Tamron’s New 17-50mm F/4 For Sony E-Mounts is Versatile and Affordable

After an initial announcement in August, Tamron’s specialty lens, the 17-50mm F4 Di III VXD is finally going to arrive for shipping on October 19^th.

The upcoming lens will also be fairly affordable, costing no more than $699 while including some unique features.

Most notably, this will be the first ever 17-50mm lens built for Sony E-Mount mirrorless cameras by any manufacturer (including Sony itself) and it will also have a reasonably compact build.

The upcoming lens for full-frame Sony cameras will be no more than 114.4mm long or 4.5 inches while weighing 460 grams, or 16.2 oz. As a lens with internal zoom, it also maintains a fixed length.

In terms of internal design, the Tamron F4 Di III VXD has a 9-bladed diaphragm with an F/4 aperture and along its internal length are 15 elements in 13 groups with three low-dispersion elements and one glass-molded aspherical element among them.

According to Tamron, these design features and other aspects of the F4 Di III VXD will let it create “outstanding” bokeh for users and let it be used wide open at a constant f/4 in any of its focal lengths.

Tamron further states that the F4 Di III VXD lens is an extremely versatile lens for numerous photo and even video shooting scenarios.

According to the company’s press release on their product:

“TAMRON’s new 17-50mm F4 for Sony mirrorless cameras is a wide-angle zoom with a constant F4 aperture covering ultra-wide-angle to standard focal lengths, a zoom range ideal for both still photography and video recording. This lens achieves excellent optical performance across the entire zoom range, with crispness from edge-to-edge.”

The VXD in the model name of the new lens stands for Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive. This is a linear motor focus system that’s supposed to improve the silence of the lens while letting it deliver high-precision AF functionality.

This particular lens provides plenty of long-range zoom functionality while also being great for close-focus shooting for portraits and still-life shots.

The F4 Di III VXD lens’s MOD or minimum object distance is just 19cm or just 7.5 inches at the wide end and 30cm or 11.8 inches when it’s set to telephoto shooting.

With these settings, users can shoot their subjects from close distances regardless of how they’ve set the lens while also enjoying its high-quality bokeh.

These settings combine with others to make the Tamron F4 Di III VXD lens ideal for landscapes, portrait shots, still object shooting (for product and fine art photos, for example), and even extremely close, near-macro shots through this one single optic.

Externally, the new Tamron lens is robustly built and includes a moisture-resistant frame that also deals with dust pretty well.

What’s more, it has a fluorine coating along its lens for grime resistance and easy cleaning. The lens offers a 67mm filter size, just like most other Tamron mirrorless lenses.

Why should you be interested in this latest Tamron release?

Well, if you’re a photographer who uses Sony’s generally excellent mirrorless cameras, this is one very affordable, extremely versatile option from a compatible third-party brand with lots of recognition for quality products.

At a retail price of just $699, the Tamron F4 Di III VXD genuinely is decently priced for all that it offers to Sony full-frame camera owners. Sony’s own lenses tend to usually be a fair bit pricier than this.

If you preorder now, you should have it just in time for some wicked Halloween photography.

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