Tamron 20-40 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD review - Introduction

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Tamron 20-40 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD

19 July 2023

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

Full frame zoom lenses that are an extension of standard zooms in the direction of ultra wide angles of view more often than not have a focal range starting from 16-18 mm and ending at 35-40 mm. At the same time they offer different aperture speeds – fixed focal f/2.8 in case of the fastest devices but there have been plenty of instruments with the f/4.0 relative aperture or even varied values starting from f/3.5-4.0 and ending at f/4.5-5.6.

Lately, the class of such instruments has been growing and their parameters started to overlap each other. A while ago even Tamron showed a very well-put-together reflex camera lens, the SP 15-30 mm f/2.8 Di VC USD and, in the class of mirrorless devices, they offered also the 17-28 mm f/2.8 Di III RXD.

Other producers haven't been idle either – because of their activities instruments with really wide angles of view now can be divided into two new subclasses: 12-24 mm and 14-24 mm. There have been also interesting modifications of these ranges, it's enough you mention the Nikkor Z 14-30 mm f/4 S.

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Tamron also went their own way and in August 2022 they launched the Tamron 20-40 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD. It is, to some extend, a return to the source because first ultra wide angle zooms featured very similar focal ranges. At the wider end the new Tamron provides an angle of view of less than 95 degrees so noticeably narrower than 16-35 mm lenses. Still it is easier to construct and, as such, it can offer you either better optical properties or a better price, even both at the same time if everything works as it should. In order to check that we ordered one specimen of this lens for our tests and Focus Nordic, the official Tamron distributor for Poland, sent us the lens very quickly. Now we are ready to share our impressions in the following chapters – enjoy!

Tamron 20-40 mm f/2.8 Di III VXD - Introduction

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