Best Tamron and Samyang lenses for Sony E mount

Following the article on the best Sigma lenses for Sony cameras, now I’d like to share the best Tamron and Samyang lenses for the Sony E mount. Even though these two brands don’t offer as many lenses as Sigma in this mount, they are still great options.

Like Sigma, Samyang and Tamron aren’t new in the world of photography, the first having been created in 1972 and the second in 1950! Tamron, like Sigma, was seen as a low-cost option, compared to the offerings of manufacturers like Nikon and Canon, while Samyang was more known for low-cost manual focus lenses. Tamron has, however, improved its manufacturing, with better built products and stricter quality control in the last few years, while Samyang took advantage of the mirrorless boom to start designing autofocus lenses, though they’re using a more plastic construction compared to their manual lenses, which were all metal.

Tamron has mainly started to design zooms for the Sony E mount, while Samyang has mainly just prime lenses. This means they’re not in direct competition and it gives us more variety. The zooms designed by Tamron for mirrorless cameras are quite particular, offering for the most part a constant f/2.8 aperture, without the dimensions and weight of the lenses they made for DSLRs. As for Samyang, we can more or less split their lenses into 3 ranges: a light and compact f/2.8 wide angle range, an affordable f/1.4 standard range and a versatile f/1.8 range.

Unlike Sigma, these lenses are only available for Sony’s E-mount and no other. But as with Sigma, it’s highly likely that they will end up getting into other brands’ mirrorless mounts such as Canon and Nikon in the near future. By the way, we also have a full guide summarizing all the best current Sony lenses.

You might wonder why I’m talking about these two brands in particular Well, when I switched to a mirrorless camera, I started looking at everything that is available for Sony E-mount. I discovered that Tamron and Samyang offer great options at much lower prices. If you’re wondering what I chose when I switched to mirrorless, I opted for two Tamron lenses and one Samyang:

• Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD
• Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2
• Samyang AF 35mm f/1.8 

Here again, the APS-C format is the poor cousin of the FF, since Tamron has released very few lenses for this format, and Samyang only one. Nevertheless, when combined with Sigma’s prime lenses, the zooms by Tamron are good companions and they’ll help you equip yourself relatively well, even if we remain far from what Fujifilm has to offer (which remains the reference, in my opinion, if you want to stick to the APS-C format).

If you want to go further, I invite you to have a look at our complete page summarizing all available lenses for Sony APS-C cameras (Sony and all third-party brands).

Here are the three lenses detailed below:

1. Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD
2. Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD
3. Samyang AF 12mm f/2

Tamron’s 11-20mm is a wide-angle solution to replace Sony’s aging 10-18mm, with a larger aperture. It is the best choice in APS-C for this type of lens, and even capable of competing with the few fixed focal lengths in this range.

It offers fairly good build quality, similar to the brand’s full-frame lenses. Namely, this includes a refined barrel, devoid of any features and customization buttons, in order to reduce costs. Optical quality is very good, especially after closing down a stop, as the edges are a bit behind at full aperture. Vignetting and distortion are more prominent at 11mm, but more discreet at other focal lengths. On the other hand, flare can be quite prominent, which is not uncommon for this kind of lens. The AF is fast and reliable, but not the fastest offered by Tamron.

In summary, this is a very good choice. It’s a bit expensive (900€) but it can compete with the best lenses of this kind in APS-C, especially at f/5.6, which is a popular aperture with this kind of lens, especially for landscape or architecture photography.

Here again, Tamron is proposing an alternative to the Sony 16-55 and some other similar zooms, like the Sony 18-105mm f/4 or the Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4.

The construction is identical to other Tamron zooms for the Sony E mount, good-quality, without many features to reduce costs. Optical quality is excellent for this type of zoom, as good as the Sony 16-55, with an improvement by closing down one stop. The longest focal length of 70mm isn’t ideal, especially at full aperture, but the Sony doesn’t cover this focal length, so it remains an advantage of the Tamron. The optical defects are mainly distortion at the shortest focal length and vignetting at full aperture, but those can be corrected with post processing. The bokeh is enhanced by the 9 aperture blades. It seems that Tamron has taken more into account for a more portrait-oriented lens like this 17-70mm than they did on the 11-20mm with its 7 blades. The AF is fast and precise.

