Extracted from:
http://www.tamron.co.jp/en/news/release_2007/0307_a20.html

Mr. Morio Ono, President of Tamron Co., Ltd., has announced the successful development of the AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO zoom lens, a high power zoom lens designed for SLR cameras with full-size format(Model A20), now equipped with a Vibration Compensation (VC) mechanism. The AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC is the ultimate high power zoom lens that covers everything from wide-angle to telephoto and macro. Tamron has incorporated a Vibration Compensator, an anti-shake mechanism developed by Tamron, into the highly versatile zoom lens. The new AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO zoom lens offers the convenience, comfort and versatility of a high power zoom lens and the capability to reduce hand-shake blur on SLR cameras using either APS-C size or full size format imagers.

When the AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC is used with a full size format SLR camera, it covers the tremendous focal length range from 28mm in wide angle to 300mm ultra telephoto. When mounted on a DSLR with an APS-C sized imager, the lens covers a 43mm wide angle to 465mm equivalent ultra telephoto* (full size format equivalent, in a diagonal angle of view of 5°20')

MAIN FEATURES

1. VC (Vibration Compensation) Mechanism Reduces Hand-shake
The proprietary VC (Vibration Compensation) mechanism developed by Tamron features a triaxial configuration using three pairs of driving coils and slide balls around the compensator group of the lens' optical system. Since the compensator lenses are supported with rolling friction of the balls, the response performance is enhanced and the construction is simple, which results in the compactness of the lens. The lens incorporate a highly accurate gyro sensor for detecting hand-shake, which, combined with a 32-bit RISC CPU, offers comfortable anti-vibration effects.

2. Outstanding Design Realizing High Zoom Power, VC Mechanism and Compactness
The AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.5 XR Di VC integrates optical technologies that Tamron has accumulated as the pioneer and leader of high power zoom lenses in order to realize the desired compactness even while incorporating the VC mechanism. The optical system uses a number of lens elements made from special optical glass materials including XR (high refraction index) glass elements, GM (glass-molded aspherical lens) elements, hybrid aspherical elements, LD (low dispersion) glass elements to compensate for on-axis and lateral chromatic aberrations and AD (anomalous dispersion) glass element. The lens offers high contrast, high resolution performance and flatness of the image field as a one-does-it-all zoom lens designed to match the characteristics of DSLR cameras.

3. Revolutionary MFD of 0.49m (19.3") throughout the Zoom Range Provides 1:3 Macro Magnification Ratio
The AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD MACRO boasts an MFD (minimum focusing distance) of 0.49m (19.3") over the entire zoom range, a top-class closing focusing capability among high power zoom lenses for full-size format SLR cameras, which provides the remarkable maximum macro magnification ratio of 1:3 at the 300mm telephoto end.

4. Internal Surface Coatings Minimize Ghosting and Flare
Through the use of "Internal Surface Coatings" (i.e., multiple-layer coatings on cemented surfaces of plural elements) and multiple-layer coatings to prevent reflections from lens surfaces, ghosting and flare due to reflections that occur when light enters through the front element as well as reflections caused by the imager itself in the mirror box are reduced to the absolute minimum.

5. Ultra-high Zoom Power, yet Lightweight and Compact Design Thanks to New Mechanical Devices
Tamron has reviewed the roles that respective barrel parts play in order to achieve the high power, compactness and light weight. As a result, dimensional increases are confined to a mere 17.8mm (0.7") in overall length and about 5mm(0.2") in diameter, when compared with the existing AF28-300mm (Model A061), despite the incorporation of the VC mechanism.

6. Zoom Lock Mechanism for Enhanced Portability
The zoom lock prevents unwanted barrel extension when carrying the lens/camera combination over the shoulder.

7. Flower-shaped Lens Hood
A flower-shaped lens hood is included as a standard accessory. The special hood provides optimum shading of superfluous light rays that enter from the rectangular frame outside the image field.

(*) The ratio Tamron uses to convert from full size format to APS-C focal length is 1.55X.

