Seeking the perfect travel duo for Sony cameras

One of the biggest dilemmas with travel is what lenses — and how many — to take. Have you been seeking the perfect travel lenses for Sony full-frame cameras? Then perhaps these Tamron lenses could be for you.

When Tamron heard I was heading off to Tropical Far North Queensland for a week, they didn’t hesitate to get two lenses to me quickly — the 28-200mm and the 17-28mm. I can’t say I was disappointed.

The travel duo

What’s so special about this travel duo? From a super-wide 17mm to a telephoto 200mm with just two lenses. Normally it would take three lenses to cover that range. I have a Sony 17-35mm, a 28-75mm and a 70-300mm, and I didn’t take any of them!

The 28-200mm lens also has a 1:3.1 macro (minimum focusing distance of 0.19m), which meant I didn’t need to pack a separate macro lens either. The combined weight was less than 1 kg and both having a 67mm filter thread meant I only needed one filter ring for my CPL and Neutral Density filters. I could pack two Sony a7R III bodies, two lenses, filters, battery and charger in my carry on luggage for under 6 kg! Big bonus!

The 28-200mm lens offers versatility

Tamron touts this lens as “The new standard in portability.” I must admit I did use this lens a LOT. It’s lightweight, small and durable. Even in the hot tropical extremes (we had 100% humidity one day) it rarely fogged up (as long as the lens cap was off).

I found to have the 28-200mm range to be perfectly acceptable in almost all conditions, only a few times I missed my Tamron 70-300mm. If I needed a slightly wider angle I could bring out the second camera, which the 17-28mm lens lived on.

Having the 1:3.1 macro was super handy as well. Starting at f/2.8 was good at 28mm, but once the zoom was brought into action that changed to an acceptable f/5.6. Between the minimum focal distance of 0.19m (1:3.1 macro magnification) and the focal range, the aperture and close focusing makes for a VERY versatile lens.

From shooting epic landscapes to portraits, flowers, birds and butterflies, in macro it performed quite well in most shooting aspects (even though technically not a true macro of 1:1). Even action shots were handled well, from a complete novice side of things too. Trying to catch an Australian Salt Water Crocodile in action is tougher than it looks and trust me, I wanted every millimeter of the 200mm for that!

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The perfect partner 17-28mm lens

The 17-28mm f/2.8 offers the extended range of 17-28mm, leaving off where the telephoto starts. I found having the 17mm in the small, compact lens was perfect for travel. My Sony 16-35mm is a beautiful wide-angle lens but larger and heavier than the Tamron as well as having a slightly larger diameter. I can’t say I used the lens at f/2.8 much, but if used for astrophotography, I could see where that could come in handy.

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The proof is in the photos

Well the proof is in the photos, right? I used only these two lenses for a week of traveling to Cairns. From the Daintree to Atherton Tablelands. Hot, tropical, steamy conditions and neither lens skipped a beat.

On one particularly humid day, I put the lens cap on and the 28-200mm fogged up a touch. Once I took the lens cap off, it quickly unfogged. I kept the lens cover off unless traveling in the bag.

The macro was actually far more impressive than I had originally given it credit for, but then I do love using the 300mm for macro (even with the minimum focusing distance of 0.8m), so I am not sure why I was surprised. It also has a lovely bokeh too. True, it’s not a true macro in the sense of it, but does some fabulous close-ups.

The wide-angle, while not as sharp as my Sony Zeiss 16-35mm, still produced lovely images in a very hazy tropical heat. I found the focus fast and quiet and handled everything I threw at it. The 28-200mm, I occasionally had trouble with the autofocus when shooting into really bright light, as well as really low light. But in general, was relatively fast and quiet. I still found some color aberration in high contrast areas, similar to the 70-300mm. But this is easily corrected in Lightroom and does not really affect the finished images.

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So is this Tamron duo the perfect Sony travel kit?

If you are looking to purchase a wide-angle lens and a great telephoto lens for your Sony full-frame camera, then these two lenses might just be the ticket. Weighing less than1kg, I could confidently pack two bodies and two lenses and know I had pretty much everything covered. There is rarely a perfect solution, but going from 17-200mm between two lenses is very handy. They are good, durable lenses, giving great images at an affordable price.