Hill sheep at 300mm

Right at the limit of the 28-300mm Tamron lens I was using.

I bought this lens as a good walkabout lens. It’s compact, quite light, has a good range of focal lengths, and the vibration reduction means handholding it is very easy. Unfortunately, despite the reviews, I found it to be a bit soft, particularly at the edges of the frame.

I wondered about putting up with it for the convenience but, after some umming and aahing, decided that image quality was important to me and so traded it in against a used Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 VR lens. This lens is considerably less convenient in a number of ways (weight and size, certainly), but I’m hoping it will live up to its reputation for being very sharp. If I pair it with my cheap, but very good 28-80mm lens, then I still have most of the focal length range (it was quite rare for me to go beyond 200mm with the Tamron).

I’m hoping to finish off a roll shot with the 70-200mm this weekend, and am keen to see the results.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.

Taken on 27 December 2025