Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP AF/MF 1:1 Macro Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

(Another year and one repair later, I still love this lens. Original review first followed by updates.) First impression: right out of the box, this lens is smaller than I pictured. I had experience with the Sigma 105mm, and this is easily smaller and lighter. For travel purposes, it is ideal, plastic build or not. I did get a few surprises when I put it on the camera (D70), so anyone thinking about purchasing this lens should pay attention. This info is already out there, I just didn't notice and was almost disappointed at first. 1: This lens is only 2.8 at 10 feet to infinity. The maximum aperture drops as you focus closer, and at minimum focusing distance, where many will want to work to get the true 1:1, it is all the way down to 5.6. That was quite a shock at first, but I soon found that at such close range, even 5.6 gives you very shallow depth of field. It just means less speed, so a tripod will almost always be necessary unless you are really good at hand-holding. 2: The switch between auto and manual focus requires you to push or pull the focus ring. I should have known this after working with the Sigma 105mm, but it is not obvious on this lens and I had to check the instructions. lol. Again, this information is in other reviews, and it may be obvious to most users, but anyone new to macro should keep it in mind to avoid any surprises. UPDATE: I've left off the old review taken from my first few shots, as I have much more experience to pull from now. This lens captures beautiful photos, that much is certain. I have not tested the Nikon 105mm VR lens, but from the examples I've seen, this lens can still hold its own, even without VR. (I used to think VR was meaningless on a macro lens, but I have found many times when it would be useful.) Strong points: * Bokeh (out of focus rendering) is stunning * Color is rich (super color with D70, can't wait to see what it does with a D300!) * Lens is light, less than half the weight of the Nikon 105mm VR * Focus ring is large and easy to use Weak points: * Auto-focus is slow, noisy, and hunts a bit at times * Lens is not fixed length, short when focusing at infinity, extends out when focusing closer, a significant amount * Plastic build (doesn't bother me, but some don't like it) For my money, the pros far outweigh the cons here. I use this lens a lot for product photography (at work), non-macro flower and other small items, but I almost never take it all the way to 1:1 because I'm often too lazy to get out the tripod, or not in a situation where a tripod is usable. One thing to note: auto-focus has recently started acting up on my D70. For a few weeks it would refuse to auto-focus, I would reboot the camera, take the lens off and put it on again, and it would start working until I turned the camera off once more. Most recently I have not been able to get the auto-focus to work at all. (It is the only lens in my kit that does this, so I don't believe it is the camera.) Since the auto-focus is always slow anyway, I've taken to keeping it in manual focus and just dealing with it. It's a hassle at times, but it does not detract from my enjoyment of this lens. UPDATE #2: Tamron warranty and service are incredible! As mentioned above, the auto-focus eventually stopped working completely with both my D70 and D300. All Tamron USA lenses come with a 6 year warranty (6 years!) so I printed a receipt off Amazon, filled out a simple form, and put it in the mail. A couple weeks later I received notice that it was being repaired, no charge of course, and it gave me an order number to track it. I was leaving on a trip a few days later and didn't want it sitting outside my house while I was gone, so I contacted Tamron service department to see if I could change the shipping address. It had already shipped out and would be at my house within the week. Unlucky for me it arrived the day I left, but I had someone take it inside for me the next day, so no worries. It has been tested and works perfectly! 5 additional stars for Tamron's repair department! I would recommend this lens to anyone wanting to do macro work, portraiture, product photography, or any not-quite-macro nature shots with lots of color.

A few months ago I started to Upgrade my camera gear but like most of us my funds do not allow me to buy the #1 Grade gear. So I started looking at 3ed party gear; my instructor at the school I'm taking for Photography says not to buy 3ed Party but only First Class Stuff from Nikon "you see I shot Nikon and the camera I up-graded to was REFURBISHED Nikon D7000. But I found a guy on YouTube that gave product reviews on Tamron Lens and that sparked my interest. I had thought about buying Sigma Lens,but they started to go up in price since more people started to buy them. But for me Tamron stuck in my brain and I'm glad they did. This was my first Tamron lens and even though it's not pro grade it's still a Great Lens. One thing that impressed me before I even bought the lens was the fact of it[s ability to Fully Function on a Full Frame camera instead of losing Picture Quality. I have not used it on a full frame due to not owning one yet LOL but when I took the lens out of the box I was surprised at the size and at the quality of its build. When I put this lens on my D7000 I couldn't believe how much better it was than my 50-200mm f/4-5.6 Nikon lens "that died" I'm still in Morning boo hoo boo hoo LOL. The Tamron takes far clearer Photo's and the BoKa is "Creamy" as they say "I need to come up with a Man's word for that Creamy sounds a little Funny! I am no expert but I plan to be one someday soon, I'm 54 and starting life over after cancer, but I've learned from my Mother that you never give up even when things look their worse. What that has to do with lens "Nothing" LOL but maybe it will help someone who's having to start life over also. Not having money to buy First Class lens does not stop a person from being what the want to be come, I want to be a Photographer and Tamron lens, with their great quality and lower prices are helping me do so. As "Forest Gump" would say "That's all I got to say about that".

This lens is extraordinary. I purchased it with the purpose of macro in mind, as I am a nature photographer by trade. This lens excels at everything I've ever made it do. I use it for portraits, for landscapes, general street/architecture photography and macros. I did a lot of research, between the Nikon version (85mm), and Sigma's version (105mm) and settled for this one, which is right in the middle with 90mm. I use it on a DX sensor, so that changes to 135mm. AF-S works great on my crop. At its widest, 2.8, it can be just a tad soft around the corners, but little to no distortion at all, just a little bit of vignette. It is easily fixable in LR or post-processing. My only gripe would be it has a somewhat noisy AF-S motor and sometimes overthinks the focus and it can drag. But this doesn't happen often. It's also a little heavy, but nothing that some time and practice won't allow you to adjust to. It produces stunning bokeh and is tack sharp. All of my subjects are the sharpest they've ever been thanks to this lens. I really have nothing negative to say. I look forward to many years of fun with this lens. Check out my images attached, all taken with this lens.

