Camera
Tamron 17-70 F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD field review
Introduction
The Tamron 17-70 F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD is a very compact general-purpose lens for Sony’s APS-C, E-mount mirrorless cameras. Think of it as roughly equivalent to a 24-105mm F4 lens on a full-frame camera, but scaled down to match the APS-C sensor format.
Although it’s designed for cameras with APS-C sensors, it can still be used with full-frame models when cropped to APS-C. We tried both approaches for this review, pairing it with the Sony a6600 as well as the Sony a7R IV in APS-C crop mode.
With a constant F2.8 maximum aperture across its zoom range, the Tamron 17-70mm makes a great travel lens for photographers on a budget. It also shows potential as a video lens thanks to its vibration control and lack of focus breathing. It’s available now at a price of $799.99 USD.
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Key specifications:
- Focal length: 17-70mm (25.5-105mm full-frame equivalent)
- Aperture range: F2.8
- Stabilization: Yes, Tamron Vibration Compensation
- Filter thread: 67mm
- Close focus: 0.19m (7.5″) wide / 0.39m (15.4″) tele
- Maximum magnification: 0.21x (wide) / 0.19x tele
- Diaphragm blades: 9
- Hood: Included
- Weight: 525 g (1.16 lb)
- Optical construction: 16 elements in 12 groups
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| With a generous zoom range and good detail out to the corners, the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 makes a great travel-zoom lens. ISO 100 | 1/30 sec | F8 |34mm equiv.| Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
Tamron launched the 17-70mm F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD in late 2020. It’s both the company’s first F2.8 zoom for sub-frame mirrorless cameras, and the industry’s first to achieve a 4.1x zoom ratio, so we were keen to try it in the real world.
For our review, DPReview TV host Chris Niccolls took it on a road trip to the Calgary Zoo and the nearby town of Okotoks, Alberta, while editor Dan Bracaglia gave it a whirl closer to home around DPReview’s headquarters in Seattle.
Let’s take a look at what the Tamron 17-70m F2.8 can do and what it’s like to use.
All sample images edited in Adobe Camera Raw 13 with adjustments limited to white balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, white and black levels. Sharpening and noise reduction at ACR defaults.
Handling
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The 17-70mm F2.8 is pretty typical of Tamron’s modern product line. At 524g (18.5oz), it’s very lightweight, but build quality is nevertheless pretty good.
A pair of rings encircle the lens barrel, with the smaller of these near its tapered base controlling manual focus, and the larger one adjusting the focal length. Up front there’s a 67mm filter thread, a size that’s also common on many of the company’s other lenses.
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Absent from the lens, though, are any buttons. We found that to be a somewhat perplexing omission; with no dedicated controls for focus mode or vibration control, owners of the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 will have to spend more time in their camera’s menu system than would otherwise be the case.
The good news is that Tamron’s vibration compensation is generally really solid, and functions well in combination with in-body stabilization if supported by your camera body.
The zoom ring is very smooth and well-balanced. The manual focus ring has relatively little damping and so feels very light in use, but that’s pretty typical of lenses in this category. An internal focusing design means that focus adjustments won’t change the lens barrel’s length or cause filters to rotate, although turning the zoom ring will cause the barrel to extend or retract to match.
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Autofocus and manual focus
The Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 foregoes the fancy linear motors typical of higher-end lenses, opting instead for a stepper motor-based autofocus drive. Yet despite that choice, AF performance is nevertheless very impressive, with even significant shifts in focusing distance taking just a fraction of a second on our Sony a7R IV body.
And while this is by no means a macro lens, it can still focus fairly close. At wide-angle, the minimum focusing distance is as little as 19cm (7.5″), yielding a maximum magnification of 0.21x (1:4.8). At telephoto, meanwhile, you can focus to around 39cm (15.4″) for a slightly lower magnification of 0.19x (1:5.2).
