Tamron Real world images:
Tamron 45mm f/1.8 lens review:
50mm F/1.8 lenses are prolific across systems. Typically, they are great entry-level primes for budding enthusiast photographers. Such lenses are typically priced between $100 and $200 making them fantastic values. They typically do not have any type of lens stabilization or vibration reduction, instead relying on the fast aperture for low light capabilities. While such lenses are a big step up from kit zoom lenses in terms of image quality, they are usually a big step behind the better primes available.
With their SP lenses, Tamron took aim at this market, filling the gap between the cheaper “beginner” 50/1.8 lenses and the big heavy expenssive professional 50mm/1.4 lenses. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is currently priced at $399. Although much more expensive than the beginner nifty fifties, it is a price within the budget of most enthusiasts. So is it worth stepping up from a budget nifty fifty?
I’ve owned and shot with no less than six 50mm lenses in the last 10 years. My Minolta 50mm/1.7 was bought used cheaply for about $75 and introduced me to the possibilities of narrow depth of field but it was a soft lens by modern standards. The Sony (A-mount) 50mm/1.4 was a disappointment, nearly unusable without stopping down and didn’t justify the nearly $450 price tag. When I started in the Nikon system, I went with the 50mm/1.8 lens. Perfectly decent but I had to stop down to F4 to get sharpness I was truly happy with. The lack of image stabilization also cancelled out the fast aperture for me in many situations. So I was immediately intrigued when Tamron announced a 45mm F/1.8 with vibration control. I’ve switched to Sony and am now using the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm/1.8 lens which is priced at $999, so the Tamron was a bargain in comparison. But how did it perform?
Body and Handling
Simply put, the build quality is excellent. This feels like a professional lens in the hand. The outer barrel is very tough plastic, seems to be metal interior. There are switches for vibration control and auto/manual focus. The lens has a window with focus scale. Instant manual focus override is also available with a nicely rubber ribbed focus ring. At 544 grams the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is not a petite light weight lens but it balances well on most cameras and does not feel overly heavy.
Autofocus is not particularly fast but is acceptable. The lens focuses with a silent internal motor but the combination of the focus system and vibration reduction system is not truly totally silent.
Vibration reduction works very well. Your results will depend on your individual hand holding technique, but I got consistently sharp images at 1/25 – 1/12 shutter speed. At 1/6, I got a high percentage of usable shots but most showed some loss of acuity. Some examples (click for large) taken with the Nikon D750:
One very positive thing about this lens is the minimum focus distance of the Tamron 45mm /F1.8. With the ability to focus from 11.4″ for a magnification of 0.29x, it can lessen the need for a macro lens.
Please note that for most of the image quality tests, the Nikon F-mount Tamron 45mm F/1.8 was tested on the Sony A7riii using the Commlite CM-ENF-E1 adapter.
Image Quality
Though not flawless, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is a clear step above your typical nifty fifty lens. I’ve seen some formal resolution testing lament that it doesn’t possess record breaking sharpness but that’s a level of sharpness that really can’t even be appreciated with the human eye. The strengths of the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 are far greater than the weaknesses.
Vignetting
In uncorrected files, the vignetting is clearly present in the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 when the lens is wide open at 1.8 but it is far less severe than most other similar lenses and easily corrected by application of the lens profile in lightroom:
By F2.8, vignetting is not an issue in the least. This is truly top quality performance.
Flare / Chromatic Aberration – Purple fringing
I grouped flare together with chromatic aberration because they are both demonstrated by these test images (click for larger):
Flare is definitely present, especially at small aperture. But it is rather mild. There is only slight ghosting and loss of contrast. A good performance in terms of flare if not exceptional.
Now to the biggest negative mark on the Tamron 45mm F/1.8. At wide aperture, the purple fringing from chromatic aberration is simply horrible. No other way to say it. Take a close look at where the sun comes through the trees and note a significant purple haze. It is mostly correctable in lightroom but it can be difficult to correct entirely. Flaring no longer appears in the above F5 image, but it is still present at F4. Another example:
You definitely see some ghosting and loss of contrast in this heavily backlit frame. One more pair of landscapes:
In this set from the Tamron 45mm F/1.8, we continue to see bad purple fringing at F4. At F11, the purple fringing is gone and there is just a tiny bit of ghosting from the back light. Brilliant sun stars are also noted int his F11 image. If you look at the real world images at the top of the review, you will see that the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 can produce fantastic sunstars.
In summary, flare/ghosting control would be rated as good on the Tamron 45mm F/1.8. Chromatic aberrations and purple fringing are very poor. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 can produce brilliant sun stars. Vignetting control is also excellent .
Bokeh
The bokeh of the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 really leaves nothing to complain about. Here are a couple of close bokeh crops:
Even bokeh snobs should be pretty pleased. The bokeh balls retain their round shape and only turn to cats’ eyes at the extreme corners of the frame. To the extent there are any onion rings in the bokeh, they are very faint.
Sharpness
I mentioned aboce that some reviewers have complained that the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 doesn’t set any sharpness records. These reviews miss the point in my opinion. Even tested on a 42mp sensor, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 produces tack sharp results. To me, it’s irrelevant if another lens may exhibit even greater tack sharpness. Once you pass that tack sharp threshold, I’m never going to notice the difference.
