The Tamron 18-250 is a relatively new lens that some photographers are interested in as a single 'walk around lens' that covers the range from wide angle to mid telephoto. It is not compatible with full-frame DSLRs but is designed for the APS-C sized sensors used in digital SLRs such as the Canon 30D or digital rebel.

Several early reviews have argued that it is a very good quality lens at a reasonable price (about $500), but that there are inevitable compromises when a single zoom lens attempts to cover such a wide range. In particular, there are concerns about distortion at the wide end and image softness in the 150-250 mm range, especially since the lens does not have image stabilization.

For the most part, my early experience with the Tamron 18-250 agrees with these reviews. For travel, or similar circumstances when carrying and changing multiple lens is not desirable, this lens is a capable substitute. Colors are good and well saturated. Focus is generally accurate and fast in good light. All this in a lens that weighs only about 430 g. I really appreciate not needing to carry the weight of multiple lenses or the constant changing of lenses while walking around. It is also great to be able to cover both wide angle scenes such as landscapes or cityscapes and also to zoom in on details with a single lens.

But there is indeed significant distortion from about 18-28 mm (though this can often be corrected in software) and, compared to my Canon 17-40 f4 and 70-200 f4 lenses, the images are often softer. At the 150-250 mm end it does seem important to not only keep the shutter speeds high but also to set the aperture to at least f8. As a result, it is often necessary to increase the iso to levels higher than would be necessary for faster lenses. Because of these limitations, you might want to also look at the newly released Sigma 18-200 lens with optical stabilization.

I've tried to include a wide range of typical 'travel' images that were taken in June 2007. The first page of the gallery is from the Pittsburgh area in western Pennsylvania, while page two is the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin.

All of these images were handheld and have been edited in Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements and, of course, have been reduced in size and compressed for posting on Pbase. The editing in some cases has included distortion correction (in Photoshop Elements with PT lens plug-in, not always completely successful) and noise reduction has been applied to some images when I had to use high iso.

Hopefully, these photos will give a realistic sense of what the Tamron 18-250 can achieve in the hands of a typical amateur photographer.