The User's Review: Tamron and Promaster Zoom Lens AF 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 LD Tele-Macro (1:2)

Although my Tamron and Promaster are with Pentax and Canon mounts, respectively, I see that they share more similarities in their specifications and appearances. Therefore, I put them together to review.

Marked specifications on both lenses besides those in this review's title: Macro (180-300mm); focus distance range of  ∞-0.95 m (3.1 ft); filter size 62 mm; 6-digit SNs; Assessed in China. Both share the same lens hood and front cap.

On the Tamron, it's also labelled as 572D, Tamron, Japan. I saw Tamron 572D with Canon and Nikon mounts.

My Pentax mount Tamron (I believe, it's equivalent to Pentax F mount) also has a aperture ring, which makes it compatible with a wide range of Pentax SLRs from digital to MF bodies. With a AF Pentax body, the ring needs to be lucked at A mark. The actual focus range on a Pentax DSLR should be between 112-480mm due to the 1.6x factor. Both Tamron lenses operate smoothly, I mean the zoom and focus rings. Comparing with my Simga 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 (Macro 200-300) (with a Minolta A mount), its zoom ring feels harder to turn between 150-300 mm, which is not happened in my two Tamrons.

I like Tamrons because they produce good images at their long end and in dim conditions. Probably Tamrons have a larger front element of 62mm (vs. 58mm in my Sigma).

In the two above images shot with my Tamron for pantax, the long hairs around the squirrel's mouth and bright lines on the moon were not caught by my bare eyes from the distances on site. I mean that the images through the lens picked up more details than my eyes.