Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II VC XR LD Aspherical (IF)

This Lens Rocks The "only" complaint I have is that this lens is made out of plastic. As such, it won't withstand the punishment the Nikon variant would. However, that's the ONLY complaint I have. The images are sharp, the lens is fast which is a necessity when shooting indoor sports such as basketball, volleyball, and wrestling. I'm a professional sports photographer and I absolutely have to rely on my equipment to get the job done. This lens, despite it being made of plastic, helps me do just that. It's a crop sensor lens and I shoot with full frame sensors. This gives me an effective focal length of 26-74mm or so. With the fixed aperture on the zoom being f2.8, it makes my life easier to get the shots I need for publication in dimly lit gymnasiums. I shoot for a local newspaper and anyone who has shot High School sports knows first hand that lighting in High School gyms is atrocious. This lens, as I titled this review, ROCKS.Read full review

Sharp, and a lot of bang for the buck, but has some quirks. A bit on the heavy side, which doesn't bother me but is worth noting. It's durable enough, within reason... it's not going to take as much abuse as the more expensive Nikon, but the image is as sharp or sharper. There is about a 1.5-2 second delay for while the VC system engages that's a known issue with this lens, so if you're going to be shooting action or anything moving it's best to turn it off, but everything works well otherwise. Autofocus is on the slower side, but not painfully slow, and I've noticed focus missing sometimes. I wouldn't recommend this lens for critical professional work for the reasons I've mentioned, but if you want a sharp, fast lens to play with bokeh, and you're not shooting tons of action, it's a great little standard zoom. It works well enough for amateur studio/wedding work I'd say though, but if you need a lens that focuses faster and always focuses accurately, it's worth spending more on the Nikon. I'm not sure about the sigma that competes with this, it may perform better for more critical workloads.Read full review

Great for the money, but must get used to a couple of quirks. It's a great value. I am not disappointed in this lens, however there are a couple of shortcomings that may affect some people more than others. 1) The AF motor is not as fast or quiet as you are likely used to with Nikon AF-S or HSM type motors. The noise would be unacceptable for using AF during video recording. But for casual circumstances I don't think it's too slow or too loud. It is reliable and accurate with the focusing. 2) The image stabilization takes a second usually to even out. Some people would call this a serious flaw, but since I usually go half-shutter and pause before taking the picture this is no problem for me. If you are the type that just holds the button all the way immediately and hope the AF and Metering get it right immediately, then this is not the lens for you. Probably a bad thing if you are into sports/action photography. 3) There is a little extra resistance on the ring as you turn past 24 toward 17 mm... not a problem, but it can feel a little strange.Read full review