Pros & Cons
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- Ultra-wide coverage.
- Image stabilization.
- Strong center sharpness.
- Dust and moisture resistant design.
- Fluorine front coating.
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- Edges suffer at wide apertures.
- Wide-angle barrel distortion.
- Dim corners.
- Slow autofocus.
- No option for in-camera corrections.
Tamron 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD Specs
| 35mm Equivalent (Telephoto) | 36 mm |
| 35mm Equivalent (Wide) | 15 |
| Dimensions | 3.2 by 3.3 inches |
| Lens Mount | Canon EF-S |
| Lens Mount | Nikon F |
| Optical Zoom | 2.4 x |
| Stabilization | Optical |
| Type | Lens |
| Weight | 15.5 |
An ultra-wide lens is a useful tool for photographers who want to capture photos with a dramatic, all-encompassing perspective. If you shoot with an APS-C SLR, the Tamron 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD ($499) is an appealing entry in the category. It has a solid zoom range, offers image stabilization, and boasts all-weather construction and a fluorine front coat. It's less expensive than similarly positioned lenses from Canon and Nikon, but has to compete with compelling budget alternatives like the Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM ($299.99) and Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR ($309.95), both of which offer stabilization, but have narrower maximum apertures and shorter zoom ranges.
Design
The 10-24mm ($499.00 at Amazon) is a short, squat zoom. It measures 3.2 by 3.3 inches (HD), weighs 15.5 ounces, and supports 77mm front filters. It's not quite an internal zoom, the front element juts out and pulls in as you adjust it, but the movement is only about a quarter of an inch—you may not even notice the change in length. The lens ships with front and rear caps, and a reversible hood. It's available for Canon and Nikon cameras.
The lens boasts a tough polycarbonate build with rubberized focus and zoom rings. There's an o-ring seal at the lens mount, and internal seals to prevent dust and moisture from entering. Additionally, the front element is coated with fluorine, which resists smudges and water, making the lens easier to clean.
Because of the build and price, the 10-24mm is more likely to end up on a higher-end camera like the Nikon D500 or Canon EOS 80D. You won't want to use the lens with a full-frame model, as it only covers APS-C image sensors—that's a DX camera, if you're a Nikon user. In full-frame terms, the lens covers a 15-36mm field of view.
Focus is capable at distances as short as 9.4 inches, measured from the camera sensor. This lets you get up close and personal with a subject, and when working toward the long end of the zoom range you can blur out the background behind a close subject. Take a look at the flower above, shot at 10mm, and the one below, at 24mm, to get an idea of both the field of view and bokeh you can get when working toward the minimum focus distance.
Don't expect a lighting-fast transition from close focus to locking onto a distant subject. While the 10-24mm lens locks on quickly if it's already in focus or close to it, moving from one extreme to the other is a slower process. I clocked it at about 0.4-second when paired with the Nikon D7500, which is a little slower than we'd expect with an ultra-wide lens. It's not a concern for shooting static subjects, but you can run into issues if you're using the lens for pictures or video of subjects moving quickly toward or away from the camera.
Videographers will appreciate the integrated image stabilization system—Tamron calls it VC, short for Vibration Compensation. It keeps handheld footage free of jitters. It also makes it possible to get crisp shots of static subjects when shooting still images at longer shutter speeds. You get image stabilization with the budget options from Nikon and Canon, the slower and shorter EF-S 10-18mm and AF-P 10-20mm, but not with the two lenses that compete with the Tamron on more even ground: Canon's EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 ($649.99) and Nikon's AF-S DX Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED ($899.95) both omit the feature.
Image Quality
I ran lab tests on the 10-24mm with the 20.9MP Nikon D500. At 10mm f/3.5 the lens scores 1,890 lines per picture height on Imatest's standard center-weighted sharpness evaluation. That's a good, but not great, result. Center sharpness is strong at f/3.5, 2,770 lines, but as you move away from the center image quality drops, and edges are noticeably blurred at just 700 lines. There's some improvement at f/5.6; the overall score improves to 2,243 lines, which is in the very good range for a 21MP camera, with strong quality at all but the extreme edges of the frame.
