto focus speed is unbelievably fast, as fast as any other lens I own and I own a bunch of premium lenses. If you don't have this lens you need to get one. I got both of mine for under $400.00 US in LN condition via eBay during the Christmas holiday in 2020 and 2021 because sellers are selling nice lenses to raise money for the holidays!

[@view5558]

Congratulations ! What a pretty little angel she is.

[@xavi_flores]

Congrats on newborn!

[@Feynman.R]

I have e72 version. I love it. I think to upgrade to f017.

[@lsdustyrhodes]

I have this exact lens, and use it both for standard photography and macro work. I agree with your assessment: it's a fine performer; in fact, I thoroughly test all lenses that I purchase, and the images produced by this lens serve as the comparative benchmark for these evaluations. Based on reviews I've seen, however, apparently the Laowa 100mm f2.8 2x Ultra Macro is even sharper, plus giving you double the magnification, albeit lacking AF. Consequently, I had determined that I was going to get this lens. That said, Over the past year or so, I've been acquiring an array of Olympus Zuiko OM lenses to adapt to my EOS 6D, and most recently acquired a late-edition pristine Zuiko 90mm f2 Macro, a lens I once owned back in the film days. I had remembered it fondly, and my recollection was redeemed: It's an extraordinary lens, and actually outperforms the Tamron at every aperture, corner-to-corner, not to mention being one stop faster. It's only slightly less sharp at f2 than stopped down, but hardly noticeable. Granted, it's all-manual, and only goes to 1:2 magnification, but I also acquired the 65-116mm variable extension tube, which gets me almost to 2:1. So... I no longer need the Laowa. I l absolutely love this lens (used it yesterday on a portrait shoot). By the way, this was not a cheap "vintage" option; I spent over $800 on it, but so worth the expense. On a commercial shoot, if fast action is demanded, I'd still opt for the Tamron, but the Zuiko is what goes into my bag by default. I also endorse your switch to Final Cut Pro, my preferred video software. Finally, congratulations on your new arrival. Hilarious closing shot.

[@kornasteniker3939]

Nice review, ty Micael! Do you know if the older versions of this Lens is optically the same? It's not completely clear to me bc there are some versions with a slightly different optical design (Less elements f.ex.)

[@MicaelWidell]

I haven't looked into it, so I cannot say.

[@setaside2]

The F004 and F017 share the same optical design but not the same glass or coatings. The AF unit and stabilization unit were also vastly upgraded in the 2017 version. Lastly, the lens went from a body of engineered plastic to a full metal shell, moisture and dust resistant construction, with a fluorine coated front element. The 2017 is worth the upgrade all the way.

[@kornasteniker3939]

@@setaside2 thank you for clarification!

[@coltoncyr2283]

Wish they made a manual styled lens for lens. Awesome quality, but dont know if I'd pay for it for using macro only 🤔

[@viktorskalican1980]

Congratulations to the baby, you have a beautiful family. Are you going to check Tamron 28-200?

[@MicaelWidell]

Yea I am reviewing that lens right now :) video coming soon

[@PatrickOSullivanAUS]

Congratulations Dad (Adelaide, South Australia).

[@SinaFarhat]

Bra jobbat! Ha en fin vecka!

[@MicaelWidell]

Detsamma!

[@moodrelaxer5076]

Good containt, a question about the metabone. Does it suit the camera body? My Kenko extension tube plays a bit on my a7miii body when i attach my sony 90mm, 2.8 macro. I returned it

[@MicaelWidell]

Yes the metabones fits nicely. But it is not an extension tube, but an adapter between camera systems.

[@moodrelaxer5076]

@@MicaelWidell Thank you! you are an inspiration in the macro world. I'm about to sell my sony 90 mm and order the laowa 100 mm for sony. Summer can come

[@kariossyr6018]

Late congratulations for your child, wish your family much of joy and blessings. Thanks for this awesome video, I really like your compositions and artistic choice of subjects. For the review, it is very good, but wish you consider shooting some precise chart to form an accurate figure about the lens. Of course would care for the center of the shots as macro. (though I also liked this lens in normal shooting). Good work really and keep it up

[@MicaelWidell]

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry my review style is a bit looser than many others. If you search you will probably find other youtubers who do charts. One of my favorites is Christopher Frost - check his channel!

[@kariossyr6018]

@@MicaelWidell @Micael Widell You are one of the best already, enough this wonderful spirit you have in all your videos which I appreciate even before the much informations you make us understand easily. What I meant could be a simple addition to a great work that can bring it close to perfection, but I understand how it's your personality and preference. About Christopher Frost, I know this channel, he is a very good reviewer too. Thanks again to care for a recommendation. Wishing much blessings and joy for you and your family.

