When I got a refund for my Iowa State football season tickets back in August, I used the money and put it towards the purchase of a new lens. The biggest gap in my Sony mirrorless line up was what I would call a mid-telephoto lens. I don’t need a 400mm lens, yet. But something near a 200mm lens was definitely needed.

I considered about 4 or 5 different lenses before ultimately deciding on the Tamron 70-180 f/2.8. I was willing to sacrifice a bit on the length in exchange for have a consistent widest aperture of f/2.8. That was a pretty easy trade to make.

Here are some of the specs of the lens:

Specifications

Focal Length: 70-180mm
Maximum Aperture: f/2.8
Minimum Aperture: f/22
Angle of View: Diagonal: 34 Degree 21′ – 13 Degree 42′ (for full-frame mirrorless format
Minimum Object Distance: 33.5 inch.
Filter Size: 67mm

Here are some pictures of the lens:

I took a series of pictures to present an idea of the lenses reach. A 50mm lens is pretty close to way the naked eye sees the world. I took a picture with a 50mm lens and then a picture with the widest setting on the lens (70mm) and then the closest setting on the lens (180mm).

50mm at 5 yards

70mm at 5 yards

180mm at 5 yards

50mm at 10 yards

70mm at 10 yards

180mm at 10 yards

50mm at 25 yards

70mm at 25 yards

180mm at 25 yards

50mm at 50 yards

70mm at 50 yards

180mm at 50 yards

Here are a collection of the first images I took with the new lens:

It has been a few months since I bought a new lens. I’m starting to jones for one. Look, Lensbaby is having a sale!