Starting with center crops (click for large):
At F1.8, the center is already quite sharp and becomes completely tack sharp at F2.8. Center crops from closer distance:
Just note the purple fringing in the 1.8 image but there is no reason to complain about the sharpness. In the center, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 reaches optical sharpness at F2.8. Still, the center is completely usable even wide open at F1.8. Looking away from the center:
Impressively, the off center results are similar to the center results. Acceptable sharpness at F1.8, optical sharpness at F2.8 and F4.0. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 starts to show some diffraction softening the image at F8.
Moving closer to the corner:
Now I’m getting impressed by the Tamron 45mm F/1.8. Wide open, the near corner frame is just slightly soft. Certainly usable if you aren’t cropping, pixel peeping or making a massive print. By 2.8, the corner is very very sharp and tack sharp at F4. I owned the Nikon 50mm F/1.8G before owning the Tamron 45mm F/1.8, and I can confidently say that the Tamron sharpness up 1-2 stops sooner. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 performance in the range of 1.8 to 2.8 is similar to the Nikon 50mm F/1.8 G performance between F4 to F5.6.
Let’s take a look at the most extreme corner:
Somehow, I didn’t save a test image with aperture smaller than F2.8 but these two samples tell you the most extreme story of the Tamron 45mm F/1.8. In the most extreme far corner, it is definitely a bit soft at 1.8 but becomes acceptably sharp at F2.8. These crops are from the most extreme corner. If I did have a F4 image, you would see it has become sharp if not quite tack sharp.
What we have with the Tamron 45mm F/1.8, is a lens that is damn sharp across the frame by F2.8. Most consumer nifty fifty primes need to be stopped down to F4-F5.6 to reach this type of performance.
There is only one 50-ish mm lens that I’ve used extensively that can meet this standard, the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8. Take a look at the review here and compare the crops. I think you’ll find that in terms of sharpness, the Tamron can compete very well corner to corner.
Overall:
The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is indeed a real winner. There isn’t much to dislike. The only significant ding on the lens is the really horrible purple fringing/chromatic aberration. It will affect wide aperture/high contrast images so be careful to correct it in post processing.
The ghost/flaring control is good but not spectacular. In virtually every other way, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is a standout lens. The bokeh is great. Vignetting is very well controlled for a fast prime lens. In terms of sharpness, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is completely usable at F1.8 and become tack sharp across the frame between F2.8 and F4. Throw in great build quality, very useful vibration reduction, and macro-like close focusing distance, this is a lens that most enthusiast photographers would find themselves reaching for.
At the current price of $399, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is practically a bargain for Canon and Nikon shooters. Yes, it is significantly more expensive than the Canon 50mm F/1.8 or Nikon 50mm F/1.8 varietals but it is a superior performer that also benefits from vibration reduction. The vibration reduction insures sharp handheld images without having to crank up the shutter speed. Without stabilization, I might be shooting at F1.8 but would end up with an ISO similar to what I might use for a stabilized zoom. With stabilization, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 becomes a low light master.
Rating (1-10): Score: 9
It lost 1 point for the terrible purple fringing. But I would easily recommend the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 to any enthusiast Canon or Nikon shooter.
(About my scoring: 9-10 is a superb lens which could have a place in the bag of almost every photographer. 6-8: recommended with caveats. 3-5: A compromised lens that may still be suitable for some shooters and situations. 1-2: Just stick to your phone camera)
Bonus Section: Compared to the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm F/1.8
Both well built, but the Tamron is a tank compared to the Sony being more of a sports car. Paired with Sony mirrorless cameras, the Sony Zeiss does give you a much more compact system.
I recently reviewed the Sony Zeiss FE 55mm F/1.8. Let’s look at a couple side by side crops:
Look at the extreme corner at 2.8, I have to give the Sony a very slight edge.
Wide open in the off center, the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 looks to about tie the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8. They are both just a tad soft. Completely usable, but not peak sharpness.
In the center at F2.8, they are both equally tack sharp.
To break down the comparison of Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 vs the Tamron 45mm F/1.8:
- Stabilization — About a tie, with the Sony lens relying on the Sony IBIS system
- Build quality — A tie but they are very different. Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 is much lower weight. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is built like a tank with helpful switches.
- Focus speed — The Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 clearly focuses faster and more quietly than the Tamron 45mm F/1.8.
- Minimum focus distance — With 0.29x magnification, you can use the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 for some borderline macro work. A clear win for the Tamron as the Sony Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 has a magnification ratio of 0.14x. In fact, the Sony is often frustrating in its inability to close focus.
- Vignetting — A win for the Tamron 45mm F/1.8.
- Flaring and ghosting — A tie. The Sony Zeiss maintains better contrast but the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 controls flare a bit better.
- Chromatic aberration / purple fringing. This is an issue for both lenses but it is far worse in the Tamron 45mm F/1.8.
- Sharpness — Nearly a tie. The Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 may have an advantage by a hair. But it is really really close.
Price is the big win for the Tamron especially considering this mostly even performance. The Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is $500 cheaper than the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8. I am confident that these are the two best 50-ish 1.8 lenses on the market today and the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is clearly a bargain next to the Sony.
I did adapt the Nikon F-mount Tamron 45mm F/1.8 on to the Sony A7riii with the Commline adapter. It can work reasonably well, especially with still subjects. But the adapter did lock up the camera a couple of times, making me reset the camera.
My own Nikon copy of the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 is now for sale, so if you are in the United States and interested, please email me at picklepiephoto@gmail.com
If you are interested in purchasing the Tamron 45mm F/1.8 new from Amazon for Canon or Nikon, please consider supporting this site and purchasing with this link:
