Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Model A18)

I have to agree with all the 5 star reviews. Now after several vacations and thousands of pictures I stand by the reviews that have been posted about the Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens for Canon Dogital SLR Cameras. The pictures are fantastic it focuses perfectly and I would purchase this lens again if it were to get damaged. Purchase price from Amazon 1 of: Tamron AF 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras [Electronics]Condition: NewSold by: Amazon.com LLC$282.97Fortunately for me I was able to get this lens before the Tamron 18 - 270 came out for less than half the price and yes it was new & in the box sealed. I can't believe what it is selling for now. All I can say is shop around and find the best possible price because it is a great lens and has not been off the camera since I purchased it in October 2010.

Like most people here I'm very pleased with this lens, and if you stop down even one stop its really sharp. Slightly soft at 250mm, so I avoid that, sweet spot aperturewise is about F8 to f14 but having said that it does a decent job at any aperture. A great all in one lens that eliminates dust issues because I never have to change i! One small problem is the "zoom creep" when the lens if pointed down. In my case its more like "zoom fall". I wish the zoom were a little stiffer, but I avoid this by keeping the lock on when I'm not using it.

I had this lens for a couple weeks and used it with mixed results. My rating is based on understanding it's limitations due to lack of image stabilization and accepting them. If you have a surgeon's steady hands or always shoot in good light you will like this lens. Anyone else, read on to see if it's for you.First the good: I was happy with the overall appearance of my photos as long as I had enough light to keep the shutter speed high. The lens was fairly light for it's size, and easy to use and carry. I did not have any zoom creep. The zoom moved acceptably smoothly from wide to telephoto and back. The casing is plastic of course, but did not feel cheap. I was happy with the build quality.My photos were acceptably sharp across all focal lengths, with a little softness in the corners on some shots. Most of my shots were with aperature wide open or near wide open. I don't shoot test charts or newsprint. I'm basing my view on real-world shooting of people and wildlife, and some landscapes. I printed some sunsets @ 13x19 and they turned out beautifully.Now the not-so-good: There was some vignetting visible, especially in photos with smooth backgrounds such as blue sky. Not horrible, but noticeable, and fixable in Photoshop. There was also more colored fringing than I am used to. I guess that's common in super zoom lenses, tho. This was my first super-zoom so I definitely noticed the difference. Once again, correctable in Photoshop.Now the deal-breaker: Without image stabilization on this lens I was limited to shooting outdoors in good light or indoors with a flash. I simply could not hold the lens steady enough to avoid blur in many shooting situations. I ruined too many shots. I don't always have a tripod handy. The big selling point of a lens like this is versatility and ease of use. Unfortunately I could not use it successfully in too many situations. I knew when purchasing it that this could be a potential problem but I wanted to give it a fair try before shelling out the extra bucks for stabilization. I have since purchased a 70-300 IS zoom and am very happy with it. For me the IS makes all the difference.In summary, this is a good lens and an excellent value as long as you understand it's limitations and are realistic about how you will be using it. At the longer focal lengths you need good light, a flash, or some sort of bracing to achieve acceptable results. Otherwise, save your packaging because you'll be boxing it up again.

Item receved in good shape as indicated

I initially liked this lens and it looked like it was going to stay with my Canon 500D. I really liked the compactness and all-in-one portability. But after comparing the picture quality of this lens with my Canon 55-250 IS, the softness in quality was quite noticeable indeed. Like other reviewers, the thing that bothered me as well was the lens creep. I tried the rubber band trick but eventually took it off since it was not nice to look at. But the thing that really made me give up on this lens was the defective lock switch. Even in the Off-position, the lock would only work 30% of the time. I'm afraid I'm going to break that darn thing. Really not worth the hassle, especially with the amount of time and money spent to buy this. My advice is look somewhere else if you don't want to get dissapointed.

optics are far better that from IS/non IS kit lenses that comes with Cannon XTi. pictures are better, clearer, brighter and so on an so forth. i.e. lens optical qualities are really good. not as good as L series of course but for value/money might be best selection. however there is the big downside: every time you tip the camera downwards, lens retracts! (yes I know there is a lock, but locking it makes lock your zoom as well while you are shooting, and lock is only for static i.e OFF position) which makes it completely useless! so you have to hold it with hand all the time you make pictures...returned it after week of testing, too shame, really liked picture quality.

I am happy to get a versatile lens by a good company at a decent price. For some reason, some shots come back overexposed and I can see no reason why. I can use the same settings and take the picture again and it will correctly expose the shot. This is the only lens to which I have this occurring & I own 4 other lenses. I am using this on a Canon Rebel. I like all the other features with the lens. It is definitely a basic lens without image stabilization, but why it misinterprets the ttl readings bugs me. Still, I can have the camera in the back seat and be ready for any opportunity to capture a picture wherever I may be.