It’s still a very good option. While it is a bit expensive (900€), it’s cheaper than the 16-55mm from Sony. Let’s hope Tamron continues to expand the APS-C range, which is still quite limited.

This is the first and only lens with AF from Samyang in APS-C for the moment. The brand chose to offer an ultra wide-angle lens, something that Samyang is fond of, since they also offer an 18mm in FF.

The construction is very good, and so is the optical quality in the center, but the edges are far behind at large apertures. The optical defects are more annoying, because although distortion and vignetting are okay, chromatic aberrations and flare are significant. On the other hand, it does well with coma and can therefore be used in astrophotography.

If you prefer fixed focal lengths or find Tamron’s 11-20mm too expensive, this 12mm can be found at the very affordable price of 400€, less than half the price of the Tamron or the 12mm f/2.8 Zeiss Touit.

Tamron also offers an 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 for Sony APS-C, but it’s an old version with an outdated AF and image quality far from the two zooms mentioned above. Honestly, if you’re considering an APS-C or a FF to get this kind of zoom, look at expert bridges instead. However, Tamron has just announced that they will update this lens at the same time that they offer it for Fujifilm’s X mount.

As with the Sigma list, here I’ll discuss the lenses that I consider to be the most interesting, starting with the zooms and then the primes from Tamron and Samyang. I also invite you to have a look at our complete and regularly updated page dedicated to all Sony FE lenses for full frame cameras.

Here are the lenses detailed below:

1. Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD
2. Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2
3. Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD G2
4. Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 Di III VXD
5. Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD
6. Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD
7. Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD
8. Samyang AF 24mm f/1.8 FE
9. Samyang AF 35mm f/1.8 FE
10. Samyang AF 45mm f/1.8 FE
11. Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 II FE
12. Samyang AF 75mm f/1.8 FE
13. Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE
14. Samyang AF 135mm f/1.8 FE

While Tamron offered, for DSLRs, a very high-end 15-30mm f/2.8 and a more “amateur” 17-35mm f/2.8-4, it seems that they wanted to compromise between the two for Sony mirrorless by keeping the constant aperture of one and the compact quality of the other.

The construction is good and the AF is quite fast and reliable, although Tamron’s RXD engine isn’t the fastest. The optical quality is very good, but lags a little behind at long focal lengths. Vignetting is present, as well as distortion, especially at 17mm, but chromatic aberrations and flare are absent, a very good thing that’s difficult to obtain on a lens of this type. The focal length range is reduced, but this allows it to be the lightest in its class.

At short focal lengths, it competes with the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 for a much lower price, around 900€ (the Sony costs 2600€…). On the other hand, it doesn’t have any advanced features, nor the ergonomic comfort that the Sony provides. In short, it’s a simple lens: you place it on your body and shoot.

Announced at the same time as the 24 and 35mm f/2.8, Tamron put out three lenses with almost the same dimensions and weight. This one offers a 20mm fixed focal length that Tamron is presenting instead of a zoom.

The build quality is similar to the 17-28, 28-75 and 70-180 f/2.8. The optical quality is good, but it will help to close one or two stops, with excellent optical quality at f/5.6. AF is a bit slow and noisy, with some stuttering in some conditions, as the OSD engine taken from Tamron’s DSLR lenses doesn’t seem to be well-adapted to Sony mirrorless. Distortion is very high but it doesn’t really have any other optical flaws. Moreover, it offers a 1:2 magnification ratio, which allows it to be used in proxy-photography and for close-ups with interesting perspectives.

For a little less than 350€, this is a good lens, even if some would say that if you already have the 17-28mm, the need for this 20mm and the 24mm from the same range will be reduced. Its small size, light weight and 1:2 ratio are nevertheless good advantages. I personally chose this wide-angle lens when I switched to Sony. Check out my full review of this lens!

Want to know about other wide-angle lens options besides the 20mm and 17-28mm? We wrote a full article on the best wide-angle lenses for Sony.

The first version of this lens had notably led Sigma to release their 28-70mm Contemporary. This current version seems to be better on many points compared to the first. Tamron did not hesitate to improve on the first version, which was already good, and they produced a “G2” version that’s even better.

