Super Performance

Ultimate photo fun and fantastic perspectives are inevitable with this lens. This ultra wide-angle lens builds on the concept of the excellent Tamron 11-18mm F4.5-5.6. It belongs to the Super performance (SP) class of Tamron lenses distinguished by ultra high optical and mechanical quality.

It has a very wide angle of view, equivalent to 16-37mm when converted to full format. The MFD of 24cm allows you to get close to your subject, for absolute control and creativity. Tamron’s Di technology results in high resolution coupled with the best possible correction of the most common aberrations. Particular emphasis is placed on the BBAR coating, which is also put on cemented surfaces (Internal Surface Coating) for sharp and brilliant images. Other materials such as LD (Low Dispersion) glass and aspherical elements also help to correct aberrations. Capture better images with this masterpiece of optical engineering.

The new Tamron ultra wide-angle zoom lens covers the 35mm full-size format equivalent of 16-37mm, for the first time in this class of zoom lenses. This focal length range – 10mm ultra wide-angle to 24mm semi wide-angle – enables the user to enjoy hassle-free wide-angle photography. The new zoom lens covers a wider focal length range, has a greater zoom ratio, and offers a faster maximum aperture than the older SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di II zoom lens (Model A13) and enhanced optical quality. Despite the higher specifications, the new zoom lens is lightweight and compact and accepts the same 77mm filter as its predecessor.

Close Focus Distance

Because a close-focusing capability is essential in wide-angle photography, Tamron engineered a 0.24m (9.4") minimum focus distance across the zoom range. This capability gives the user freedom to create images with an exaggerated perspective at the 10mm ultra wide-angle end and shoot with a maximum magnification ratio of 1:5 at the 24mm semi-wide-angle setting.

Included as a standard accessory, the flower-shaped hood matches the rectangular shape of the image sensor to effectively block the interference of superfluous light rays entering from outside the borders of the image area, helping to ensure sharp, clear, flare-free images with crisp detail in the shadow areas.

The new ultra wide-angle zoom lens uses a new optical system designed to confine the changing angles of incidences of light rays reaching the imaging sensor within a certain scope over the entire image field, from the centre to the periphery, addressing the effects of variances caused by zooming. Peripheral light fall-off that becomes an image-degrading factor in wide-angle photography is minimised to ensure high optical quality from the centre to the periphery.

As an SP Di II class lens, it provides high optical quality in resolution, contrast, and flatness of image field. Tamron Di-II lenses are engineered expressly for digital SLR cameras with image sensors commonly referred to as APS-C, measuring approximately 24mm x 16mm. Rendering an ideal image circle for APS-C sensors, Di-II lenses are also include properties to optimise digital imaging performance. These lenses are not designed for conventional cameras or digital cameras with image sensors larger than 24mm x 16mm.

Low Dispersion Glass

Low dispersion (LD) glass elements within the lens help reduce chromatic aberration, i.e. the tendency of light of different colours to come to different points of focus at the image plane. Chromatic aberration reduces the sharpness of an image, but glass with an extremely low dispersion index has less of a tendency to separate (diffract) a ray of light into a rainbow of colours. This characteristic allows the lens designer to effectively compensate for chromatic aberration at the centre of the field (on axis), a particular problem at long focal lengths (the telephoto end of the zoom range), and for lateral chromatic aberration (towards the edges of the field) that often occurs at short focal lengths (the wide-angle end of the zoom range.)

Ghosting and flare caused by aberrations can occur in digital SLR photography, but Tamron has adopted various countermeasures against this problem. These include the use of Internal Surface Coatings (multiple-layer coatings on cemented surfaces of plural elements), and new multiple-layer coating technology on ordinary elements, used to minimise reflections that occur when light enters through the front element and to reduce image degrading effects caused by the imagers themselves.

Aspherical Lens Elements

This Tamron lens uses several hybrid Aspherical elements and therefore bears the Aspherical designation. The innovative optics deliver exceptional image quality, and at the same time offer remarkable zoom ranges in an extraordinarily compact package. By perfecting the cutting-edge advances for series production, Tamron has virtually eliminated spherical aberration and image distortion from their high-power-zoom series. Through the effective application of Hybrid Aspherical Technology, one lens element can take the place of multiple elements without compromising performance. This is what allows us to produce remarkably compact long-range lenses that deliver a uniformly high level of image quality at all focal lengths and apertures.

Internal focusing (IF) provides numerous practical benefits to photographers including a non-rotating front filter ring that facilitates the positioning of polarising and graduated filters, and more predictable handling as the lens length does not change during focusing. Even more important, Tamron’s Internal Focusing (IF) system provides a much closer minimum focusing distance (MFD) throughout its entire focusing range. In addition, IF improves optical performance by minimising illumination loss at the corners of the image field, and helps to suppress other aberrations that become more troublesome at different focusing positions.