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| The Tamron 17-70mm F2.8’s wide maximum aperture helps portraits pop from their backgrounds. ISO 250 | 1/100 sec | F2.8 |102mm equiv. | Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
The good news, though, is that there is almost no focus breathing regardless of focal length. What that means is that the focal length doesn’t noticeably change when focus is adjusted. Along with its quiet autofocus drive, this makes the 17-70mm F2.8 an attractive option for videographers.
Image quality
The Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 pairs nicely with either Sony’s APS-C mirrorless bodies, or with its full-frame models when using the APS-C crop mode. Sony’s APS-C cameras currently top out at 24 Megapixel resolution, while the full-frame a7R IV can extract just a smidgen more detail from its 26.2 Megapixel APS-C crop. We used the latter for our image quality comparison.
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| ISO 160 | 1/250 sec | F2.8 | 26mm equiv. | Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
Sharpness
Near its 17mm wide-angle, the lens is pretty sharp across the entire image frame when shooting wide-open at F2.8. In fact, we didn’t notice much difference in detail levels when stopping down to F5.6, even in the corners.
And the news is almost as good at the 70mm telephoto end, too. Again, sharpness was very good across the frame at F2.8. We did see some improvement to detail when we stopped down to F5.6 this time, even towards the center of the frame, but it was a relatively subtle difference.
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| ISO 100 | 1/500 sec | F2.8 | 105mm equiv. | Sony A6600 Photo by Dan Bracaglia |
Vignetting and distortion
The 17-70mm F2.8 exhibits quite strong distortion throughout its focal length range. At 17mm there’s significant barrel distortion, and as you zoom in, pincushion distortion is readily visible at mid- to tele-photo focal lengths. While distortion is easily fixed in post-processing, the large amount of it present in this lens means it’s likely to impact corner sharpness and, furthermore, will mean a slightly longer corrected minimum focal length on the wide end.
Vignetting is well-controlled throughout the zoom range, with some darkening of the corners which is easily corrected in post-processing.
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| Although there’s quite strong distortion at wide-angle, it can easily be corrected in post-processing. ISO 100 | 1/1000 sec | F2.8 | 26mm equiv. | Sony A6600 Photo by Dan Bracaglia |
Bokeh
There are a couple of weak spots in the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8’s image quality, and unfortunately bokeh is one of them. Amateurs and enthusiasts will likely find it more than acceptable, but users on a quest for maximal image quality may want to spend a bit more for a higher-performing alternative.
The problem, specifically, is quite strong onion ring bokeh. Out-of-focus highlights in images shot with the Tamron appear to be patterned by numerous concentric circles, giving their bokeh an undesirably busy appearance.
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| The 17-70mm F2.8 is quite prone to onion ring, giving its bokeh a rather busy look. ISO 1600 | 1/250 sec | F2.8 | 105mm equiv. | Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
Cat’s eye effect – which causes elliptical rather than round bokeh as you stray further from the center of the frame – is relatively mild, and mostly goes away once you stop down to F4. However, wide open the circle of confusion is increasingly truncated at image peripheries as in the image above. In other words, you may notice chopped-off out-of-focus highlights and generally busier – or sometimes swirly – bokeh as you stray away from the center of the frame.
Flare and sunstars
If you’re a fan of sunstars in your landscape images, the Tamron 17-70mm actually puts up a pretty good showing in this regard, with pretty 18 well-defined ‘spikes’ coming from small, bright light sources in the frame.
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In this, an odd landscape photo of a dystopian future where we are ruled by cameras and smartphones (wait, we’re in that world already, aren’t we, and this is just a gear cabinet), you can see that at smaller apertures the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 produces some pretty solid sunstars. ISO 12800 | 1/20 sec | F16 | Sony a6600 |
On the other hand, the Tamron 17-70mm is rather prone to flare, which could prove more of a concern. If bright light sources like the sun can be kept out of the frame, though—and the provided compact lens hood certainly helps here—then things aren’t too bad.
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| Cherry-red flare artifacts can prove problematic if you can’t keep the sun out of the frame. ISO 100 | 1/200 sec | F4 | 77mm equiv. | Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
If the sun is in your shot, though, the lens hood can’t help you, and you’ll see rather intrusive cherry-red ghosting, something that can be a pain to fix in post. Again, for Tamron’s target market it’s not likely to be a big issue, but it may push more advanced users up the line to a more-expensive rival.
Lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration (fringing)
Lateral CA is a type of fringing around high-contrast edges near the edges of the frame; it’s called ‘lateral’ because it appears to the left or right (or top or bottom, depending on the orientation) of these edges. While it’s not attractive, it’s usually easy to remove, and not a particular concern for the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8, largely because with this lens it’s automatically corrected for in JPEGs and in Raw converters.
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| Longitudinal CA or LoCA can be seen as cyan / magenta fringing in the bokeh circles of this shot. ISO 100 | 1/1000 sec | F2.8 | 105mm equiv. | Sony a7R IV (in APS-C crop mode) Photo by Chris Niccolls |
Longitudinal CA, which appears as cyan / magenta fringing just in front of and behind the plane of focus in the Tamron, can be far more troublesome and difficult to remove. It’s not terrible, by any means, but it’s definitely there, and something to be aware of. Note the cyan fringing around highlights around the lettering behind the plane of focus.
Conclusion
| What we like | What we don’t |
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Despite a few minor issues that may cause users chasing ultimate image quality to look elsewhere, we think the Tamron 17-70 F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD shines at its $799.99 USD price point. That’s great news, because there really aren’t a lot of alternatives.
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| ISO 100 | 1/400 sec | F2.8 | 80mm equiv. | Sony A6600 Photo by Dan Bracaglia |
If the sometimes-busy bokeh, strong distortion and flare aren’t big concerns for you, and you can live with the slight inconvenience of its lack of physical controls, there’s a lot to recommend this lens. We found ourselves especially surprised both by its corner-to-corner sharpness across the focal range, even when shooting at or near wide-open. And autofocus performance is very impressive, too.
Yet it’s a good 20% cheaper than its nearest rival, Sony’s Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70 mm F4 ZA OSS ($999.99), which does not offer unequivocally better image quality. And it’s in a totally different league to the only more-affordable option, the Sony E PZ 16–50 mm F3.5–5.6 OSS ($299.99), a lens which we honestly can’t recommend for anything other than the portability offered by its small size.
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And of course, neither of those lenses can match the Tamron’s continuous F2.8 maximum aperture. For that, you’d need to look to the much-pricier Sony E 16–55mm F2.8 G lens. That optic, while excellent, is priced at $1,299.99, and is nearly two-thirds more expensive than the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8, despite offering a narrower zoom range (though some will prefer its wider starting focal length).
Despite some optical flaws, the combination of edge-to-edge sharpness, versatile range, bright aperture and great value is currently hard to find in the APS-C E-mount lineup. If you’re in the market for a new travel zoom for your Sony APS-C camera, the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 Di III-A VC RXD unquestionably deserves a spot near the top of your shopping list, and easily garners a Silver Award from us here at DPReview.
See what our team at DPReview TV has to say about the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8.
US Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) outdoor photography show is back for a third season with a broader, national scope and nationwide availability. View Finders has grown from a quiet regional favorite into a nationally distributed, Emmy-nominated PBS series. The show, which is only viewable in the US, is hosted by professional photographers Chris Greer and Paul Daniel. It follows the duo as they explore breathtaking landscapes across the United States, seeking stellar shots while sharing tips on lighting, composition and storytelling through photography.
What began as a YouTube project focused on Georgia’s natural beauty has evolved into a cross-country adventure. Season three premiered on March 17th and takes viewers to Grand Teton National Park, the Wind River Range and the White Mountain National Forest, among other destinations. View Finders’ mission remains unchanged: celebrate the outdoors, educate the public about these places’ ecological and cultural importance and inspire others to connect with nature through photography.
“The show has grown tremendously,” Greer, who is also a Georgia College & State University professor, told Flagpole. “It’s kind of transformed from a Georgia-based television show to a national television show, and this season reflects that national footprint.”
