Im going to buy a Rebel 2000 and i cant decide detween the Canon 28-105 and the Tamron 28-200. Also i want to know if there is any important difference between the first and the second version in both lenses.

Thank you.

-- Sebastian Oviedo (soviedo@montevideo.com.uy), April 28, 2001

Answers

With the Canon 28-105 USM, the only difference between the original & version II is cosmetic.

Tamron has made several versions of 28-200's, adding aspheric elements, changing to an internal focus design and improving it's close focusing capability. The new one is also supposed to be a bit sharper.

There is not much similar in these two lenses. The Canon 28-105 is a well made lens with well corrected optics that produce good images. It also has Full Time Manual focusing (FTM) with it's ring type USM focusing motor that provides very quick & silent auto focusing. It's not the best zoom Canon makes, but it is a good one.

The Tamron 28-200 may be the best third party 28-200 out there but it's image quality is not even close. There is too much distortion at the ends of it's zoom range and you have to stop it down considerably to get sharp images. It's auto focusing is not as fast or as sure (sometimes it hunts) and it's build quality is not as good.

Most people that have longer lenses find that they seldom go past 100mm anyway. Of course some people shoot with long lenses all the time, but they are the minority. A more practical lens for most of us would be the Canon 24-85 USM. In the end, you can get good pictures with either lens, but the Canon zoom will give you better pictures more consistently.

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), April 29, 2001.

Stay away from the Tamron 28-200mm (or any other versions); I had one before and got rid of it very quickly, its colour rendition was not nearly as good as my Nikkors. Also you can't possibly handhold the lens at focal lengths greater than 105mm without getting camera shake (well, unless you use very fast film, like ISO 800 or more, but picture quality will still suck because of grain).

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), May 01, 2001.

I owned both the Canon 28-105mm zoom and the Tamron 28-200mm zoom (not the latest "macro" version but the previous generation. Although the extra focal length in the Tamron has some utility, I found that it was outweighed by the loss of image quality between 100 and 200mm. The noise of the Tamron autofocus mechanism compared to the Canon USM system also drove me crazy!! Plus, as mentioned previously in another response, the lens searches more than I think that it should.

I have sold the Tamron lens, but kept the Canon 28-105mm as a lightweight, respectably performing lens to keep on one of my lighter Canon bodies. I frequently attach a Canon 58mm 250D closeup lens to get some closer focusing ability although it can be a little tricky to use and requires practice.

If you are thinking of spending the type of money that the Tamron 28-200 will cost you perhaps you should look at the Canon 28-135mm image stablized lens. I have used this lens for about a year and continue to be pleased with the results. The zoom range is adequate for 90+% of my snapshots and the quality is excellent for a non-L series lens. My main camera bag has this lens, a Canon 20mm, and the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L series zoom plus a couple of Canon teleconverters coupled with an EOS3. The other lenses take care of the majority of my more specialized shooting.

In my opinion, the 28-135mm would be a better choice than the Tamron for the money.

-- Richard Snyder (rsnyder@lc.cc.il.us), May 01, 2001.

I would agree with Richard as I have had the same experience. I started out with a Tamron 28-200 Super with my Canon A2 and when I first started it was great, does just fine for 4x6 prints and if you use it right, you can even get decent 8x12's or 11x14's, but this is at the low end of the zoom range 28-50mm and small aperture's for depth of field (f/16). However, one day I rented a 28-135 IS and took some photos with my friend who has a 28-200 Super as well and I could tell once we got the prints back that the Canon 28-135 was far better, the prints looked sharper right in the 4x6 print!

I have since sold my Tamron 28-200 Super and purchased a 28-105 USM lens for snapshots, but you know what I realize, the 28-105 rarely comes out of my camera bag, I am using primes mostly now and I love the picture quality. Now that I have gone semi-professional it is very important that the pictures I take are the best they can possibly be and this can not be obtained by most consumer zooms.

Can you take publishable quality pictures with a consumer zoom? Certainly, you'll have a couple pictures that you'll take that turn out really nice, but most of them will not be up to par for any kind of marketing or enlarging.

-- Bill Meyer (meyerwj@louisville.stortek.com), May 10, 2001.