Well, either the rumours were wrong or Tamron’s hand was forced by all the leaks lately, but they’ve now officially announced the new Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.34 Di III-A VC VXD APS-C mirrorless lens. Initially, it’s available for Sony E mount and it will be coming for Fujifilm X at a future date.
It is possible that the rumoured September 24th announcement date wasn’t entirely inaccurate, though. Today seems to be an announcement and pre-orders opening up. So, it’s possible that September 24th is when it actually starts shipping. At least for the Sony version.
A listing appeared on the B&H website yesterday, with most of the details of the lens, but without a price. The price was rumoured to be $699 and that’s proven to be true and is the price now published on the B&H website and other retailers. The rest of the specs aren’t really that much of a secret, though, as those were leaked a few days ago after it was apparently sent to retailers.
| Focal Length | 18-300mm |
| Lens Mount | Sony E / Fuji X |
| Format Compatibility | APS-C |
| Focus Type | Autofocus |
| Optics | 19 elements in 15 groups |
| Minimum focus distance | 15cm (wide) / 99cm (Tele) |
| Maximum Aperture | f/2.5-6.3 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/22-40 |
| Angle of view | 77° 24' to 5° 30' |
| Aperture blades | 7, rounded |
| Stabilisation | Yes, VC |
| Filter Size | 67 mm (front) |
| Dimensions | 75.5 x 125.6mm (Sony) / 75.5 x 125.8mm (Fuji) |
| Weight | 620g |
As rumoured, the new lens is $699 and it’s available for pre-order now in Sony E mount version. There’s no word on exactly when we’ll see the Fuji X version, although that one’s not offered up for pre-order at all and doesn’t list a price. I expect that when it does become available, however, it will be the same as the Sony version.
The Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD lens features moisture-resistant construction to prevent water ingress and is Tamron’s attempt to bring their “all-in-one” philosophy to Fuji shooters (eventually). It offers a whopping 16.6x zoom ratio with a minimum focus distance of just 15cm and a linear focus motor that Tamron boasts as having “some of the best performance in its class”.
At the moment, the Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD is available to pre-order now for $699 in Sony E mount. I think it’s perhaps likely that the September 24th date previously rumoured is when it will start to ship. There’s no word yet on exactly when we’ll see the Fuji X mount version, but they say it’s coming.
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