In summary
On the basis of price and performance we’ve given Tamron’s 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD lens an Editor’s Choice award and recommend it to people seeking a ‘do-everything’ lens for general photography.
This lens is a good match for the X-T series camera bodies because it is relatively light and well-balanced. A useful choice for travellers and those looking for a walkaround lens, the Tamron 18-300mm is also small enough to be relatively inconspicuous, making it good for street and sports shooting.
Full review
Following the success of the Sony E-mount version of its 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD lens, Tamron released a version of it for the Fujifilm X-Mount on October 28, 2021. It’s essentially the same lens as we reviewed in November 2021 so this review will focus on the handling characteristics and performance of the lens, which we tested on a Fujifilm X-T3 camera body. We’ve decided to review it because the previous review was carried out on a full-frame Sony camera body, which resulted in an effective focal length range of 27mm to 450mm and a reduction in the effective resolution of the camera’s sensor.
Side view of the Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (Model B061) lens without the supplied lens hood. (Source: Tamron.)
The optical design of this lens is the same as for the Sony E-mount version and consists of 12 elements in 11 groups. Included in the design are four LD (Low Dispersion), two GM (Glass Moulded Aspherical) and one Hybrid Aspherical lens elements, which combine to address common aberrations, as shown in the diagram below.
The optical design of the Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8 Di II VXD lens. (Source: Tamron.)
Tamron’s BBAR-G2 (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection Generation 2) Coating has been applied to mimimise ghosting and flare and allow images to be reproduced with optimal contrast and clarity. A nine-bladed iris diaphragm delivers a creamy, beautiful bokeh at wide apertures, as users expect from fast lenses.
The VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor mechanism in the focusing drive is fast and quiet and capable of pinpoint accuracy as well as excellent focus tracking performance when shooting video. The lens is supplied with a petal-shaped lens hood and front and rear caps.
Who’s it For?
This lens is a good match for the X-T series camera bodies because it is relatively light and well-balanced. A useful choice for travellers and those looking for a walkaround lens, the Tamron 18-300mm is also small enough to be relatively inconspicuous, making it good for street and sports shooting.
The optical design of the Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8 Di II VXD lens. (Source: Tamron.)
Tamron’s BBAR-G2 (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection Generation 2) Coating has been applied to mimimise ghosting and flare and allow images to be reproduced with optimal contrast and clarity. A nine-bladed iris diaphragm delivers a creamy, beautiful bokeh at wide apertures, as users expect from fast lenses.
The VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor mechanism in the focusing drive is fast and quiet and capable of pinpoint accuracy as well as excellent focus tracking performance when shooting video. The lens is supplied with a petal-shaped lens hood and front and rear caps.
Who’s it For?
This lens is a good match for the X-T series camera bodies because it is relatively light and well-balanced. A useful choice for travellers and those looking for a walkaround lens, the Tamron 18-300mm is also small enough to be relatively inconspicuous, making it good for street and sports shooting.
This diagram shows the positions of the weather-resistant seals in the Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD lens. (Source: Tamron.)
Its weather resistance would make it a good choice for bushwalkers, especially those who like shooting stills and videos of wildlife.
Landscape photographers should find wide end of the range handy and the 300mm focal length will produce interesting perspective compressions.
Architectural photographers will need to make sure the in-camera corrections are enabled since without them this lens is not distortion-free. Without the corrections it’s also prone to chromatic aberration.
Build and Ergonomics
Tamron doesn’t specify the materials used in the construction of this lens but, going on its similarity to other Tamron lenses we’ve reviewed recently, we’d say the outer and inner barrels are made mostly of composite polycarbonate on a metal mount. Build quality is generally very good and the overall finish and design of the lens looks very smart and attractive.
The front element is approximately 50 mm in diameter and recessed a little to allow for a threaded rim that allows 67 mm diameter filters to be fitted. The outer edge of the inner barrel has a bayonet fitting for the supplied lens hood, which is made from hard black plastic.