This lens is a fantastic lens because it takes amazing true 1:1 macro shots and doubles as an awesome portrait head-shot lens. This lens is also a good "street" lens. The low-light aperture of 2.8 is fantastic and the creamy gorgeous bokeh will blow you away. I like that it has a unique manual vs. auto focus ring that pushes and "snaps" back and forth .. took some getting used to but I actually really like this unique method of switching focus modes - no need to hunt for a switch on the side of the lens. Also features TACK SHARP images! Bottom line - if you are trying to get into macro photography and/or are looking for a great portrait "head-shot" lens with awesome bokeh, get this lens! I have some photo examples (link to paste) in the comments section. UPDATE 8/26/2012 This is still a great lens and very sharp. The only two points which bug me greatly is that the front expands and contracts for focus (no internal focus) so when you are very close in macro to a subject the lens is almost touching it, and the fact that focus is ungodly slow. At least there is a limit switch, which is needed. For macro, one uses manual focus a lot anyway. I will keep the 5 star for the optics and fantastic pictures, I read reviews and knew what I was getting.

I purchased this used at about 50% of the new price. I am an amateur photographer mainly focusing on macro photography, more specifically insects. Prior to purchasing this lens, I was using macro tubes. The tubes were ok for the interim until I could get a dedicated macro lens, but I found that in order to get good pictures I had to be really close to the subject, and while picture quality was good, was far from great. This lens allows me to focus on anything from almost any distance while taking stunning photographs. Pros: Colors are great, and images are super sharp when able to focus properly. Not only for macro, but this is hands down the best portrait lens I own. I love the focusing range on this too, as like I said earlier, you can bring just about anything into focus with this lens at almost any distance from the lens. True 1:1 magnification is also superb to have in my arsenal of lenses. It's also a lot of fun to use, and the 90mm focal length really forces you to get creative. Cons: My biggest gripe about this lens is how shallow the depth-of-focus gets at 1:1. At anything below f16 it is impossible to get the entire subject into focus. I believe this is inherent in almost all macro lenses, but I didn't have such a big issue with the macro tubes. If you are looking to take great macro pics using a wider aperature, you might want to look into focus stacking if you are unfamiliar because the area in focus that this lens allows at its largest f-stop when at 1:1 is a sliver of the whole picture you are trying to take. Build quality is also somewhat questionable as well, but seems good enough. The other gripe is that this is labeled as f2.8, but unless you have it focused to infinity, you wont get f2.8, as it drops off rather quickly as soon as you bring focus in any closer--for any real focusing expect f3-5. Also doesn't auto-focus on the nikon d3200 despite what reviewers say, and I tried hooking up my macro tubes to this lens just for fun and it wouldn't recognize the lens with them on. Still, overall I am super happy with this lens and I take it everywhere. Picture quality and versatility alone make this one worth holding on to.

I received the lens from the vendor. Packed well, delivered quickly. It took a while to get used to it. Setting the range of the focus is a good idea if using auto focus . The results are quite good. Not only the acuity of the lens, but the "bokeh" (the look of the out of focus areas) is good also. I would recommend this lens. The auto focus has a lot of range to cover, so using the "limit" control can make auto focus work faster.

I'm new to the DSLR world and have a Nikon D7000, Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime, a Sigma 17-50 2.8, and Tokina 11-16 2.8. I like to do garden and food photos and this was the lens I finally decided upon. I compared the Nikon 105 2.8 and the Sigma 150 as well as the Tamron 90mm. I just got it today, poped it on the camera and went to the local garden nursery for a trial spin. The focus isn't as noisy or as loud as I was afraid it would be and auto focus seemed to work fairly well (appx 70 percent of my shots were in focus). The lens does extend with focus, but the barrel does not turn so polarizing filters would work. It feels decent in the hand and the weight is pretty minimal. I pulled up the photos in Lightroom and was impressed with the quality and sharpness for my first time handheld shots. I think I am going to have some fun with this lens. I'll update my review with time. 5/4/13 Day two with this lens and I went to manual focusing which is much easier than I thought it would be, funny because everything is so automated these days, I forgot that my eyes work just fine. My photos from today are already tons better than yesterday. When Amazon fixes the customer photo share, I'll put some up. 6/18/13 Wow, I am really impressed with this lens. I used it as a telephoto at a local event on an aerialist at our local botanical garden and I LOVE the results.

Great lens

Fantastic definition. A best price-quality ratio. The quality of the photos is fantastic. Need a very good lighting. Very fast focus.

I am very happy with it, as I could take. reasonably satisfatory pictures , esp for a beginner like me.The only trouble I had is with the fact that the lens lies quite deep inside, so was casting a shadow but was not a problem when diffuser was used. The autofocus is a bit noisy.

Tenía miedo de que el autoenfoque no funcionara con mi Nikon d3400 pero funciona a la perfección, es un gran lente a un precio bastante más accesible

AMAZING LENSE. SHARP IMAGES. VALUE FOR MONEY. MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN COSTLIER NIKON LENSES

El producto es excelente, relación calidad precio es muy bueno, la calidad de las fotografías es buena, simplemente me encantó!