Tamron AF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Review at AlphaMountWorld.com – Carl Garrard:
Technical hobble-do-gee aside, I just think this lens is just way too much fun. I really do like it. It is light, which is a bonus for hikers and bikers like myself who sometimes consider weight a priority. It is versatile, which means I don't have to bring two lenses to do the job the Tamron will generally do. It has nice sized zoom and focus rings with decent action and its size is neither too big or too small. Since it is affordable, if I drop the camera and lens for any reason, I don't need to worry about a replacement lens filling up a credit card. Less worry, means a more enjoyable experience, and I tend to worry quite a bit about my equipment.
Image quality at times is completely shocking and excellent. Surely the 9 aperture blades help the out of focus areas appear rounder and generally more pleasing. Yet also I think it is because of the coatings and the general nature of the focal length, the images it creates exhibit highly blurred out of focus areas which adds to 'shocking' factor. I guess you could say that I don't expect a lens at this price to impress me. No matter how many times I see images I like from this lens, I have to say that feeling never goes away.
Web-resized image samples for this lens (photographed with the Sony DSLR-A900) have been included in the review.