Tamron is well known for introducing optical solutions in the market with up-to-date features and technologies. Their lenses are trendy among photography professionals of different formats as well as general photography lovers.
If we take a look at the available lens for APS-C format, we can easily find out that glass manufactures are not offering as much, e.g., quality development, as they are offering for other formats. With the help of its market knowledge, Tamron found out that what exactly is missing in the APS-C sphere: a stabilized, wide-angle zoom with weather sealing and premium performance.
Tamron also fills this void in the APS-C sphere when they introduced Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD lens coded as B023.
Tamron 10-24mm lens review
This new lens of Tamron is a successor to their Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD SP AF lens. It is equipped with DX-specific wide zooms to offer image stabilization for Nikon DSLR owners. 10-24mm VC HLD is a fast ultra-wide-angle zoom lens that is aesthetically designed and features Vibration Compensation (VC) technology, a new HLD (High/Low torque-modulated Drive) focus motor for fast and quiet AF operation, full-time Manual Focus override, and a moisture construction.
Key aspects:
10-24mm lens brings many significant facets for its users at an economical price. Peeking a look at additional features and significantly improved elements can better understand this lens.
Build quality
Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 VC is designed differently from its predecessor. This lens is more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. It has a soft matte finish that feels very nice and smooth in hand and looks great too.
The lens’s length is slightly over 3 inches long, the diameter is around 3.3 inches (83.8 mm), and it features a 77mm filter thread. The lens weighs 440 grams with all compatible lens mounts. Tamron’s 10-24mm VC HLD is very lightweight and easy to handle in general.
Not only is it lightweight, but it is also pretty small. The lens is an exciting balance between both metal and rubber.
One additional feature of this lens is the moisture-resistant cover. It enables users to use lens even in harsh environmental conditions such as rain. Easily detachable screw-on lens hood also comes with 10-24mm VC HLD. At the end of the lens barrel, there is a zoom ring.
It has a rubberized finish and rotates very smoothly. On the left side of the barrel, there are AF and VC switches. One astonishing built-in aspect of the lens is that it does not change its size upon zooming in or out.
There are 16 lens elements in 11 groups in the lens, an improvement over the old predecessor with 12 elements in 9 groups. There is a fluorine coating on the front lens element to clean dust, grease, and smudges.
Image quality
This lens helps attain impressively sharp image quality for a wide-angle zoom lens. There is no quality loss throughout the aperture for the center of the image. But you can face disappointing and bland corner sharpness as the aperture goes smaller.
At 10mm, a full-frame body will show a powerful mechanical vignette. There is a noticeable vignette until you stop down. At around 13mm through 18mm, only the corners have hard shading, and the shading increases slightly at 20 – 24mm.
Tamron added its Broad-Band Anti-Reflection Coating (BBAR). BBAR improves the optic’s light transmission. It also suppresses reflections and dispersion across the lens’ surface. Lens hardly show any issue with flare, but chromatic aberrations are worst at wide-open apertures. Under favorable conditions, 10-24mm offers a very soft background and beautiful bokeh.
TAP-IN Console
This lens can be used with Tamron’s TAP-IN Console. This helps connect the lens to the computer via USB for secure data sharing, and if needed, small adjustments to quality focus and image stabilization can be made with it.
HLD and lens elements
This successor lens includes Tamron’s new HLD (High/Low torque modulated drive motor). HLD significantly improved the speed and accuracy of AF. Tamron 10-24mm HLD includes more elements, including 1 LD (Low Dispersion), 1 XLD (Extra-Low Dispersion), Aspherical, and Hybrid Aspherical elements.
XLD element is new, and it wasn’t present in the first version of this product.
Vibration Compensation System (VC)
Tamron included VC in this lens for the first time in the format of APS-C. The Best thing is that Tamron achieved this whilst hardly changing the size at all compared to the previous model. VC system enables to capture exceptional image results even in case of shakes and sudden movements.
It is highly advisable to turn the VC system off when using a tripod to get better results.
Autofocus
Under different lighting conditions, incredible autofocus results are delivered by this lens. The Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD’s <- Affiliate Link 🙂 AF performance depends on what camera you’re using, but considering that it’s a wide-angle lens, it’s easy to get focus accuracy.
Tamron 10-24mm specifications:
- Focal Length [mm]: 35mm equivalent focal length of 15-36mm on Nikon APS-C cameras
- 35mm equivalent focal length of 16-38.4mm on Canon APS-C cameras
- Maximum Aperture: F/3.5-4.5
- Minimum Object Distance [m]: 0.24
- Maximum Magnification Ratio: 1:5.3
- Filter Size: Φ77mm
- Maximum Diameter: Φ83.6mm
- Length: 84.6mm (3.3 in) for Canon
- 82.1mm (3.2 in) for Nikon
- Weight [g]: 440g or 15.5 ounces
- Item No: B023
- Groups-Elements: 16 elements in 11 groups
- Angle of view (diagonal): 108°44-60°2
- Diaphragm Blades: seven
- Minimum Aperture: F/22-29
- Diameter x Length [mm]: 83.6 x 84.6
- Available Colors: Black
- Standard Accessories: Front Cap, Lens hood
- Compatible Mounts: Canon, Nikon
Pros:
- Excellent build quality for the price
- One molded glass Aspherical element
- One low dispersion (LD) element
- One extra-low dispersion (XLD) element
- The image stabilization feature works very well with this lens.
- Ultra wide-angle for zoom
- Fluorine coating
- Autofocus system (AF)
- Vibration Compensation (VC) to reduce image distortion because of camera shakes
- Compatible with Tamron’s TAP-in USB Console
- Aspherical lens with large aperture and low dispersion element (LD)
- High- to handle shape
- Weather sealing shield
- Compact and lightweight
Cons:
- Variable apertures
- HLD motor is very noisy in video mode
- Corners sharpness is very disappointing and bland.
- Distortions in wide end mode
- Minor issues while focusing out
- Fringing complaints in extreme circumstances
- High edge CA
- Low edge sharpness as aperture goes smaller.
- No option for in-camera corrections.
Conclusion
Tamron 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD helps capture ultra-wide views with exceptional qualities and gives a user experience with an ergonomically user-friendly design. This lens is an appealing addition to the APS-C SLR category. People who are considering adding an ultra-wide zoom lens to their lens gallery should consider buying this lens.
In its category, this lens is an inexpensive one than other available lenses. Not only is it inexpensive, but it offers sharp image quality, optical stabilization, a weather shield for your glass, and a lot more. Model B023 is a wide-angle zoom lens that covers an impressive, extensive range of zoom.
This zoom range is also the most massive focal length range in its class (35mm equivalent is 16mm to 37mm).
With a refreshing new design, Tamron’s new HLD (High/Low torque modulated Drive), fluorine coating, VC stabilization, and its lightweight, 10-24mm is an ideal lens for architecture photography.
Minor issues of corner distortions and low edge sharpness are there. In general, it should be praised for its build quality, lightweight offered variety in the zoom, decent image quality, fast autofocus performance, and compact size.