The road to national syndication began after two successful seasons on Georgia Public Broadcasting. In 2023, Greer pitched the series to 300 PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) stations nationwide and received a warm reception. In Greer’s opinion, what sets View Finders apart is its unique blend of adventure, photography, and conservation, an angle not often explored on traditional travel shows.
The show also addresses the growing urgency around public land preservation. With interviews from park rangers, ecologists and historians, View Finders integrates expert commentary into each episode. Beyond seeing beautiful places, viewers learn why they matter and must be protected, “so they don’t turn into developments and condos.”
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The View Finders crew captured footage using lenses like SIGMA’s SPORTS 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS.
Image: Sigma |
Another signature element of the series is its music. The soundtrack features a blend of independent southern artists and nationally known names like Hozier and Bon Iver. This season highlights music from Athens, Georgia-based acts including Grassland String Band, Family and Friends, and Hotel Friction. Greer believes the combination of powerful music and visuals creates an immersive experience and resonates emotionally with the audience.
All third-season footage from Greer, Daniel, and camera operator Nathan Burnett was filmed using Sigma lenses, as the company is the official lens sponsor. You can watch episodes from all seasons, including the current season, on PBS’ official site. The final three episodes for this season will air soon. Greer told us that distribution for the UK, additional European and worldwide markets isn’t finalized at this time, though the show could potentially find international audiences at some point.
DHL Express, the world’s second-largest delivery company, has temporarily suspended some of its international shipments to the United States, citing a surge in customs processing requirements tied to new US import rules. The change, which went into effect today, impacts business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments with a declared value over $800, as Fox Business reports. For example, consumers ordering camera gear from Sony or drones from DJI could face significant delays.
The suspension follows a policy revision by US Customs and Border Protection, which quietly lowered the threshold for formal customs entry from $2500 to $800 on April 5th. Under the new rules, any shipment entering the US valued above $800 is subject to a more complex customs process, including additional paperwork, duties and inspections. For logistics providers like DHL, this change triggered an immediate spike in formal entries, creating bottlenecks across international networks.
In a statement to customers, DHL said it saw “multi-day transit delays” for packages over the $800 threshold and confirmed that it would no longer collect or ship those parcels if destined for private individuals in the US. The company stressed in its last announcement that “this is a temporary measure, and we will share updates as the situation evolves.” DHL is reportedly scaling up operations to handle the uptick in customs volume, but it hasn’t offered a precise date for when service will normalize.
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Nikon’s Z6III is now subject to processing requirements.
Image: Nikon |
The suspension is explicitly limited to international B2C shipments, packages sent from businesses abroad to individual customers in the US, with a declared value over $800. Lower-value packages, including all shipments under this amount, are not affected and will continue as usual.
Business-to-business (B2B) shipments, packages sent between international companies and US-based businesses, are also exempt from the suspension. However, due to increased workload at customs, they may face processing delays. This can potentially impact new product shipments to retailers, including B&H and big-box stores such as Best Buy.
The policy shift has sent shockwaves through international shipping and e-commerce channels. The effects of US Customs change are being felt beyond DHL. Earlier this month, Hongkong Post suspended its sea mail service in response to what it deems unfair trade tactics by the US. DHL will continue processing shipments from Hong Kong but has warned that customers should expect slower processing times and prepare for more changes, in light of more regulatory adjustments expected on May 2nd.
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DJI’s Air 3, which starts at $1,099 and ships from China, is now subject to additional processing.
Image: DJI |
US officials have not publicly commented on the motive behind the customs threshold adjustment. The move, however, is deemed as a broader effort to tighten control over under-declared shipments, counterfeit products, and illegal drugs such as fentanyl, all of which amount to lost tax revenue. It could also increase pressure to localize inventory.