The zoom ring is located at the end of the outer barrel. It’s approximately 47 mm wide and mostly covered with a 36 mm wide band of ribbed rubber-like cladding that provides a secure grip. The trailing edge is free of ribbing and carries index marks for the 18mm, 35mm, 50mm, 79mm, 100mm, 200mm and 300mm focal length positions.
Zooming from 18mm to 300mm extends two inner barrels and lengthens the lens by a little over 75 mm. The zoom ring turns smoothly, tightening up a little between the 70mm and 300mm positions but the front element doesn’t rotate.
Behind the zoom ring is a fixed section of the outer barrel that carries the zoom lock (which we didn’t need to use since the review lens showed no signs of zoom creep, although it may be handy after the lens has been used for a few years). There’s no AF/MF or IS On/Off switch since both functions are controlled by the camera. The lens also lacks distance and depth of field scales.
The focusing ring is located aft of the zoom lock band. It’s roughly 13 mm wide and entirely clad in thin rubber-like ribbing. It turns through 360 degrees when power is off and lacks hard stops at each end of the focusing range.
Behind the focusing ring is a 13 mm wide section of the lens barrel that carries the branding and name of the lens, with ‘Designed in Japan’ around the left hand side and a ‘Made in Vietnam’ label plus a range of CE icons on the base. The barrel then slopes gently inwards before flattening out for 12-13 mm to end with a metallised band that indicates the lens mount. A vertical rubber flange seals the interface between the lens and the camera to keep out moisture and dust.
The supplied, petal-shaped lens hood is easy to fit and remove. It can be reversed over the front of the lens for transport and storage.
Performance
Given the results of our review the lens on the full-frame Sony α7 II, where the 1.5x frame crop reduced resolution to only 10.3 megapixels we thought it worth reviewing the lens on the Fujifilm X-T3, where the full 26-megapixel (6240 x 4160 pixels) resolution could be utilised. This should enable us to see just how well the lens performs with the correct sensor size.
As before, we disabled the in-camera corrections for our Imatest testing and recorded RAF.RAW files as well as JPEGs in line with our normal practice. Raw files have also been used for assessing vignetting and rectilinear distortions.
Because of restrictions in our testing area we weren’t able to measure performance in our Imatest tests at the two longest focal length settings. The highest resolutions we were able to measure were at shorter focal lengths and apertures between the maximum and two thirds of a stop down from the widest aperture.
The best JPEG performance was at 35mm f/4.0 (the maximum aperture), where the measured resolution was just below expectations for the camera’s 26-megapixel sensor. RAF.RAW files recorded simultaneously with the JPEGs delivered much higher resolution and even exceeded expectations towards the edges of the frame.
We measured a significant amount of softening in JPEGs shot at wider apertures, especially with shorter focal lengths. This is to be expected in an extended-range zoom lens. So, too was the effect of diffraction, which kicked in between f/8 and f/11, as shown in the graph of our test results below.
Because Fujifilm cameras correct chromatic aberration automatically in JPEGs, we used the results from raw files to produce the graph below, in which the red line separates ‘negligible’ and ‘low’ CA. It shows lateral chromatic aberration was mostly in the low range but dropped into the ‘negligible’ range for much of the 18mm focal length. (It’s worth noting the JPEG results were almost entirely within the ‘negligible’ band.)
We found no evidence of visible coloured fringing along high-contrast boundaries in uncorrected raw files when we examined our test shots. Since this aberration is automatically corrected for JPEGs in Fujifilm’s cameras it shouldn’t be an issue for potential users.
As usual, we also had to assess vignetting and rectilinear distortions by examining RAF.RAW files without the camera’s built-in corrections applied. Slight vignetting was evident at the widest aperture settings across the entire zoom range, although it became most noticeable at the longest focal length settings. Stopping down by between one and two stops virtually eliminated it across the zoom range.
Rectilinear distortion ranged from obvious barrel distortion at 18mm through to pincushion distortion, which became just visible at around 50mm and remained evident at 300mm. Both vignetting and distortion are effectively removed by in-camera corrections and easily dealt with when raw files are converted into JPEG or TIFF format.
