Discover a Great Lens for Macro Photography - Tamron 60mm Macro Lens
Below are the descriptions for the letters:*SP = High performance specifications
*AF = auto focus
*F/2 = aperture designation for the largest aperture(lens opening)
*Di II = designed for digital SLR cameras only (cannot be used on a film camera)
*LD = Low Dispersion glass
*IF = Internal focusing
As you can see, the letters indicate lots of technical jargon. Are they critical? They certainly are.
Since the letters stand for the lens specifications, they allow us to know exactly what goes in to the Tamron 60mm Macro lens.
If VC and USD were in the list, this lens would be even better. VC stands for Vibration Compensation, and USD stands for Ultrasonic Silent Drive. This would add something similar to Image Stabilization and Fast Focus. But if you add those two elements, you would essentially price this lens out of the ballpark for its intended users.
Intended users? APS-C type camera owners are the intended users... I know, more letters. But APS-C cameras are those digital SLR cameras with a modified sensor that is less than "full frame". APS-C cameras include the likes of the Digital Rebels in the Canon line and the D5000 in the Nikon line.
The fabulous part about being for APS-C cameras is that those cameras now have a really GREAT macro lens available to them.
There are two features, in particular, that have been mentioned in each review of the Tamron 60mm Macro lens.
*Super quality images. All reviewers agreed that the image quality was beyond their expectations. Since all dedicated macro lenses are prime (meaning single focal length rather than zoom lenses), they usually produce better image quality just due to the fact that they are only one focal length. This takes some of the technological guesswork out of how to make the image quality excellent at every focal length of the zoom.
*Depth of Field. The plane of focus, being a macro lens, was narrow enough, even at the smaller apertures to produce a nice blurring, or bokeh, effect.
This statement by the manufacturer is major: The Tamron 60mm Macro lens is the only lens in the World that can boast an F/2.0 aperture at that focal length. There are several lenses that have an aperture of F/2.8, but none have F/2.0.
It is a macro lens, but that is not the only type of photography you can do with this lens. It is a very fine portrait lens, as well. Many photographers use a 50mm lens for portraits, but this one performed admirably for taking sharp portraits.
Are there any concerns?
There actually is one feature that has caused some negative comments. The lens has auto focus with a manual override. That means that you can use the camera to get the focus automatically, but if you feel that you can tweak the focus manually to get it sharper, you can do that. The complaint is that the reviewing photographers had trouble with this feature, because the lens tended to try to revert back to auto focus.
This is not an uncommon problem with macro photo lenses. The problem is a result of the very nature of macro photography. The camera is so close to the subject that it tends to have trouble finding the focal point. With the Tamron 60mm Macro lens, the testers agreed that they were able to master this problem, but it was somewhat of a negative in their evaluation.
The general consensus is that the Tamron 60mm Macro lens is an excellent lens for entry level and mid level digital slr cameras. It gives photographers a super starting place for close up photography without having to mortgage their first-born.