Having almost the same size and weight, this version has a new autofocus (VXD) which is said to be much better than the first version. Tamron also decided to add a customizable AF button, but those who like to switch quickly from MF/AF mode are out of luck, since the brand didn’t want to add a switch of this type. The lens now also offers a USB-C port to update the lens or to choose to use the focus ring as an aperture ring.

The sharpness is good, better than the first version, even at full aperture. The vignetting at full aperture and distortion at full zoom are notable, however. For about 1000€, this lens remains a very nice alternative to the Sony, which costs much more for not actually much better.

Tamron had already done this on DSLRs by offering a 35-150mm f/2.8-4 of very good quality, built in such a way to limit the size and weight. At the end of 2021, Tamron decided to re-use this same focal length range for Sony full frame cameras.

However, what Tamron offers here is a heavy and imposing lens (>1Kg). The idea is of course to compete with a classic duo of a 24-70mm + 70-200mm f/2.8 or even their own offerings with the 28-75mm + 70-180mm. Here, Tamron has focused on image quality, producing a lens with superb sharpness from full aperture. Closing the aperture a stop makes things even better.

The autofocus remains inferior to the excellent AF engine in my 70-180mm from Tamron. This is a pricey lens at almost 1800€. But if you are considering a classic duo as mentioned above, the price is about what would be expected for a very good quality lens.

In December 2022, Tamron released a 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 to offer a lighter option to their 150-500mm and a competitor to Sigma’s 100-400mm. Shortly after, Sigma released a 60-600mm, even more versatile but also a lot heavier and expensive.

This 50-400mm delivers a good optical performance. It remains better than the Sigma 100-400mm which is cheaper, and quite close to the 150-500mm of the brand. The latter is also cheaper but heavier than the Sony 100-400mm GM, much more expensive but with a better build construction. The AF performs well although it struggles a bit with unpredictable subjects, like most Sigma and Tamron telezooms, while the Sony GM does much better in this case. Chromatic aberrations are well controlled, and the lens shows a pronounced level of distortion and vignetting. But as always, these can be corrected with post-processing software.

In the end, Tamron offers here a light and good quality lens for its 1500€ price. However, the tripod collar (which can be configured via USB port on computer directly), is not provided and you will have to spend around 150€ extra.

Tamron surprised us by releasing this lens since we were used to the 70-200mm range and the constant size. They chose to limit the long focal length to 180mm in order to keep a 67mm filter diameter, like the other zooms, and a variable size to gain in size and weight, like Canon did with its 70-200mm RF.

The construction is very good, but on a lens of this type, even more than on the other two, the lack of advanced features such as stabilization or a distance limiter has generated criticism. However, in terms of optical quality, we can only offer praise, as it easily rivals the Sony GM, which costs more than double the price. It has very few optical defects, just some distortion, which can be easily corrected with editing. The AF is excellent, and we hope that this VXD engine will soon appear on other lenses from the brand.

It’s a great lens for about 1200€. If you prefer a constant size and advanced features, you’ll have to pay much more for the Sony, or wait for Sigma to release its DG DN for mirrorless. This is personally the lens I chose when I recently switched to the A7III.

While Sigma chose to release two long “telezooms”, a simple 100-400mm and a more high-end 150-600, Tamron chose to split the difference and reduce the long focal length and max aperture of this one, compared to their 150-600 for DSLR.

The construction is different from their other zooms. It is very good, with functions and buttons absent from their other zooms, like an AF/MF switch and a distance limiter. Tamron considered, rightly, that this type of lens can’t do without these ergonomics, as well as stabilization. The AF is very good, although more random on unpredictable subjects, as with the 150-600mm from Sigma. The Sony 200-600mm does better on this point. Image quality is very good, similar to the Sigma, though a bit behind at the longest focal length compared to the Sony. Optical flaws are moderate, and it offers the least harmonious bokeh of the three lenses we’ve discussed here, especially because of its 7-blade diaphragm.

A little more expensive than the Sigma, it is less well built overall, but it’s lighter and more compact, with performance at the level of the other brands.

The Samyang f/1.8 range is, in my opinion, the most interesting. It offers light and compact lenses with a large aperture. The 24mm is the latest in the range, and it has a specific option for astrophotography.

The construction is good, with a switch to change the focus ring to an aperture ring and a button to set the focus to infinity, useful for astrophotography, and you can customize it through the brand’s USB dock. The optical quality is good to excellent, and at first sight is better for distant subjects than close ones, which is typical for a non-macro lens. The optical defects are globally well-managed, with a little distortion. AF is very good.