 

SPECIFICATIONS
Model Name	A20
Focal Length	28-300mm
Maximum Aperture	F/3.5-6.3
Angle of View	75°23'-8°15'
Lens Construction	18 elements /13 groups
Minimum Focus Distance	0.49m (entire zoom range)
Maximum Mag. Ratio	1:3 (at f=300mm, MFD=0.49m)
Filter Diameter	φ67mm
Overall Length	99mm *
Maximum Diameter	φ78.0mm
Weight	550g*
Diaphragm Blades	9 blades
Minimum Aperture	F/22-F/40 (28mm - 300mm)
Standard Accessory	Flower-shaped hood
Compatible Mount	Canon and Nikon

* values given are for Nikon AF-D cameras.
* The cosmetic design and specs are subject to change without notice.

Finally, Tamron has released a new lens with Vibration Compensation (VC) that we have all been waiting for. We already have IS (Image Stabiliser) for Canon, VR (Vibration Reduction) for Nikon and OS (Optical Stabiliser) for Sigma lenses. And now VC (Vibration Compensation) for Tamron.

Tamron AF 28-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di VC is the first lens that comes with stabilizer mechanism for Tamron. This new lens can be used on either a full-frame or APS-C size sensor dSLR. This lens was supposed to be launched last August originally, but it was postphoned till recently.

However, Tamron has only released the Canon mount at this moment. According to Tamron press release, Nikon mount will only be available early spring 2008.

Click the link below to go to the Tamron website show-casing this latest VC lens:

Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC

I think this lens definitely looks good to go into my camera bag as a walk-around lens. The non-VC version Tamron AF F/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD
Aspherical [IF] MACRO has been a popular walk-around lens for quite a few amateur photographers. With the addition of VC to this focal range lens, I think it is going to be as popular as the XR lens used to be.

Well, it looks like we will need to wait a while more before it is available in Malaysia for me to get a hands-on on it ... :).

However, for Canon users, please note that there is some compatibility issue with EOS-1D and some of the older EOS film camera. Please check out the compatibility notes from Tamron website below.

http://www.tamron.co.jp/en/news/release_2007/1018_vc.html

For Nikon users, just keep a lookout in early spring 2008 for the Nikon mount release.

 

This year TIPA (Technical Imaging Press Association) Awards for 2006 is very interesting, with Nikon scooping up three awards.

Here is some interesting award winners for D-SLRs and lenses:

• Best D-SLR Entry Level - Nikon D50
  
• Best D-SLR Expert Level - Nikon D200
• Best D-SLR Professional Level - Canon EOS 5D
• Best Consumer Lenses - Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC
• Best Professional Lenses - Nikon AF-S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
• Best Imaging Innovation - Olympus E-330 Live View
  

For the full list of all the award winners for other digital photo products, you can visit:

• TIPA Awards 2006 webpage
• DPReview news webpage
  

Here is a cut-and-paste of the summary of the TIPA award winners from DPReview:

D-SLR ENTRY LEVEL	Nikon D50
D-SLR EXPERT	NIkon D200
D-SLR PROFESSIONAL	Canon EOS 5D
MEDIUM FORMAT D-SYSTEM	Hasselblad H2D-39
HI-END PROFESSIONAL CAMERA SYSTEM	Sinar m System
D-ULTRA COMPACT CAMERA	Canon Digital Ixus 65
D-COMPACT CAMERA	Fujifilm FinePix F30
D-SUPERZOOM CAMERA	Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1
MULTIMEDIA D-CAMERA	Samsung Digimax i6 PMP
CONSUMER LENS	Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC
PROFESSIONAL LENS	AF-S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED
PRESTIGE CAMERA	Ricoh GR Digital
DIGITAL CAMERA BACK	Leaf Aptus 75
FLATBED PHOTO SCANNER	Epson Perfection V750 Pro
SMALL FORMAT PHOTO PRINTER	Panasonic KX-PX1 / PX10
A4 PHOTO PRINTER	Epson Stylus Photo RX640
A3 PHOTO PRINTER	HP Photosmart Pro B9180
LARGE FORMAT PRINTER	Canon imagePROGRAPH iPF5000
INNOVATIVE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY	Epson UltraChrome K3™
PHOTO PROJECTOR	Panasonic PT-P1SD
INDEPENDENT INKJET PHOTO PAPER	Innova Art FibaPrint Gloss
COLOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM	ColorVision PrintFIX Pro Suite
IMAGING PERIPHERAL	Pantone huey
IMAGING INNOVATION	Olympus E-330 Live View
IMAGING STORAGE MEDIA	Lexar LockTight System
STORAGE BACK-UP	Jobo Giga Vu Pro evolution
PHOT0 SOFTWARE	DxO Optics Pro 3.5
MOBILE IMAGING DEVICE	Nokia N80
INNOVATIVE DESIGN	Kata Bags
MONITOR	NEC spectraview 2180 LED reference

