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JinDesu | |
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09-17-2014, 01:56 PM | #2 |
Thank you for the comparison, I for one appreciate the time and effort you put into this review. I own the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 HSM Macro II and I find it to be very sharp at 90-135mm f4.5 which is where I find myself shooting most of the time. From your review, and my own personal experience I think the Tamron renders better overall, warmer colors and smoother bokeh than Sigma but this is subjective. The 70-200mm did replace my DA* 50-135mm which I found superior in all categories except the AF of course. In Terms of IQ the Tamron seems closer to the Pentax than Sigma.
Last edited by Stavri; 09-17-2014 at 02:11 PM. | |
09-17-2014, 02:08 PM | #3 |
Thank you for the comparison, I for one appreciate the time and effort you put into this review. I own the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 HSM Macro II and I find it to be very sharp at 90-135mm f4.5 which is what I find myself being most of the time. From your review, and my own personal experience I think the Tamron renders better overall, warmer colors and smoother bokeh than Sigma but this is subjective. The 70-200mm did replace my DA* 50-135mm which I found superior in all categories except the AF of course. In Terms of IQ the Tamron seems closer to the Pentax than Sigma. All my photos were edited for brightness and white balance only - I tried to get the white balance similar so that it doesn't bias anyone when dealing with sharpness. No sharpening was added to the images - but I did increase the clarity a little (on par with what I do for all my photos). All shots were processed in Lightroom 5.0. I do wish I had a 50-135 and a 60-250 to do the test with. The way I see it though, at 100% crop - if I can see the details down to several pixels, that is sufficient for me to compare with any other lens even with different photo subjects. As far as the lens being warmer/cooler naturally - I find that the Tamron is a bit warmer and renders portraits very very well. I haven't had the luxury to do portraiture with the Sigma, but its bokeh is pretty good no matter what. Thanks for you comment! | |
09-17-2014, 03:12 PM | #4 |
Veteran Member |
As an owner of the HSM II I must say that this pretty much kills my slight feeling about needing a change. The AF works really well on the lens and really quick hunting makes for a quick refocus if focus is lost. The only thing is that my copy (as some others) suffers from "bubbles" due too a slightly separating front element, nothing I find affecting image quality but a cause for concern for the future. |
09-17-2014, 04:43 PM - 1 Like | #5 |
Veteran Member |
I have, (still), both this lenses, and I can confirm all the information in this review. Because I've made some tests, but never have the patience to put it in an article, I will take the liberty to make some completions. 1. Long distance shots, 100' to infinite. The same situation like on 24', Tamron in advantage. 2. Coma. Much better on Sigma than Tamron. Checked on stars. 3. Focus performance. On K-5, the difference between Sigma and Tamron was sensible, in favour of the first. On K-5IIs, the difference is smaller, but still Sigma is better. On K-3, the difference is hard to count. One more thing. On very difficult subject, like small birds in fast flight at big distance, Tamron lose the focus more frequently than Sigma. Test on K-5 and K-5IIs. 4. I like the color rendered by Sigma more than the greenish tint of Tamron. This can be easy seen in the pictures above. But that tint can be changed in PP. 5. I like the continuum manual focus of Sigma more. My conclusion. Is a tie. Both lenses has strong points, but the differences are not big. So, is a choice of preferences, and the way everybody use it. |
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09-17-2014, 05:30 PM | #6 |
Jimmy - thanks for those addendums!
