World fist review of the Tamron 20mm f/2.8

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Marc Alhadeff from SonyAlpha.Blog posted the world’s first review of the new Tamron 20mm f/2.8 FE lens:

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The Tamron 20mm F2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 (450 euros) is an excellent wide angle lens

It is part a set of new Prime lenses with all a short focusing distance , a 1:2 magnification ratio, a F2.8 aperture,  same length, same weight

If you compare it with the 24mm F2.8 (code F051) & the 35mm F2.8 (code F053) on A7RIV you maybe a bit disappointed as performances are less stellar

But if you compare it with all other primes around 18-21mm , the Tamron is one of the best available in term of sharpness, on par with a few others  but at a fraction of the price and its very short focusing distance allow it to provide the best bokeh/background blur among all of them

If you only have a A7III with only 24Mpix and have already the  Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 you  won’t see a lot the difference in sharpness, if you have a 42Mpix or 61Mpix , the upgrade is worth it

Highly recommended for wide angle shooter

Pros

  • Excellent sharpness on the entire frame as of F5.6
  • Very good sharpness in the centre wide open
  • Very good background blur and color rendition
  • Very short focusing distance allowing to reach 1:2 magnification
  • Very compact and light : discrete and going well for video on a Gimbal
  • Moderate price
  • Very Good resistance to flare
  • Very low chromatic aberrations

Average

  • Good build quality (but much lower than GM)
  • Vignetting is moderate (to be corrected in a future Lightroom Lens profile)
  • Corners are only good at F2.8 and require to be closed down to F5.6 to reach their max sharpness
  • Fast and reliable AF in photo but sometimes hesitation in AFC in the corners

Cons

  • Lot of distorsion (to be corrected in a future Lightroom Lens profile)
  • Noisy AF in Video and not regular

 

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All links to the new Tamron FE primes:
Tamron 20mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.
Tamron 24mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.
Tamron 35mm  f/2.8 at Adorama, FocusCamera and BHphoto.

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Today only: $600 off on the excellent ZEISS Batis 18mm f/2.8 Lens for Sony E

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This one runs today only: Save $600 on the ZEISS Batis 18mm f/2.8 Lens for Sony E at BHphoto (Click here).

Software deals:

Skylum launched a new Holiday Deal on the new Luminar 4 software (Click here).

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The price will drop to $79 for new customers and to $69 for owners of previous versions.
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DxO extended the rebates on their software until December 31:

Save 25% on all Topaz products (Click here).

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Sony Can’t Make Image Sensors Fast Enough to Keep Up With Demand

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Bloomberg reports that Sony cannot produce enough sensors for the smartphone market:

“Judging by the way things are going, even after all that investment in expanding capacity, it might still not be enough,” Shimizu said in an interview at the Tokyo headquarters. “We are having to apologize to customers because we just can’t make enough.”

Sony in May said it controls 51% of the image sensor market as measured by revenue and is targeting a 60% share by fiscal 2025.

I do not think this production issue has any effect on larger sensor for the camera market.

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