Edge softness is typical for such a wide lens when shot wide open. Narrowing the aperture will net better results, so if you're shooting wide landscapes you'll want to shoot at f/8. The average resolution jumps to an excellent 2,820 lines and even the very edges of the frame show better than 2,200 lines, a very strong result on its own. The average scores stays about the same at f/11, 2,871 lines, but we see the best edge performance here, 2,661 lines.
You may be tempted to shoot at f/16, but there's actually a step back in overall resolution when the diaphragm is narrowed to that point. The average score crops to 2,351 lines and edges show only about 2,100 lines. Avoid f/22 completely, the average is a mere 1,592 lines.
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Midway through the zoom range, at 17mm, the maximum aperture is f/4.2. The lens puts up solid numbers through most of the frame wide open, 2,343 lines, but with the same type of edge softness we see at 10mm—1,020 lines here. Stopping down to f/5.6 bumps the edges to 1,300 lines and the average score to a stronger 2,548 lines.
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But again, f/8 (2,791 lines) and f/11 (2,646 lines) are your best bets for shooting images that are crisp from corner to corner. Edge performance is strong at both settings, hovering around 2,240 lines. At f/16 the overall score takes a step back, 2,046 lines, and the trend continues at f/22, 1,392 lines.
Zooming all the way to 24mm narrows the maximum f-stop to f/4.5. But you get strong overall performance wide open, 2,327 lines, with edges that are just a little soft at 1,680 lines. At f/5.6 results are better overall (2,370 lines) and at the edges of the frame (2,000 lines), and once again at f/8 you get strong performance across the frame—an average score of 2,695 lines with the periphery lagging behind by only about 100 lines.
You can comfortably shoot at f/11 (2,738 lines) and net the sharpest results. But again, skip f/16 (2,282 lines) and f/22 (1,528 lines), as the aperture is so narrow at both settings to cause light to scatter as it makes its way to the image sensor, cutting into absolute image quality.
Sharpness is important, but it's not the only measure of performance. Imatest also measures barrel distortion. This type of effect, which makes straight lines appear to curve outward like the hoops of a barrel, is something that you deal with when shooting with a lens that's as wide as the 10-24mm. At 10mm it shows about 5.9 percent, which is very noticeable.
It would certainly be possible to design a zoom of this type that shows less curvature, but it would be bigger and heavier, and likely much more expensive. One of the downsides to shooting with a third-party lens is that your camera won't be able to compensate for the effect automatically, as it could if you use a Nikon lens on a Nikon camera or a Canon lens on a Canon camera, but software tools can also straighten those lines. Adobe includes a profile for this lens in its Lightroom CC photo application; it removes the distortion with a single click, although doing so does slightly narrow the field of view.
Distortion is not an issue at 17mm; the lens shows a negligible 0.8 percent of the barrel variety. At 24mm you get about 0.9 percent pincushion distortion, which makes straight lines appear to curve slightly inward. It's generally more distracting than barrel distortion, but 0.9 percent is within our 1 percent tolerance.
Dimmed corners and edges are also something you often see with a lens this wide. The 10-24mm is not immune. There's a 3.6-stop drop (-3.6EV) from center to corner when shooting at 10mm f/3.5. It's reduced to -2.5EV at f/4.6 and -2EV at f/8, but never drops below our -1EV tolerance. The Lightroom lens profile corrects this effect, making edges appear as bright as the center when shooting an evenly lit scene.
The vignette effect doesn't go away completely as you zoom, but it does lessen. At 17mm f/4.2 you get a -1.7EV drop at the corners, which drops to about -1.3EV at f/8 and -1.1EV at f/11. When zoomed to 24mm you get a modest darkening at the edges, -1.3EV, at f/4.5 and f/5.6, but it is within our -1EV tolerance at narrower settings.
Conclusions
Photographers seeking an ultra-wide zoom should consider the Tamron 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD when shopping. It's less expensive than comparable glass from Canon and Nikon, delivers strong, but not impeccable, image quality, and includes optical stabilization for still and video capture. It has some of the same optical shortcomings you get with most reasonably priced and sized ultra-wide zoom lenses, but you'll need to apply corrections to images yourself—because it's a third-party lens, you don't have access to in-camera correction data. If you're willing to live with that, or with some distortion, you get a lens that's capable of capturing wide, dramatic images, is usable in all types of weather, and sports optical stabilization, all for about $500. If you're on a tighter budget, consider instead the stabilized Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM or the Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR, both of which sell for around $300.
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