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Tamron’s new edition of its legendary 90mm f/2.8 Macro for Nikon Z and Sony E mount is incredibly light, sharp, and a joy to use.
The 90mm macro prime is an important lens for Tamron. First launched in 1979, it has been a signature focal length for the lens maker, who has released many versions during the past 45 years. The latest model, a first for native mirrorless mounts, continues the tradition of strong optical performance and a unique alternative to first-party options.
Tamron sponsored this Showcase, but as a Canon shooter, I needed to find a Sony or Nikon mirrorless body. Thank you to Lensrentals for hooking me up with a Sony a7R V to use.
Lens Body
Let’s start with the lens itself. The first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box was how incredibly lightweight the lens is. As one of those mirrorless shooters still using DSLR lenses, my instinct with a lens of this size is to expect the heft of a 24-70mm (or worse… my excellent but beefy Zeiss Milvus 85mm), but that’s not the case here. Quite the opposite, actually. The Sony E mount version weighs only 630 grams (1.3 pounds), making it easy to carry around for a full day of shooting. It’s hardly noticeable when tucked into a camera bag.
Like many of Tamron’s recent lenses, the 90mm’s body is thermally stable plastic but has a solid and sturdy feel. It feels great in the hand, which honestly is something I give a lot of points for. It features a wide, ribbed control ring near the front. It’s focus by wire, but I think it’s cool that the ring can be adjusted between linear and non-linear pulls using the Tamron Lens Utility Software, and the rotation angle can be expanded up to 720 degrees. For a macro lens like this, I’m often focusing to the minimal distance and then changing the camera’s position — so while I’m not always making precise pulls, having the ability to adjust the focus ring’s function is handy.
The front of the lens features a 67mm filter thread, which has been a standard diameter for Tamron lenses lately. The lens hood that comes in the box features a convenient sliding door to adjust spinning filters like a variable-ND or a circular polarizer. I’m seeing this more often with mirrorless lenses, and I’m a big fan. That said, I rarely use the lens hood.
The rest of the lens is pretty straightforward. There is a focus limiter switch and a customizable control button on the side, and near the base is a USB-C port to tether the lens to the Tamron Lens Utility software on a phone or computer.
While there is no dedicated AF/MF switch, it was easy enough for me to assign this function to the lens’s customizable button. Additionally the focus ring is always responsive, even in AF mode, and allows for smooth and fine-tuned manual adjustments.
A Great Walkaround Lens
I’ve always loved medium-telephoto focal lengths, not just for portraiture but as a walkaround lens. It’s the filmmaker in me, as longer lenses show us the world in ways that we rarely get to see and do wonders for painting frames with a sense of story. That was advice I got early on in film school: put the camera in a place that isn’t where our human eyes would be. So despite the intellectual side of my brain telling me that I should test a 90mm Macro lens by shoving the lens in front of some plants — you know, doing some macro photography (and don’t worry, I still did that) — I threw the lens and camera into my bag, hopped on the train to New York, and did some street photography around Midtown.
Usually, in this scenario, I’d use a faster 85mm, so while not too far off, a 90mm f/2.8 was a tad of an adjustment for framing and aperture. However, after a couple of minutes, my brain recalibrated.
Something I immediately noticed was how tack-sharp the images are. They’re very sharp. It’s the level of detail expected from a 90mm macro. Still, it speaks to the beauty of this newly redesigned version: it can truly handle a high-megapixel modern mirrorless sensor. I still believe there’s plenty of life left in adapting DSLR lenses to mirrorless. However, when using a lens like this that Tamron designed to take full advantage of, say, the 61 megapixels of a Sony a7R V, the detail it can resolve is astounding.
Signage, people, the leading lines of the strange and otherworldly post-modern architecture of Midtown West that juxtaposes the historic stone masonry of the old Post Office, now train station, it’s all sharp.
Subject separation from the out-of-focus backgrounds is also a standout feature. People love to talk about “3D pop” in lenses, but subjects captured at wider apertures actually do genuinely pop. I think a lot of that has to do with Tamron’s 12-blade aperture. It’s a first for Tamron, but it’s a welcomed addition. I’ve never been that interested in sunstars, unlike Chris Niccolls, but the 12 blades do a great job here.
The vignette is well controlled, and the bokeh is quite pleasant when wide open. There’s a bit of cats-eyeing going on in the corners, but that never bothers me. When colors and detail definition are this strong, things like that are hardly noticeable, especially to the non-photographers who will be looking at the photos. Clinical optical perfection is boring anyway, and a lens like this is best used out in the world, not against a test chart.
While I would typically prefer a lens to be wider and a bit faster for portraits, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 also did an excellent job in an impromptu headshot session.
I think walking around Comic Con was a bit too close quarters for 90mm, but even still, it performed great.
Macro Shots: The Good Stuff
I can already hear everyone telling me I’m using this lens wrong. Don’t worry; I did some Macro shooting, too.
What I can say is that it’s simply the best macro lens I’ve ever used for the price.
It’s hard to quantify the performance of a macro lens because every situation calls for different needs, and frankly, if you get close enough to a subject, it all starts to look the same. But what stood out to me, again, was the level of detail this lens resolves. I tested it while at my parents’ house in New Jersey, and naturally, my mom has a ton of festive autumn plants and pumpkins around. Seeing not just the veins of leaves but the textures of the skin on a parsley leaf was fantastic, in the literal sense of the word. The hairs and fibers on the pumpkin stems were on full display (even the ceramic ones). Even the hairs of the individual blades of Jersey Shore beach grass blowing in the wind were fully visible with great detail.
Taking the lens inside for fun, I also shoved it in front of some hand-painted wine bottles and the embroidery of the logo on my hat.
It’s a No-Brainer
There are plenty of medium-telephoto f/2.8 macro lenses out there. And on the whole, they’re all pretty darn good. Macro photography is such a unique use case as it is that I don’t think you can go wrong in this category. However, when you factor in all the things the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro has going for it, there isn’t much of a reason for a Nikon or Sony shooter to go with anything else.
It’s lightweight, easy to handhold, tack sharp, has pleasing renderings in shadows, details, and corners; and does both macro and non-macro photography well. It’s marketed as a macro lens, but the uniqueness of a 90mm focal length over the typical 100mm in this lens class speaks to the legacy Tamron has forged with this type of lens for over 40 years. It’s a Swiss army knife of a prime lens that rightfully earns its spot in a camera bag for any kind of shoot, and it just happens to take extraordinarily detailed and stellar 1:1 macro shots.
And for the (relatively) low price of $699, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD Macro punches far above its weight class. If you’re shooting on Nikon or Sony and never ventured outside of first party lenses, try this one out and you’ll never look back.
Welcome to a PetaPixel Showcase, in which our staff gives you a hands-on with unique and interesting products from across the photography landscape. The Showcase format affords manufacturers the opportunity to sponsor hands-on time with their products and our staff, and it lets them highlight what features they think are worth noting, but the opinions expressed from PetaPixel staff are genuine. Showcases should not be considered an endorsement by PetaPixel.