Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Sony A

First the issue: utrawide zooms are sensitive to lens mount shimming. \"copy variance\" is most often 20 perfectly identical copies with variations at the mount. Out of 20 copies only 4-5 will be perfectly aligned to your camera mount / camera sensor. If you have wild field curvature, add 1 ring shim under the mount (make the lens farther from the sensor). If one corner focuses closer than the rest, add one-sided paper shim on that side only. ONCE YOU MATCH THE LENS TO YOUR PARTICULAR CAMERA, you will rarely want to stop down at all for sharpness reasons. This lens rocks. The VC is great, the focus is accurate but of course needs AFMA as all lenses do (I have none which don\'t)

The lens is sharp, has well controlled flair and and chromatic aberration, and focuses fast and accurately on my A99ii. The build quality seems very good. Nothing more needs be said.

I purchased the first version of this lens to mount on my Sony A99. It has fantastic sharpness, color rendition and micro contrast. It balances well in my hand and while on the A99. A must for A mount for a wide angle zoom that can do it all. It also fits well in the Lowepro 11cmx18cm lens case.

This lens is really great. Its lighter than its competitors, its got stabilization and great image quality. But its not without some cons, whether it changes your mind about buying it, is up to you. But, at f2.8, its soft. This requires bumping aperture a few stops at the cost of light and depth of field, which in turn may require higher ISO. Specially for astrophotography. Next, its made out of plastic. Otherwise, all seems great.

I really like this lens, I knew it would be big and heavy because of the wide angle 2.8f with VC (image stabilization)... so yeah not really a 'walk-around' lens, also not a portrait lens, this is pretty awesome lens for indoor photography (possibly real estate), landscapes, astro (MW, stars), and it's very sharp. but you'll get some vignetting (easily taken care of in post), proportions are weird if you try to take portraits too close.. lines are a little skewed but not bad, this is typical for aspherical lenses... my next purchase probably will be a wacky bracket to fix to the integrated hood for some ND filters then I will be set.