This F/2.8 high-speed lens is equipped with a VC (Vibration Compensation) system that provides a stable image that seems virtually pasted onto the viewfinder. Even under low-light conditions, handheld shooting without concern for camera shake is made possible. Tamron’s VC is a three-coil system, whereby three driving coils activate the shake-compensating VC lens group electromagnetically via three ceramic balls. The VC lens elements are held in place only by contact with the ceramic balls, achieving smooth movement with little friction. This provides a stable viewfinder image with excellent tracking performance. Tamron’s o riginal VC image stabilization mechanism utilized a moving magnet system whereby a heavy magnet was positioned near the moving VC lens element. In the new VC unit the positions of the magnet and the coil are reversed, because of this the VC optical lens element is attached to the coil. The new VC mechanism employs a moving coil mechanism with a lightweight coil, and the lighter coil reduces the load on the drive system. Thus, the lighter, more compact new VC unit contr ibutes to the lens’s overall light weight and compact size.

* For high-speed standard zoom lens compatible with full frame size SLR cameras. Current as of April 2012. (Source: Tamron).

As high-speed lenses produce an extensive blurred effect in the areas outside of the focused field, the photographer can greatly blur the foreground and background and thus highlight the main subject in focus, to create an image with realistic depth. In developing this lens, attention was also paid to the shape of the diaphragm blades, which affects the form of the blur. The diaphragm blades maintain a near-perfect circular shape up to two stops down from the fully open state, the position frequently used for creating the blurred effect, adopted the rounded diaphragm to enable exquisite blurred-effect images.