Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD

Interchangeable lens cameras open up a world of creative options, but you don't always want to carry a small bag of lenses around with your mirrorless camera. The Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD (A$1,199) is a zoom that covers a wide range of views, delivers crisp photos, and macro focus. It's better built than you'd expect too, with weather sealing, a plus for travel and outdoor photography. If you're tired of swapping lenses with your Fujifilm X or Sony E mirrorless camera, the Tamron 18-300mm is worth a look—it's one of the best all-in-one zooms we've tested, earning it our Editors' Choice award.

Big Zoom, Narrow Aperture

Photographers buy interchangeable lens cameras for their flexibility, handling, and imaging advantages over smartphones and point-and-shoot compacts. But there are times when you don't want to carry a bag with three or four lenses. If you're out for a walk, spending a day in the city, or packing light for a trip, a single lens is an attractive proposition.

Tamron is one of the innovators in the space, with its most recent SLR superzoom covering an incredible 18-400mm range. The 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD doesn't have quite as much zoom power, but makes up for it with strong image quality and weather sealing. It's also made for different cameras—the 18-300mm is available exclusively for mirrorless cameras, not SLRs.

The 18-300mm covers the APS-C sensor format, with an angle of view roughly matching 27-450mm in full-frame terms. You can use it on full-frame cameras too, but with reduced resolution—this lens is made for Sony cameras like the a6100, not the full-frame a7, a1, and a9 series. All Fujifilm X mount models use the APS-C format.

Its widest angle is a moderate one, similar to what you get with most smartphones, and it can zoom in for tight views of distant subjects. There's a caveat—the lens doesn't gather that much light, so it's best used in bright settings, especially when zoomed in.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 300mm, f/6.3, 1/500-second, ISO 100

We should note that the 18-300mm and other all-in-one lenses don't cover every angle—no lens of this type covers an ultra-wide angle. If you want a lens that covers a wider view than the starter zoom that came with your camera, look at the Sony E 10-18mm OSS or Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 for Sony systems, or the Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 OIS WR for Fujifilm cameras.

Construction and Handling

The 18-300mm is well built, especially when you consider its range of coverage and relatively low $700 price. It's a plastic barrel lens, but the materials themselves are sturdy—the housing is in no way flimsy. Internal seals add moisture resistance, good news for photogs who use weather-sealed cameras like the Sony a6600 and Fujifilm X-T4. The front glass has anti-smudge fluorine protection, a worthwhile addition to keep it free of fingerprints.

At its shortest position, the 18-300mm comes in at 4.9 by 3.0 inches (HD). It telescopes to zoom, about doubling in length at 300mm. A zoom lock switch is included to keep the lens set to its shortest position. It comes in handy when carrying the camera on a strap—gravity can make the zoom creep out to the 300mm position if you leave it unlocked.

At around 1.4 pounds, it's not an exceptionally heavy lens, but is a bit more to carry than Sony's E-mount all-in-one, the 1-pound 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE. Fujifilm doesn't have its own superzoom; the closest competitor for the X system is the XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR, which covers the same wide angle as the Tamron 18-300mm, but doesn't zoom in nearly as much.

Tamron bundles the expected accessories with the 18-300m. The lens ships with front and rear protective caps and a petal-style lens hood. The hood ratchets on and off with a simple twist of its bayonet mount and can be mounted in reverse for easier storage. The front element has a thread for 67mm filters.

Handling and Autofocus

The 18-300mm's big on-lens control, the one you'll use the most, is its zoom ring. As is the case with most lenses, Tamron has gone with a rubber wrap with ridges to cover the ring and make it easier to grip. There's a little bit of torque required to set the zoom, a byproduct of the telescoping design, but not more than other lenses of this type.

Tamron uses linear VXD focus for the 18-300mm, a type of motor that is both quick and quiet. Focus response is instant, and the lens racked focus from close to far in an instant with our Sony a7R IV test camera.

Manual focus is available too. The lens doesn't include a toggle switch, so you need to dive into your camera menu to change modes. Once you do, you'll control focus using the narrower of the two on-lens control rings, the one positioned closer to the mount. The ring is bare plastic, with ridges for a more ready grip. It turns with a little bit of resistance, with the nonlinear response preferred for photography—turn the ring slowly for fine adjustments, or quickly for dramatic shifts in the plane of focus.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 300mm, f/6.3, 1/500-second, ISO 100

Serious videographers may not love the nonlinear response—it's not a good fit for use with complicated follow-focus accessories used for moviemaking. Vloggers, one-man-band documentarians, and aspiring Peter Jacksons can still find some use for the lens for video—autofocus is quiet, and there's virtually no focus breathing. The breathing effect, a visual change in angle of view when focus is shifted, is distracting for video—we're happy to see Tamron avoid it with this optical design.