The review lens handled backlighting well and produced some nice 14-pointed sunstars when stopped right down. A few flare artefacts were present is direct contre-jour shots but little in the way of veiling flare, representing good overall performance.
Close-up performance was also very good and bokeh was mostly smooth and attractive. We found traces of outlining around bright out-of-focus highlights in some shots – but you had to look for them as they weren’t very obvious.
Autofocusing performance was mostly excellent. The only times the lens tended to hunt a bit were with low-contrast subjects at the longer focal length settings, which is to be expected given the zoom range and relatively slow speed (f/6.3) at 200mm or longer.
However it did fail to focus when it was really dark, even if there were bright areas in the scene. Manual focusing was possible in such situations; but there’s a lot of ‘play’ in the focusing ring so it can take a long time to focus on distant objects, especially at 300mm. Focus pulls were smooth and silent on the whole and we didn’t see any obvious focus breathing while zooming in or out.
The built-in stabilisation in this lens worked well with the in-camera stabilisation in the X-T3 camera we used for our test shots. We were able to use shutter speeds as slow at 1/20 second with the 300mm focal length and get more than half of the shots nice and sharp. In normal daylight, we could shoot at 300mm with the lens stopped down beyond f/8 without difficulties.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle: degrees
Minimum aperture:
Lens construction: 19 elements in 15 groups (including elements)
Lens mounts: Sony FE (APS-C)
Diaphragm Blades: 7 (circular aperture)
Weather resistance: Yes, 7 rubber gaskets, fluorine coating on front element
Focus drive: Compatible with proprietary Fast Hybrid AF
Stabilisation: Yes, VC mechanism
Minimum focus: 15cm at 18mm; 99 cm at 300mm
Maximum magnification: 1:2 at 18mm, 1:4 at 300mm
Filter size: 67 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): x 125.6 mm
Weight: 620 gram
Distributor: Blonde Robot, (03) 9023 9777
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Fujifilm X-T3 camera.
Based on RAF.RAW files recorded simultaneously and converted into TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at 18mm f/3.5.
Vignetting at 35mm f/4.0
Vignetting at 50mm f/4.5.
Vignetting at 70mm f/5.0.
Vignetting at 100mm f/5.6
Vignetting at 200mm f/6.3.
Vignetting at 300mm f/6.3.
Rectilinear distortion at 18mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 35mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 50mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 70mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 100mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 200mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 300mm.
18mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/250 second at f/11.
70mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/90 second at f/11.
100mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/150 second at f/9.
300mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/100 second at f/7.1.
20mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/100 second at f/8.
Crop from the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening at the edges of the frame but no obvious coloured fringing.
18mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/550 second at f/7.1.
Taken from the same position as the 18mm shot above: 300mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/500 second at f/7.1.
Close-up at 18mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/480 second at f/3.5.
Close-up at 70mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/280 second at f/5.
Close-up at 300mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/100 second at f/6.3.
Bokeh at 135mm focal length; ISO 160, 1/400 second at f/5.6.
Manual focus with very low light levels when AF couldn’t lock onto the subject; 300mm focal length, ISO 6400, 1/5 second at f/6.3.
18mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/400 second at f/9.
300mm focal length; ISO 160, 1/1200 second at f/8.
127mm focal length; ISO 160, 1/3000 second at f/5.6.
149mm focal length; ISO 160, 1/2000 second at f/5.6.
52mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/340 second at f/9.
40mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/50 second at f/9.
40mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/480 second at f/8.
Sunstar and flare artefacts at 18mm focal length, f/22; ISO 160, 1/5 second.
Sunstar and flare artefacts at 70mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/18 second at f/32.
Sunstars at 300mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/30 second at f/40.
18mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/200 second at f/11.
69mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/200 second at f/5.
18mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/20 second at f/8.
Rating
RRP: AU$1199; US$699
- Build: 8.9
- Handling: 8.9
- Image quality: 9.0
- Autofocusing: 8.7
- Versatility: 9.0
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