Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2 Tamron just announced a trio of featherweight full-frame lenses for Sony E-mount, each of which weighs less than eight ounces and offers a 1:2 macro capability.
The new Di III OSD M1:2 range of F2. 8 primes are highly portable options for Sony shooters, which sacrifice lens brightness for impressive compactness and light weight.
We're still waiting to see results from these new lenses, but we had the chance to check them out in person at last week's Photo Plus Expo in New York.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 20mm F2. 8 Di III OSD M1:2 will be coming in the new year, and a working sample wasn't available to use at the show but it's physically and cosmetically extremely similar to the 24mm, shown here. The 24mm F2. 8 Di OSD M1:2 weighs in at 7. 6 oz (215g) and measures 2. 5in in length. That's compared to 7. 8 oz for the 20mm, and in fact all three of these new lenses are essentially the same size, not including their hoods.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
All three of the new primes feature 'front element focusing' which basically means that when the lenses rack from their nearest to furthest points, the front element moves within the lens, and the size of the lens does not change.
The 'OSD' (Optimized Motor Smart Drive) focus motors provide silent automatic focus, although on the a7III which we used, there is some noticeable 'wobble' as the lens finds its mark. This could be a pre-production issue (and it could be related to the horrible tradeshow light) but we'll reserve judgement until we receive final shipping samples.
This photo shows off the shallow petal-style hood of the 24mm F2. 8, and the 67mm filter thread, which is common to all three lenses.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
If you didn't get the message yet, these are tiny lenses, and so light that when mounted onto an a7R II, they feel like they're hardly even there. Some photographers will always lust after brighter, more 'professional' options but for everyday shooting, assuming the image quality holds up, we anticipate these primes being very appealing to casual Sony a7-series shooters.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 35mm F2. 8 Di III OSD M1:2 looks almost identical to the 24mm, and in fact shares a similar optical design, of nine elements in eight groups (compared to ten elements in nine groups, for the 20mm and 24mm). These contain LD (Low Dispersion) and GM (glass-molded aspherical) lens elements and BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) Coating, to reduce flare and ghosting.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The 35mm doesn't need such a wide hood, and ships with a rather attractive 'snoot' style hood which serves to protect the front element not only from stray light, but also from accidental scratches and scuffs.
Hands-on with Tamron's 24 / 35mm Di III OSD M1:2
The hood is removable, at which point the 35mm F2. 8 is near-impossible to distinguish from the 20mm and 24mm. The fact that all three lenses weigh almost the same, measure almost the same in length, and use the same 67mm filter thread could lead to confusion when groping around in a dark camera bag, but we suspect that their combined weight of less than 1. 5 lb (about 680g) will more than make up for the inconvenience, for a lot of photographers.
All three of Tamron's new Di III OSD M1:2 lenses will ship for $349, with the 24mm and 35mm (featured in this article) shipping next month, and the 20mm coming in early 2020.
. dpreview.com2019-10-29 14:00