Sometimes Jedi Mind Tricks Totally Work...
Thu, July 23, 2009 I never win anything. ever. well rarely (I did just win an awesome dinosaur book from my girl Melissa). I have played lotto twice a month for the past 100 yearsand have yet to win a free ticket back.
Well last week that all changed. ((insert me doing the running man dance)).
I stalk read MCP Actions Blog reguarly, she is super awesome at Photoshop and giving photography tips. Well Tamron asked her to giveaway a brand new lens to one of her readers. I entered and then went on with my day, seriously not giving it much thought because I can't even count how many contests I have entered this year alone and have not won.
EXCEPT last Monday I woke up to a Google Alert showing me that MCP's Blog mentioned my URL. (if you don'thave Google Alerts set up for your blog url, name, business name, etc..I suggest you go now and set them up, they are awesome and lets you monitor what sites link or mention you.)
I quickly opened the alert and saw the announcement that I was the lucky winner of a Brand New Tamron Lens! JEDI MIND TRICKS DO WORK I yelled.. no I didn't.. (yeah, I totally did) There was a catch though.. and it was totally my fault.. I shoot with a Sony SLR, and the Tamron lens that was being given away was for Nikon and Canon. However,Tamron had a back up plan for us Sony shooters, they sent me the Tamron Zoom Wide Angle - Telephoto AF 18-250mm-retails for over $400. (Herkie Jump from me!)
Now here is blurb of what Tamron says of the lens on their website:
The Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical IF Macro Lens is a lightweight, compact and ultra high power zoom lens designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras with APS-C sized imager sensors. The focal length of this lens is equivalent to approx. 27-375mm in 35mm format. This lens offers an extreme zoom ratio of 13.9X, and is designed as the everyday "all-in-one" lens for digital SLR cameras, covering wideangle to long telephoto.
The lens uses an optical system specially designed for digital SLR cameras. This resulted in the sufficient compensation of aberrations, including astigmatism, compactness, thanks to downsizing of the first group, a high zoom power, and optimum optical quality.
I wanted to share my thoughts on the lens..not a review..because well..I don't want to call it a review because then I am trying to be official, and this is just my opinion of the lens.. so I figured I would do a"I don't understand tech talk non review"when I received the lens in the mail. (which was super quick by the way, thank you Stacie!!)
I put the lens on my camera and have not taken it off. Seriously, no fluff piece here, Ireally likethe lens. Had I walked into a store I probably would haveturned away from a super zoom lens like this because I just puffy heart my prime lenses. BUT, honestly, foran everyday lens this is a great fit for me.
The lens is sharp, focus is spot on, and I get yummy bokeh when take all the way down. It is a solid lens, with a decent weight, that is not too heavy and not flimsy feeling (a little over a pound) andI did not find any lens creep.
There are two annoying factors of the lens, 1. the AF is a little slow for me when going from "close-up" to zoom. 2. When the lens what wide open on the zoom end, the photos started getting a bit soft on the corners, (but bumping the f/stop down a bit helped)
Here are a couple of photos I took with my new shiny lens. All shots are SOOC & only resized for web.
f/6.3 ss 1/40 ISO400
f/10 ss 1/500 iso100
f/5.6 ss1/250 iso200
Overall I give the Tamron 18-250mm two thumbs up. It is a great everyday lens.
Thank you Jodi @ MCP Actions for allowing my Jedi Mind Tricks to work on Random.org which picked me as the winner, and a big fat Thank you to Stacie at Tamron (who's corporate headquaters are on Long Island - basically around the block from me- which is a another bonus for the company because LI is awesome..)
Happy Shooting!!
MCP Actions Blog, Tamron, Tamron 18-250mm in Contests, July 2009, Messy Thoughts, Sony A700 
Reader Comments (8)
Love that lotus picture! They're all beautiful.
Congrats! After having dropped one of my lenses this past weekend, that would be music to my ears :-)
Gorgeous pics! I'm so jealous. Do you teach the Jedi way?
Be still my heart!!! Did I just read that correctly? You shoot with a Sony DSLR?
I am so excited to see another Sony shooter out here in the Blogosphere.
I shoot with a a100 and a350 and am just in love with both of them.
Mama Mia! Another Sony shooter. I just can't get over it.
I've used google news alerts for years. I NEVER thought about creating alerts for my own sites! Thank you. That's the most valuable thing I've read online in months.
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