Review by Klaus Schroiff, published February 2021

Introduction

In terms of build quality, it shares much of its characteristics with the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD or in other words - it feels more "consumer-ish" rather than professional grade. This applies primarily to the choice of materials. The longish, yet slim Tamron lens is based on a smooth plastic body on a metal mount. However, it's also very obvious that it has been precisely assembled. Nothing is wobbly and the control rings operate smoothly. The physical size remains constant across the zoom range although, the inner lens tube moves a bit. When adding a filter and combined with the moisture-resistant construction, this should provide decent protection against the elements. A petal-shaped lens hood is supplied.

The RXD in the lens name stands for "Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive" (=the AF motor). It's not exactly on the fast side of the spectrum but it's fast enough for this kind of lens. Typical for Sony E-mount lenses, manual focusing works by wire and is pretty precise. Tamron has always pushed the capabilities of their lenses for close focus photography. While they didn't go as far as with some of their other lenses, a max magnification of 1:5.2 to 1:6, it's better than most in this class. An optical image stabilizer is not provided but, of course, available on most modern Sony cameras.