Written by Drew Folgmann

A while back Tamron announced the 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD at a price point of $799, which has many Sony users excited. Up to this point, the only other similar native focal length is the 24-70 2.8 G Master (GM), which comes in at a whopping price tag of $2,198.

With such a large gap in price, many people are questioning is the GM that much better? In the many tests, I’ve seen it appears that the Tamron has slightly more distortion than the GM but generally is comparable in sharpness and overall performance. The biggest key features, however, which sold me on getting the Tamron over the GM were its size, weight, and minimum focusing distance. With these major differences, the price point is only a bonus to me. The Tamron has an insane minimum focusing distance of 7.5 inches (GM 1.24 ft), which is surprisingly good for such a useable focal length. Additionally, it’s very small with a length of only 4.6 inches (GM 5.35 inches) and a weight of 19.4oz (GM 31.25oz). One of the reasons I picked up the Sony A7 system in the first place was to avoid the inconveniences of clunky DSLRs which the weight and the size of the GM seem to go against.

The major qualm some have with the Tamron lens is its 28mm focal length versus the 24mm focal length of the GM. In my opinion, however, as an everyday carry, 28mm should be plenty wide. If you are constantly in a situation where you think 24mm is detrimental to you capturing the shot. You should probably be looking at other lenses entirely such as the 16-35mm 2.8 gm or equivalently wide fixed lenses.

For these reasons, I think the Tamron 28-75 F/2.8 Di III RXD is a no brainer at the price point of $799. It fulfills all major requirements and preserves the compact and lightweight size of the Sony A7 mirrorless system. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below.

Get Featured

Interested in sharing your story? Apply to have your work featured with your portfolio and a brief introduction via our Be a Contributor page. We'll look out for your email!

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to check out our YouTube Channel for tutorials, cinematic edits, and client projects!