P/S: Sorry for being away for a while, I have been busy with little little things on my life. Anyway, I will try to keep updating this blog from time to time, whenever I can ... :P.

There are a lot of interesting new lenses for this year PMA (Photo Marketing Association) Annual Show 2006. However, quite a few of these lenses are for APS-C sensor size dSLR. It seems like this is the current direction that all camera manufacturers is going to stick to. Does that means APS-C sensor size is going to stay even longer than expected?

And what about the hoo-hoo-haa-haa about Four-Third system a couple of years back? No more Four-Third lens? Is it dying or probably dead already?

Anyway, here is the list that I managed to compile on these new lenses. I will add a little comment on these new lenses to the best of my knowledge. You may check out the press release of these new lenses by clicking the links below.

• Nikon AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm F2.8G IF-ED -
• Looks to me like a replacement for the old skool Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm F2.8D macro lens (yes, no typo here - Nikon called its macro lens Micro which can be confusing for newbies). So, it's going to be a new high-tech G lens (no aperture ring) with enhanced Vibration Reduction II (VRII), Silent Wave Motor (SWM), Nano Crystal Coating and ED glasses. With all these high tech stuffs, it is the world's first macro lens equipped with such features.
  
• Canon EF-S 17-55mm F2.8 IS -
• Yet another "digital" lenses for APS-C sensor dSLR, but this time with fixed aperture f2.8 and Image Stabiliser (IS). Well, it may be an "L-series" lens replacement for the cheapo kit lens EF-S 18-55mm. Looks like Canon is not going to label any EF-S lens as an L-series lens no matter how good the optical quality it has. Just like the popular wide-angled "digital" lens, EF-S 10-22mm F3.5-4.5, which is not an L-series lens, is shown to carry the L-series optical characteristics.
  
• Canon EF 85mm F1.2L Mark II -
• This is a replacement for the older Canon EF 85mm F1.2L USM. It has a new Super Spectra coating which is claimed to supress glare and ghosting. Besides these, what else are new here? My guess would be faster focusing, better glasses and E-TTL II support.
  
• Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO -
• Another "digital" lenses for APS-C sensor dSLR with SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass. It offers F2.8 at wide end, which is good for those looking for a longer range of zoom. The 35mm equivalent focal range (for 1.6 X crop factor) of 27-112mm, makes it a good walking lens with "fast" aperture at the wide end.
  
• Tamron AF 17-50mm F2.8 XR Di-II -
• A new lens for APS-C sensor dSLR. Basically, this is a 3rd-party lens alternative for the newly launched Canon EF-S 17-55mm F2.8 IS mentioned earlier. But this Tamron lens, you will be missing the useful IS capability found in the Canon lens. And with this Tamron lens, you will also lose out 5mm of focal length at the tele end. But with the patented XR (Extra Refractive Index) glass, this Tamron lens (434 grams) is much lighter than the equivalent Canon lens (645 grams).
  
• Tamron AF 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 Di MACRO 1:2 -
• It seems like a replacement for the existing cheap Tamron AF 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 MACRO 1:2. The only thing new here is the digital coating on the surface of the lens to reduce ghosting and flare when used with dSLR.
  
