Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Macro for Nikon

This Tamron is a great lens. I use it for both portrait work and macro work. I'm using it on a Nikon D100. I have also used it on a Nikon film body.

As I was looking for a portrait lens that wouldn't break the bank I decided between this Tamron and the Nikon 85mm 1.8 AF-D lens. I had read good reviews on the Tamron and also the Nikon. They were approximately the same price but the Nikon featured the macro option also and I decided to try something other than Nikkor.

I have not been sorry about choosing the Tamron lens over the Nikon. The portraits with it are superb, both available light and studio light. The Bokeh (out of focus background) is very pleasing. I know I gave up an even more shallow depth of field choosing a f 2.8 instead of the f 1.8 of the Nikon, but I do love the look of this lens.

I have been very pleased with the macro quality also. I own a 60mm Micro-Nikkor and I like the Tamron for macro work as well as I like the Nikon. If I were copying from a copy stand the Nikon might get the edge because of closer working distances, but field macro work is incredible with the Tamron. Also, I tried the 60mm Nikkor for portraits and the Tamron produces a noticeably nicer photographs.

The Tamron has a clutch built into the focus ring so you can push or pull the focus ring to choose autofocus or manual focus. The focus ring is big and the focusing is very smooth. This is a big plus for the lens. I much prefer the manual focusing with this lens over the Nikon lenses I have used. I usually use manual focus when doing macro work and also for some portrait work.

The lens uses 55mm filters. The front element is recessed fairly far so there is little chance for inadvertent lens damage even without a filter. The lens also comes with a lens pouch and a bayonet style hood. I haven't noticed a problem with lens flair, probably because the front element is recessed.

The lens is sharp from edge to edge and there seems to be no vignetting. I must explain that I have used it mostly on the D100, but didn't notice any problem at all even on film cameras.

There are a couple of things I don't particularly love about this lens. It doesn't seem to work well in the D-TTL flash mode with the camera metering set on the matrix mode. I emailed Tamron to see if I had a lens with a faulty chip in it or something and they replied that I should shoot in spot metering mode. When I did this it seems to work fine. This seemed to be a problem with the on-camera flash and also with a Nikon Speedlight. This hasn't been much of a problem for me because I usually use studio flash and shoot in manual exposure mode anyway when using flash. It might be a consideration if you were using on camera flash or a speedlight often.

I have heard some comments that the lens feels a little cheap with a lot of plastic. There is some truth to it, but It seems to be well made and, frankly, handles very well.

Overall this lens takes beautiful pictures. If you can live with the flash idiosyncrasy I think most people would love this lens.