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09-17-2014, 08:35 PM | #7 |
The Tamron is very weak at 200mm at f2.8; I see this pretty consistently in my own photos. However, it looks like at all other FL, the Tamron is quite a bit sharper wide open. I love to shoot mine wide open, at middle FL, nearly straight into the sun. This article confirms for me that for my style of shooting, the Sigma is very much worse. This one's at 200/f4, but probably my favorite Tamron shot. I'm pretty fond of this one too for some reason. | |
09-18-2014, 10:41 PM | #8 |
Thank you for doing these tests and this article. I have no experience with the Tamron, but am quite happy with the Sigma HSM II. It's a very solid and reliable performer. I also like how easy it is to flick around the zoom ring with a finger when shooting. But I do agree with your comments about flare. It can sometimes show up in unexpected ways, even with a hood. FWIW, it is also worth noting that Lightroom 5.* has lens support for the Sigma HSM II. Not sure about the Tamron. DxO Optics pro however has no support for the HSM II, but does have a lens module for the Tamron for the K-3 and other Pentax bodies. | |
09-18-2014, 11:50 PM | #9 |
Thank you for doing these tests and this article. I have no experience with the Tamron, but am quite happy with the Sigma HSM II. It's a very solid and reliable performer. I also like how easy it is to flick around the zoom ring with a finger when shooting. But I do agree with your comments about flare. It can sometimes show up in unexpected ways, even with a hood. FWIW, it is also worth noting that Lightroom 5.* has lens support for the Sigma HSM II. Not sure about the Tamron. DxO Optics pro however has no support for the HSM II, but does have a lens module for the Tamron for the K-3 and other Pentax bodies. Heh, I am the on the other side of the aisle owning Tamron and no experience with Sigma. It's a very nice lens once you accept the size & weight. My experience with Lightroom lens correction presets is rather meh. Particularly, the profile for Tamron 17-50 is unusable if you have people near the edges of the frame in wide-ish shots, as their faces are additionally stretched to freak-show levels. | |
09-19-2014, 01:52 AM | #10 |
09-19-2014, 03:59 AM | #11 |
My Lightroom 5.0 does have corrections for both the Tamron 70-200 and the Sigma 70-200. I did not apply the corrections for the same reason why I did not apply the sharpening. That said, I often do manual profile corrections if I deem the distortions are too crazy - but otherwise I don't see a need to. That being said, I do know that the Dxo modules are way better than the Lightroom lens corrections if you want to maximize the corrections in sharpness, CA, and distortion. This is especially true for the DA 18-135. It is unfortunate that they do not have support for the HSM II. The Tamron is lighter than the Sigma by 200g, which may not seem like much - but I would imagine it adds up. My shoots nowadays are k-30 + FA*24, k-3 + DA*55 and Tamron 70-200, so it wears pretty well on the body. | |
09-19-2014, 04:15 AM | #12 |
I just checked it and from what I understand, integration with Lightroom is similar like with Photoshop; I'd process RAW in DxO and then have that TIFF (or whatever) stacked with original. Too cumbersome for me; I might consider it once I need to print something. | |
09-19-2014, 12:40 PM | #13 |
You can integrate it with LR, or just use it as a stand-alone RAW processor too. It's an OK tool in both modes. I use either mode when I need something (eg optical corrections) that DxO does better than LR.
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09-19-2014, 01:41 PM | #14 |
1. Copy RAW files from SD card to a designated folder (Pics\Year\Month\Occasion) 2. Import to Lightroom; add tags, rename to YYYYMMDD-HHmmss.pef 3. [optional] Play with knobs in Develop mode 4. [rarely] Export to JPG, Picasa, G+, Facebook So, in my understanding DxO would replace step 3 where instead I'd have: 3a. Open in DxO 3b. Play with knobs. 3c. Save & Return where now I'd have filename.TIFF stacked with original PEF. I'd find this rather tedious for my normal workflow. I might consider it as a part of printing preparation, but (just) to have a bit better image on screen, can't be bothered. Stand alone RAW processor would be something like this Pentax Digital Camera Utility? Something to play with knobs and get JPG files, without cataloging? Please correct me if I got this wrong. | |
09-19-2014, 02:05 PM | #15 |
I use LR as my primary RAW processor and image manager, but do keep DxO around to use as a stand-alone tool some times, for it's particular strengths (geometric corrections, single-shot HDR, it's neat quick presets etc) - and sometimes just for a '2nd opinion' on a set of images. Same reason I keep PDCU around. It's not a replacement for LR either, but it's got a few handy tools in there that LR or DxO can't duplicate (eg it's multi-point AWB picker, and support for all the Pentax in-camera JPG profiles). | |
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