Tamron 70-300 vs hiring canon lens.

[inman999]

My parents are going on safari next year and have asked to borrow my camera (550d), which I have nervously agreed to.

My question is should they buy the Tamron lens or hire a better glass for 2 weeks for a similar price.

[Dogsey]

Hire. Lensesforhire.co.uk offer some great lenses at great prices, this will allow them to get a much better quality (and probably much longer and faster) lens and therefore much better photographs.

[IanMorewood]

Dont want to be nasty to Tamron but they are crap.

[vtecstu]

IanMorewood said:

Dont want to be nasty to Tamron but they are crap.

OT, but as a newbie are Tamron and Sigma comparable, or are Sigma generally of a higher standard (albeit not even close to Canon / NIKON lenses)?

[Busa_Rush]

vtecstu said:

IanMorewood said:

Dont want to be nasty to Tamron but they are crap.

OT, but as a newbie are Tamron and Sigma comparable, or are Sigma generally of a higher standard (albeit not even close to Canon / NIKON lenses)?

When I bought a 450D after a long break from photography, I also bought a used Tamron 70-300 as a cheap long lens, I was aware that it was a budget lens but it's proved to be unusable for what I want it for - it's not sharp at all unless stopped down and even then it's not great. I also bought a used Canon 28-135 IS USM lens and it's a world apart from the Tamron. OK,it's twice the price but build quality, operation, image quality are all a league ahead of the Tamron - it's a great walkabout lens. Even the kit 18-55 IS lens is better than the Tamron.

If you look on http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/ you can see a list of Canon, Tamron and Sigma lenses. Like most things in life I guess you get what you pay for but there are probably some pearls in the Tamron/Sigma lists which are worth buying, they're not all budget lenses like the 70-300.

[RobDickinson]

vtecstu said:

OT, but as a newbie are Tamron and Sigma comparable, or are Sigma generally of a higher standard (albeit not even close to Canon / NIKON lenses)?

Tamron produce some decent lenses but have only just started to introduce good focusing motors (ultrasonic wave type/HSM/USM).

Take each lens on its own merits along side the manufacturers rep.

As for the OP - rent a 100-400L.

[Seight_Returns]

The Tamron isn't very good.

I bought the Tamron 70-300 bundled with my 400d and struggled with it for a couple of years.

Finally replaced it with the EF 70-300 f4/5.6 IS and it's worlds apart, much sharper, better colurs, IS is great. I went from being happy with 20% of my telezoom photos to 80%.

From what I hear the 70-200 Ls or the 100-400 L are another order of magnitude better.

[inman999]

Thanks for the replies guys, guess hiring will be the best option.

[Seight_Returns]

The Canon EF-S 55-250 isn't much more expensive to buy outright than the Tamron and is much better.