Tamron 18-400mm

Performance

I got my Nikon version at B&H; I’d also get the Nikon version at Adorama or at Amazon. I’d get the Canon version at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

Overall

This is a very handy lens with the largest range of any zoom ever made for a DSLR, but it’s often not quite as sharp as other lenses. Let my be your guide as to whether or not you like the pictures.

Autofocus

Autofocus is moderately slow, and often has to hunt a little to find itself.

It’s primitive; the focus ring moves with a motor as it autofocuses so you must keep your hand away from it.

There is no instant manual focus override; you have to move a switch to change focus modes.

Bokeh

Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is fair.

Davis 6250 weather station, 25 June 2018. bigger or camera-original  file.

Davis 6250 weather station, 25 June 2018. bigger or camera-original  file.

Davis 6250 weather station, 25 June 2018. bigger or camera-original  file.

Distortion

The Tamron 18-400mm has strong distortion at most focal lengths —  and no camera can correct this since neither Nikon nor Canon are going to create any lens profiles for it. Distortion was never noticeable in actual shooting.

Luckily this distortion is easy to correct in Photoshop with the factors below if you need to.

These aren’t facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

2018 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

* Some waviness remains after this correction.

Ergonomics

Tamron 18-400mm, Nikon version. bigger.

This lens is mostly a big zoom ring, with a smaller focus ring at the front.

The AF and VR switches are in the wrong place. When you instinctively reach for the AF/MF switch, it’s the VR switch. The focus switch is above the VR switch, and I have to remember to reach up for it.

Focal Lengths, actual

Like most modern zooms, this lens only gets to 400mm when focused at infinity.

At closer distances, like 30 feet (10 meters) and closer, it cheats and the 400mm setting doesn’t get anywhere near 400mm. It’s the same for the Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3: as you get closer, neither lens really gets to the focal lengths you expect.

While I call this cheating, it’s actually a clever optical design technique used to allow closer focusing that you’d get otherwise. This way you get 400mm where you actually need it for shooting very far away things, and also can focus super-close at all zoom settings. Just don’t expect to see the image zoom-in much as you move the ring from 200mm to 400mm at close distances.

Lateral Color Fringes

There are very few color fringes as shot on Nikon cameras, which by default correct for any that may be there. This is good performance.

Macro

Macro gets super close. Shoot at 400mm to get closest:

Kienzle Flieger Automat 800/2843, 25 June 2018. bigger or camera-original  file.

Mechanical Quality

Tamron 18-400mm, Nikon version. bigger.

This is a consumer grade lens made almost entirely out of plastic in China.

Made in

China.

Sharpness

While this is one of the softest modern lenses I’ve tested, it certainly can be used to take great pictures. Lens sharpness has nothing to do with making sharp pictures.

The problem is that your camera’s autofocus system may not always get the right focus with this lens, and that while the subject is usually sharp, the sides of the image may not be. Good photographers can make great images with this lens, but if you’re a tweak who shoots raw and looks at every image at 100% on your computer, forget this lens.

Here are Tamron’s claimed MTF curves. I think they are dreaming since autofocus, field curvature and other issues limit the sharpness I saw in real-world use.

Tamron 18-400mm MTF at 18mm.

Tamron 18-400mm MTF at 400mm.

Specifications

I got my Nikon version at B&H; I’d also get the Nikon version at Adorama or at Amazon. I’d get the Canon version at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

Tamron 18-400mm construction.

Price, USA

July 2018 — July 2019

$649, Nikon or Canon versions.

I got my Nikon version at B&H; I’d also get the Nikon version at Adorama or at Amazon. I’d get the Canon version at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

Recommendations

I got my Nikon version at B&H; I’d also get the Nikon version at Adorama or at Amazon. I’d get the Canon version at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

Unless you’re hell-bent for 400mm, Nikon’s 18-300mm DX VR is a better, lighter, sharper lens with instant manual-focus override and is rated 4, not 2.5, stops of VR improvement. I’d get it before this lens.

Canon doesn’t have anything close for APS-C, but Canon cameras won’t be able to correct for color fringes as Nikon can do, so the picture quality could be worse on Canon.

I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap. I only use a cap when I throw this in my bag, otherwise I leave a clear protective filter on my lens at all times so I’m ready to shoot instantly.

The very best protective filter is the 72mm Hoya multicoated HD3 UV which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints, and is also multicoated.

For less money, the B+W 72mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated version and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.

Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.

This ad-free website’s biggest source of support is when you use those or any of when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Tamron does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on since you’ll have no way of knowing if you’re missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Introduction

This is the world’s largest-ratio zoom for a DSLR camera. No one else makes an 18-400mm lens, and this lens is stabilized so it’s easy to hand-hold at 400-mm.

Nikon makes two superior 18-300mm lenses, the newer, smaller 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 and the older 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6, and Canon only makes an 18-200mm lens. While Nikon’s 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 is smaller, lighter, sharper and offers instant manual-focus override lacking in this Tamron for only $50 more, it only goes to 300mm.

While this Tamron lens isn’t that sharp and has slow autofocus that moves a ring on the outside of the lens as it focuses and has no instant manual focus override, it does have extremely close macro focusing. This 18-400mm does everything, but it doesn’t to anything particularly well.

Tamron has always been the wide-range zoom innovator. They have always been the first with crazy, unheard of zoom ranges, like the world’s first 28-200mm lens back in 1992.

Tamron announced this stabilized lens for Nikon and Canon on 23 June 2017.

No, it’s not as sharp in the laboratory as Nikon or Canon’s lenses, but as you can see above, if it lets you get a shot you wouldn’t otherwise have gotten due to it’s huge zoom range, who cares? It certainly makes saleable images.

I got my Nikon version at B&H; I’d also get the Nikon version at Adorama or at Amazon. I’d get the Canon version at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

Sample Images

2018 Mercedes AMG GLE 63S, 13 May 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 300mm, f/6.3 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 12,800, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or camera-original file.

Bright Green Spring Grass in Purple Water, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 50mm, f/4.5 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 450, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger.

Half Dome in Last Light, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 86mm, f/5 at 1/160 at Auto ISO 360, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or camera-original file.

Hills in Clouds at Dawn with Watch Tower, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 135mm, f/5.6 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 1,100, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger.

Bridal Veil Falls with Rainbow as seen from Tunnel View, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 86mm, f/5.6 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear v3.5, split-toned print. bigger or full-resolution.

Triangular Rock in Last Light against Blue Sky with Same-Shaped Cloud, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 70mm, f/4.8 at 1/250 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or full resolution.

Yosemite Falls at Dusk, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 135mm, f/5.6 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 1,100, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or full-resolution.

Backlit Green Leaves, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 140mm, f/5.6 at 1/250 at Auto ISO 125, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or camera-original file.

Church and Yosemite Falls, May, 2018. Nikon D3300, Tamron 18-400mm at 21mm, f/9 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear v3.5. bigger or camera-original file.

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