[@alisatrubnikova]

Hi! Can you help me to make a right choice.... A have an APS-C Nikon camera and can't decide which lens with 1:1 magnification will be better this one Tamron 90 mm (F017) or the Sigma 105mm F2.8 MACRO DG OS HSM..... So many videos were explored and I still can't decide... which of them will be sharper and better overall for my time of camera?

[@MicaelWidell]

I think they are pretty much equal in terms of functionality and image quality. So buy the one you can find cheapest or that appeals more to you.

[@АлександрЗверев-г6с]

Which lens is better than Tampron or Tokina, Samyang 100mm macro or Laowa ova 60mm or 65mm?

[@krisztiannagyszeder1095]

I have got this i love it! with Sony Alpha A99II

[@dovidell]

If Tamron haven't already done so , they should bring out an APS-C version of this lens ( with a X 1.4 dedicated converter )

[@paulcollingridge8387]

I thought they brought out a 60mm apsc equivalent (so similar image size)

[@dovidell]

@@paulcollingridge8387 - my bad !!.I just checked the review , and there are definite problems with the lens including Noisy AF , Visible distortion , at full aperture, the image is softer , source - www.camerastuffreview.com/en/tamron-60mm-macro-review/ . My guess MIGHT BE that the Canon APS-C sensor being smaller than the standard Nikon APS-C sensor might influence the result

[@Dero88]

How would extention tubes effect a lens like this? To get closer to 2x magnification

[@MicaelWidell]

You would need 9 cm of extension tubes (same as the focal length) to get to 2x magnification. So probably more practical to just buy a Laowa macro lens or to use a Raynox filter.

[@Dero88]

@@MicaelWidell ooh that might be quite impractical... tack och grattis!

[@gamgoom85]

Hi.. iam seeking ur help, iam new to mirrorless, iam using fuji xt3 with 7artisans 60mm and meike mk 320 speedlight For indoor macro , Using F8 and iso100 and shutter 1/250 all i can see on screen and viewfinder is black I have to set it to like 1/8 second , although if i set shutter time to automatic it will give me 1/60 !!! How can i set shutter time to 1/250 and be able to see through the screen or viewfinder

[@MicaelWidell]

Check my video called macro settings to solve this issue with the dark viewfinder. I explain in there what setting to change.

[@gamgoom85]

@@MicaelWidell thanks thanks thanks alot I has already seen this video before but just forgot about that setting , thanks again 😃

[@MicaelWidell]

@@gamgoom85 happy to help 🙂👍

[@damir10535]

Congratulations! :)

[@fatmarayyan.g9188]

Can it be used to crop camera?;Nikon D5300?

[@MicaelWidell]

yes of course!

[@fatmarayyan.g9188]

@@MicaelWidell thank you for your help, but it for full frame, is there any consideration that must be taken in account?

[@shawnmcginnis2508]

​@@fatmarayyan.g9188 for anyone reading this on 2024. The F017 works fine on my Nikon D5600 which is a crop sensor.

[@Suhailkhan53]

How do you put aperture at 2.8 when taking closeup. It says 2.8 but in reality it is a variable aperture lens.

[@rogeryoung3587]

Aperture priority or Manual and use the camera's aperture control dial.

[@Suhailkhan53]

@@rogeryoung3587 In manual mode you set the aperture at 2.8 but as soon as you go close to the subject it changes

[@MicaelWidell]

I guess this is because you are shooting with a Nikon camera. They show the actual aperture depending on the light coming in. So it is probably set to 2.8 even though it is not displayed as that, because the effective aperture will be smaller when focusing closely due to physics.

[@rogeryoung3587]

@@Suhailkhan53 That doesn't make sense, you must be misunderstanding something. Focusing has no effect on the physical size of the lens's diaphragm opening. It's true that the actual aperture (effective f-number) becomes darker as the magnification increases (which is significant on lenses that allow magnification above 1:1) but that's not what you seem to be saying. You'll have to explain exactly what you are seeing.

[@TheThing_0]

@@MicaelWidell Yes main lensblock go backward and aperture decreases.

[@jc.baptiste]

Mine is made in Japan \o/ Nice review, I like this lens. By the way, I wonder why only Laowa is making 2x. Strange... any idea? Edit: yours too is made in Japan, I can read it on the video. Check well around the CE logo.

[@MicaelWidell]

Oh You are right! I thought it was not made in Japan because it says “designed in Japan”. But now I also see the made in Japan stamp.

[@abvgddj777]

Have you ever tried the sony macrolens 50mm 2,8?

[@MicaelWidell]

Not yet - hope to try it this year!

[@saabvanderlinden9214]

What's your your favorite macrolens?.... Looking for a new one

[@MicaelWidell]

My favorite is still the Laowa 60mm. Check my previous video about best macro lenses for 2021

[@saabvanderlinden9214]

@@MicaelWidell... I have a nikon d7500... And use a Tokina 100 mm f2.8... 1:1.... And looking for a new one that's why 🙂....

[@РашитХусаинов-б3е]

Спасибо