I have to be honest: It is therapeutic to write about something that has brought a little more fun into my life. Now, back to our business, the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens.
After deciding to go back into photography as a hobby to chill out and decompress, and choosing the Pentax K-5 body, I found myself looking for a lens. I wanted a multi-purpose lens, something to shoot both sunsets and random street photos, thus I focused on searching for a fast standard zoom. Three options pop-out during the first stage of the search:
Due to my clumsiness, the weather sealed Pentax lens was my first option. The pros of this beautiful looking lens are, of course, the fact that it fits perfectly the weather sealed body; basically, one can forget about light rain and dust for the few minutes that it takes to find cover. Also, the Pentax K-5 body has an integrated database with all modern Pentax lenses' characteristics and it is able to embed chromatic and geometric corrective parameters in the raw's Exif without wasting too much time. The contras are the price and the large geometric distortion, chromatic aberration and low resolution when compared with the other too; you can see for yourself the extensive optical tests on this Pentax lens at Photozone or Dxomark.
My second option was the Sigma lens. It has very nice numbers in both Photozone and Dxomark reviews—do not mind the fact that the lenses were tested in a Nikon and Canon body, in that order, the optical characteristics of the lens shouldn't change that much with a Pentax body— and it is cheaper than the Pentax lens but a wee bit more expensive than the Tamron.
Finally, my last option was the Tamron. Truth be told, I was not even considering this lens at first; another proof of my own stupidity. Then, I went to Photozone and Dxomark to check the cold facts reviews and things changed; the numbers for the Tamron lens are almost equal to, and in some places better than, those of the Sigma and, imagine, for a few dollars less. Still, the Sigma came first to my mind—I told you, my own stupidity.
Finally, my last option was the Tamron. Truth be told, I was not even considering this lens at first; another proof of my own stupidity. Then, I went to Photozone and Dxomark to check the cold facts reviews and things changed; the numbers for the Tamron lens are almost equal to, and in some places better than, those of the Sigma and, imagine, for a few dollars less. Still, the Sigma came first to my mind—I told you, my own stupidity.
Everything was decided at the photo shop because the didn't have the Sigma available at the moment—I bought my things at SLR Revolution after walking all Funan and Peninsula plazas searching for the best price, the difference may not sound big, but I saved enough for a couple of beers at my favorite micro brewery.
In summary, the Pentax 16-50mm F2.8 comes third in optical parameters and first when it comes to the price tag, but keep in mind that it is a weather sealed lens and you can use the lens correction data in the Pentax K-5 DSP to develop corrected jpegs from your raw files in situ. The Sigma and the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 share almost the same optical parameter values, with the Sigma winning the race for a nose. Their prices are also almost the same. In the end, any of these two—Sigma or Tamron—was a good option for my actual needs: a fast general purpose lens that I could use to shoot both panoramas and portraits.
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