• Tamron AF 28-200mm F3.8-5.6 XR Di -
• It seems like a replacement for the existing Tamron AF 28-200mm F3.8-5.6 XR. The only thing new here is also the digital coating on the surface of the lens to reduce ghosting and flare when used with dSLR.
  

Well, as you can see, most of the new lenses are replacement of the older lenses, with the exception of some new "digital" lenses for APS-C sensor dSLR. At least, Nikon lens replacement is a big leap catching up with the latest and high-tech features. For the rest, they are just some additional coating on the lens surface to reduce ghosting and flares due to the high reflective nature of the sensor.

By the way, none of these lens are attractive enough to get into my wish list - well, some are not needed and some are just too expensive. So, I will just have to be satisfy with my current range of lenses ... :D.

What are "digital" lenses? Are these "digital" lenses different from those lenses used in my old film SLR? Can these "digital" lenses be used in my new dSLR?

For your information, "digital' lenses are lenses made exclusively for APS-C sensor. These digital lenses cannot be used on a full-frame (FF) dSLR or film SLR as these lenses have been designed exclusively for APS-C sensor size. Digital lenses are manufactured to take advantage of the crop factor of an APS-C sensor compared to a FF sensor (or 35mm film).

As the APS-C sensor is around 1.5 times smaller than the FF sensor (or 35mm film), the APS-C sensor can only capture the center portion of the image captured using a regular FF lens. As the edges of the image captured on a regular FF lens will not fall on the sensor, this portion of the image is lost. Since a lens can be made smaller with less optical glasses to capture only as much information as an APS-C sensor can captured, lens manufacturers have the choice of making such smaller lenses specially for these APS-C sensor.

This will bring the cost down (which is a good news for those who only need a lens for his APS-C sensor sized dSLR). As some of you may already know, it is expensive to build a wide-angle lens for FF sensor. A good wide angle lens will need to take care of many optical problems such as barrel distortion, ghosting and flares, especially on the edges of the image. Since we do not need such a good glass element for APS-C sensor sized dSLR as the edges are not going to be captured on the sensor, it is much cheaper to produce. Most lens manufacturers have added extra coating on the lens to reduce the ghosting and flare problems which is very common for dSLR due to its reflective nature of the sensor.

If these digital lenses are used on a full-frame SLR, vignetting will be one of the problem you will see. Some vignetting are caused by the barrel and some are caused by the light fall-off on the edges.

As far as the lenses manufacturers are concerned, they have used different "code name" to label these digital lenses. It will be nice if they could just standardize them. This will definitely reduce a lot of headache to people who are new to dSLR.

Here is the list I have for some of the lens' manufacturer "code names":

• Canon - EF-S lens (stands for EF-Shortback)
  
• Nikon - DX lens
• Sigma - DC lens (stands for Digital Crop)
  
• Tamron - Di-II lenses (Please do not confuse with Di lenses. Di lenses are lenses made for full-frame dSLR while Di-II lenses are made for APS-C sized dSLR. The difference is on the support for the angle of view to factor in the crop factor. Please note that both Di and Di-II lenses have special coating to reduce ghosting and flare, which are the common problem in dSLR)
  

Well, I hope this short explanation will give you some idea on why "digital" lenses were created in the first place. Although we cannot tell the future on the APS-C sensor, we can see that it is going to stay in the dSLR market for a while due to its popularity.

What is IS or VR?

Basically, IS or VR is a feature in some of the more expensive lenses. IS or VR basically compensate your hand movement by moving the optical path in the other direction. This means that even if your hands were to shake mildly, the image that falls on the film or the sensor will still be sharp.

Canon called this state of technology feature Image Stabiliser (IS) while Nikon called it Vibration Reduction (VR). Sigma also has its own way of calling this feature - Optical Stabiliser (OS).

Well, some of you may have asked this question before. Let's see what Bob Atkins says about this:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/is.html

As for me, I don't really fancy having a lens with an IS. It's a bonus. And if I have a limited budget, I would anytime go for faster lens than lenses with IS.