Macro focus is an especially strong point. At the 18mm setting, the lens is able to focus right up to the front of its glass, making it useful for dramatic close-up shots and 1:2 life-size magnification. At 300mm it can still lock pretty close, to about three feet, so you can enjoy good macro results throughout the zoom range.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 129mm, f/8, 1/200-second, ISO 160

One note on the close focus—the fluorine lens protection comes in handy for photos where a subject is nearly touching the front of the lens. Dust on the surface of a lens is typically inconsequential to imaging, but is visible when focusing so close. Take extra care to wipe off the front element when using the macro focus.

Tamron includes its VC optical stabilization in the lens. It's beneficial even if your camera has its own stabilized sensor (IBIS), as you'll enjoy a steadier image in your viewfinder while you're setting up your shot. I managed consistently blur-free photos at 1/8-second at the 300mm setting, and was able to push to a half-second with extreme care. With stabilization this effective, you'll need to worry more about blur caused from moving subjects, not from shaking hands.

Tamron 18-300mm: In the Lab

I used the Sony a7R IV in its 26MP APS-C crop mode to test the 18-300mm, and software from Imatest to quantify the results. The pair delivers strong resolution for the 26MP sensor format throughout its range, with excellent results at 18mm (2,900 lines) giving way to lesser, but still pretty good resolution at 300mm (2,100 lines).

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 300mm, f/6.3, 1/500-second, ISO 1600

Those are good marks for a superzoom. You'll still want to follow the rules of photography—for landscape shots it's generally a good idea to narrow the aperture by a stop or two when you have the light, and that's the story with the 18-300mm as well. And even with the excellent optical stabilization, remember to use a shorter shutter speed to freeze action—I recommend 1/500-second for sports action and backyard bird photography.

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If you use your camera in its JPG mode, you'll enjoy automatic correction for distortion. Photographers who use more advanced Raw capture modes will need to contend with both. The optics show strong barrel distortion at 18mm and slight inward pincushion distortion when zoomed in.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 18mm, f/8, 1/30-second, ISO 125

Adobe Lightroom Classic already has a correction profile for the lens—if you use it for Raw, development corrections are a checkbox away. Adobe's major competitor, Phase One Capture One Pro, doesn't have a profile for the lens at press time, and Phase One is generally less good than Adobe about profiling lenses.

In-camera corrections also remove a very modest vignette. The Tamron 18-300mm shows slightly dimmed corners when working at its maximum aperture in Raw capture mode, but it's slight enough that it's not really worth thinking about.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 56mm, f/4.5, 1/100-second, ISO 125

The 18-300mm has a rather modest f-stop, but can still blur backgrounds under the right circumstances, and especially when working near in its close-up focus range. The quality of the blur is pleasing too. Defocused highlights are rounded, with soft edges. The aperture blades are also round, so images will still show rounded highlights when the lens is stopped down.

Landscape photographers after the sunstar look can get good multi-point starbursts from the 18-300mm with the right settings. You'll want to use a wide angle and stop down all the way to f/22 for the clearest multi-point starbursts. The effect lessens as the aperture opens, with very subtle lines showing between f/5.6 and f/8.

An All-in-One to Please Shutterbugs

The past decade has seen a general uptick in optical quality among lenses in general. There are a few factors at play—it's easier to design lenses for mirrorless systems, and images get a benefit from lenses that sit very close to the image sensor, as well as the precise, speedy on-sensor autofocus.

Sony a7R IV (APS-C mode), 19mm, f/6.3, 1/500-second, ISO 100

The Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD puts to bed the notion that an all-in-one zoom has to be one of low optical quality. Its optics net crisp photos and can blur backgrounds under the right conditions. Autofocus is quick enough for action shots, close-up macro work is doable, and splash protection gives comfort when working under rain clouds.

The obvious drawback is the aperture—F3.5-6.3 optics mean you need to work under decent light to get good results, especially when you're zoomed all the way in. If you're more interested in making images after the sun goes down, look to an F2.8 zoom—the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 is our favorite for Sony cameras, and the Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 is there for the X system.

You'll want to carry (and buy) a second lens to cover telephoto subjects if you opt for an F2.8 as your standard zoom. The Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD is a strong option for photographers who want to take just one lens for a hike, vacation, or afternoon with the family. It's one of the better all-in-one zooms out there, and our Editors' Choice.