Tamron’s doubling down today. As well as the new 150-500mm f/5-6.7 full-frame lens we posted about earlier, Tamron has also announced their new 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD ultra-wide zoom lens. It’s designed for Sony APS-C E mount cameras, and proclaims to be the world’s first ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for Sony E mount APS-C cameras with an f/2.8 aperture.
Despite that wide aperture, though, it’s a pretty small and lightweight lens, coming in at a mere 350g – significantly lighter than the 11-16mm f/2.8 APS-C lens that Tokina released last year for Nikon and Canon DSLRs.
The Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 uses an RXD motor unit, which utilises an actuator to control the rotational angle of the motor. A sensor precisely detects the position of the lens for quick and accurate autofocus. But with a lens this wide, you’re often shooting things like landscapes, or astrophotography, where you’re focused at infinity and autofocus doesn’t really even matter.
| Focal Length | 11-20mm |
| Lens Mount | Sony E |
| Format Compatibility | APS-C |
| Focus Type | Autofocus |
| Optics | 12 elements in 10 groups |
| Minimum focus distance | 15cm (wide) / 24cm (Tele) |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.8 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/16 |
| Angle of view | 105° 20' to 71° 35' |
| Aperture blades | 7, rounded |
| Stabilisation | None |
| Filter Size | 67mm |
| Dimensions | 73 x 86.2mm |
| Weight | 335g |
The new lens is strictly for APS-C format Sony E mount cameras. You can likely use it on your full-frame bodies, although you’re not going to get full sensor coverage. Being an APS-C lens, it’s quite small and light, too, measuring only 86.2mm long and weighing 335g. When you consider that it’s an f/2.8 constant aperture lens, though, that’s pretty impressive!
The lens contains 12 elements in 10 groups, including two GM (Glass Molded Aspherical), two LD (Low Dispersion) and one XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) elements to help suppress chromatic aberration and create sharp, crisp images. Tamron says that Sony’s lens correction features further enhance the sharpness of the lens.
As with the 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens, the 11-16mm f/2.8 doesn’t seem to be available to pre-order yet, but it will cost around $829 when it is. The lens is expected to start shipping on June 24th, although Tamron says that due to the current global health crisis, that release date or product supply schedule is subject to change. For now, you can find out more on the Tamron website.
I think this could prove to be quite a popular lens amongst landscape, astro and architecture photographers, but also particularly amongst vloggers using Sony APS-C cameras. Now Sony just needs to release an APS-C body that has a flippy out LCD like the Sony A7c.
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