While DHL works to resolve internal backlogs and scale its infrastructure, affected businesses and consumers will be impacted. We’ve become increasingly reliant on fast global delivery; even a temporary disruption like this has wide-reaching consequences. If you’re ordering any new gear from your favorite electronics brand’s official website, you should be prepared to track updates and plan for continuous delays.
| Image: Vivo |
Smartphone maker Vivo has released its latest device, the X200 Ultra. The Vivo X100 Ultra was widely seen as one of the best camera phones from last year, though it was only available in China. Unfortunately, its new device will likely have the same limitation, though it is still worth looking at, as Vivo is marketing it as “a camera that happens to be a phone.” Vivo has been teasing details for some time, but today it has officially hit shelves in China.
| Resolution | Sensor | Aperture | Equiv. focal length | |
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| Main camera | 50MP | Type 1/1.28 (9.9 x 7.5mm) | F1.69 | 35mm |
| Ultrawide | 50MP | Type 1/1.28 (9.9 x 7.5mm) | F2.0 | 14mm |
| Telephoto | 200MP | Type 1/1.4 (9.1 x 6.7mm) | F2.7 | 85mm |
| Selfie | 50MP | 1/2.76 (5.2 x 3.9mm) | F2.5 | 24mm |
The X200 features the typical three rear cameras: an ultrawide, a main camera, and a telephoto. Interestingly, the main camera offers a 35mm equiv. focal length, whereas most smartphones use a 24mm equiv. focal length. The 35mm angle of view is more versatile (and natural-looking) than 24mm, which is why it is such a standard focal length for photographers. Though a subtle change, it is nice to see a company rethinking that main camera.
The phone also features a 3.7x periscope telephoto camera that offers the highest resolution of the three, thanks to the Samsung HP9 200MP sensor. Samsung released the sensor last summer and claimed it was the first 200MP sensor for telephoto cameras.
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The Zeiss-branded add-on lens offers a 200mm equiv. focal length.
Image: Vivo |
Where things get unique, though, is with the optional Photographer Kit. Lately, we’ve seen many handgrip add-ons for smartphones to make them more camera-like, either from the phone manufacturer directly or from accessory makers. Vivo has gone the latter route. The Photographer Kit includes the 16GB/1TB phone, a camera grip, a shoulder strap, a case and a 2.35x telephoto converter lens. While we’ve seen a few detachable camera lenses for smartphones lately from the likes of RealMe and Xiaomi, those were concepts and are not currently available for purchase.
Like all of the integrated lenses on the X200 Ultra, the add-on lens was co-engineered with Zeiss. The cute telephoto lens attaches via a custom adapter, sitting over the 200MP telephoto camera. The lens features 13 lens elements with an F2.3 aperture. It offers a 200mm equiv. focal length with 8.7x optical zoom and up to 70x hybrid zoom (a combination of optical and digital zoom), resulting in up to a 1600mm equiv. Vivo claims that images from the optional lens are “highly usable” at 35x.
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| Image: Vivo |
The grip looks similar to Xiaomi’s Photography Kit. It features a vintage look and convenient camera controls, including a shutter button, a customizable control dial, zoom controls and a video recording button. It also offers a 2,300mAh battery to extend the phone’s battery life, something that’s especially useful when taking lots of photos or videos with your phone.
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| Image: Vivo |
The X200 Ultra also features two custom imaging chips: one for pre-processing tasks and one for post-processing. It’s capable of 4K 60p 10-bit Log video from all three rear cameras, as well as 4K 120p video on all three rear cameras. Plus, even if you don’t opt for the Photographer Kit, there’s a dedicated shutter button on the phone itself that allows you to slide to zoom or adjust exposure, like Apple’s Camera Control feature.
Outside of camera specs, the phone runs on the Origin OS 5 Android skin, which is exclusive to China. It features a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1260 x 2800 and peak brightness of 4500 nits. The phone’s internals include the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a 6000mAh battery, all of which are wrapped in an IP69 rating.
The X200 Ultra is available in China as of today in silver, red or black. According to Android Authority, the 12GB/256GB model is priced at 6499 yuan (roughly $890) while the top-end model (16GB/1TB) is 7999 yuan ($1096). The Photographer Kit, which comes with the top-end model, will cost 9699 yuan ($1329), though you can also buy it without the phone for a promotional price of 1699 yuan ($233) or full-priced at 2598 yuan ($356).
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