Source:  Cameratown.com

Tamron recently announced the development of their newest high power zoom lens in the AF18-270mm Di II VC Ultra High Power Zoom lens.

Tamron of Japan is a third-party manufacturer of lenses for SLR cameras.  One of their most famous innovations came in 1992 with the introduction of a 28-200mm f3.8-5.6 zoom lens which was barely 4 inches in length.  This at a time when zoom lenses were typically at least 6 inches in length.  Effectively, this development made zoom lenses very practical for regular use.

Further development along the years have been to push the envelop towards higher ranges.  With the new model 18-270mm zoom, it is the first effective 15x lens for SLRs.  It is the lens with the longest zoom range specifically designed for digital SLRs with sensors smaller than 24mm x 16mm.

For all of that, it is still the same approximate size as older Tamron models. It’s light, and easy to manipulate when zooming.  There have been several manufacturer’s which have released zoom lenses which approximate it’s size.  But none have gotten close to the performance of being extraordinarily sharp through out it’s zoom range.  For the most part, lenses from other manufacturers with comparable zoom ranges are almost twice the length and weight of Tamron models.

Among it’s features, it has built-in electronics with its Vibration Compensation (VC) which minimizes handheld camera shakes.  This is a great help for handheld photography considering that shake is more noticeable when the lens is zoomed to the max.  A regular user wouldn’t notice that he’s zoomed to the point where handheld shake is evident in the picture.  The mechanism is really a great help.  In terms of philosophy, Canon and Nikon zoom lenses also have the image stabilization mechanism in the lenses rather than in the camera.

The AF18-270mm Di II VC Ultra High Power Zoom lens will be available for Canon and Nikon cameras.

Official Website:  Press Release