Hands on Review of Shooting Headshots with the Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD

I recently had the opportunity to use the new Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD lens.

I have been averse to seeking glass outside my camera’s manufacturer for most of my professional career.  While that’s an old thought process, I held to it until I received this lens. I regret not coming around sooner.  The performance of this lens surpassed my expectations.

The Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD is available for both Nikon Z mount and Sony E mount cameras.

For headshots, I typically gravitate to a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.  I shoot with a Nikon Z7 II and in the past, my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 f mount lens has been my day-to-day workhorse. To make me a true believer, I require something that’s either on par or better than this lens in terms of build, performance, and results.  

My go-to focal distance is 92mm, approximately halfway between 85mm and 100mm.  In addition, my aperture is set at f/4.  Maintaining my focal distance and my aperture keeps my work looking consistent, which is important to me and to my clients.

I recommend working on a tripod.  This not only frees up your hands for directing and working with your clients but also alleviates the burden of a heavy camera and lens combination.

The Tamron 35-150mm is an ideal studio lens, with a flexible focal range that can capture wide-angle images as well as tighter compositions.

The 35-150mm is on the larger side with a length of 6.2 inches (158mm) and has a bit more weight to it at 41.1 oz (1,165g).  The maximum diameter comes in at 89.2mm and a filter size of 82mm.  While not unwieldy, I find that it makes for a versatile studio lens, and not necessarily a lens that I would care to travel around with.  However, if that is your primary purpose, you’d be hard-pressed to find a lens that performs as well in this range.

Features

Upon unboxing, the lens felt high quality and professional grade. The weather-resistant coating, ergonomically contoured profile, zoom ring, and focus ring stood out to me.  The lens was comfortable to hold, and the smooth action of the zoom and focus rings was reassuring.

The lens comes with a few neat features.  There is a custom switch, which allows you to assign custom functions from the camera.  There are also programmable focus buttons on the lens.  The focus buttons and the custom functions can be programmed using the Tamron Lens Utility for your computer.

The lens hood locks onto the lens with a simple twist and can be released upon depressing the lock button and rotating the lens hood. 

The lens can also be locked at 35mm, preventing the unwanted extension of the lens during travel.

I do wish that this lens had a collar and foot for mounting to the tripod.  Mounting the camera and lens combination to a tripod means having to secure the camera to the tripod. This places the weight and strain of the lens on the lens mount.  A foot and collar on the lens would assume that weight, allowing for a better-balanced setup.

Image quality

The lens performed exceptionally well and the image quality was quite good.

I have a hard time finding things to complain about.  The autofocus was able to keep up with me, and except for some strange outtakes, I didn’t miss focus on any images. The images were tack sharp, with autofocus moving just as fast as I was. The colors were spot-on and jumped off the screen. I didn’t notice anything soft or out of place. 

Below are some recent headshots I took with the Tamron 35-150mm F/2-2.8 Di III VXD where you can see for yourself the quality of the images made with this lens.

Conclusion

After using this lens in the studio for a short while, I found that the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 was pleasantly surprising. The lens build, quality, and results made me a believer in the good work that Tamron is currently doing, and the products they are innovating.

At a current price point of around $2,000, I think this lens is worth the money and it’s time that folks take a closer look at this lens and the rest of the Tamron line of lenses.  If the new line of lenses from Tamron comes even remotely close to the quality and capabilities of the 35-150mm, then Tamron has entered a new era, and professionals should be taking notice!