This is a very balanced 24mm, offering a larger aperture than the Tamron for the same weight while remaining compact. Hard to ask for more for less than 500€.

The Sony E mount is not lacking for 35mm options, but this f/1.8 from Samyang offers, in my opinion, the most balanced features. There’s a reason I chose it for this list!

The construction is good, in the same line as the 24mm, again with a switch to convert the focus ring into an aperture ring. The AF is very fast and reliable. The optical quality is already very good at full aperture, and becomes excellent from f/2.8 on. It has few flaws, except for chromatic aberrations and visible vignetting at full aperture, as well as moderate distortion. The bokeh is smoother than the Sony f/1.8.

For less than 400€, there’s nothing to complain about with this 35mm from Samyang. Such a level of performance from Sony would certainly cost twice as much. If you want to know more about this lens, don’t hesitate to check out my full review!

If you are interested in a 35mm, we also wrote a complete article on the best 35mm for Sony cameras!

Another f/1.8 lens from Samyang that I find very pleasing. Samyang chose a 45mm focal length instead of the classic 50mm.

The construction is good, but this time the lens doesn’t have all-weather protection and doesn’t let you change the focus ring into an aperture ring. Optical quality is good at full aperture, and becomes very good to excellent from f/2.8, with overall very moderate optical defects, a remarkable performance considering the lens size. The AF is fast and reliable, but you’ll want to make sure you have the latest version of the integrated firmware, as it seems to perform better with the Sony Eye-AF.

For about 350€, it’s an excellent choice for a standard focal length that may confuse some 35 and 50mm regulars, but is quite versatile.

In 2021, Samyang updated its first version of the 50mm f/1.4 AF FE, which wasn’t a bad lens, but just not at the level of the best 50mm currently available. This new version offers a clear improvement and comes close to the Sony 50mm Zeiss.

The image quality in the center is already excellent and improves by closing a stop. The edges remain a little behind but still good. The optical defects are obviously more present than on the Sony, but the price difference will make you forget this point!

Here Samyang went for a 75mm focal length rather than the classic 85mm, which probably allowed them to reduce the dimensions a bit and keep the filter size at 58mm.

The construction is again good, though like the 45mm, it doesn’t have all-weather protection. The AF is fast and reliable, and it does have the switch to convert the focus ring into an aperture ring. Although the edges are still a bit behind the center, we get excellent image quality from f/2.8, with optical defects once again moderate.

Also offered at around 350€, it’s hard to find better and unless you absolutely need the extra 10mm, this is an obvious choice against the 85mm. This f/1.8 range is remarkable, since, for the price of a 50mm f/1.4 Sony Zeiss, you can have the 24, 35, 45 and 75mm f/1.8!

Samyang offers a 35 and a 50mm f/1.4, but they seem to be far from what this 85mm offers: it’s able to compete with the Sony GM and even manages to approach the Sigma Art.

The build quality is very good, but there is no function to transform the focus ring into an aperture ring, as on most of their f/1.8 lenses. The image quality is very good, and even becomes excellent by closing one or two stops, with moderate optical defects, except for an average flare resistance. The AF is also fast and reliable. Overall, we have here a lens that’s as good as the Sony GM for a third of the price. Only the Sigma can do better.

For less than 600€, there is little reason to choose another 85mm with an f/1.4 aperture, unless you consider a clickable aperture ring and a slightly better image quality essential, in which case you will have to spend almost double for the Sigma Art.

Don’t hesitate to read our complete article on the best 85mm for Sony cameras. Obviously, this Samyang will be in it!

Announced at the very beginning of 2022, it’s here at last. This new Samyang 135mm AF f/1.8 AF FE offers a new possibility for portrait photography fans. A classic and beloved focal length for outdoor portraits, this Samyang comes into direct competition with the very good (but very expensive) Sony 135mm GM.

Build quality is very good, even better than Samyang’s other f/1.8’s and close to what Sigma can provide in the Art range, with the switch to convert the focus ring to an aperture ring but also a distance limiter to assist AF work and an assignable button, like the Sony G/GM. The 135mm f/2 that Samyang offered for DSLRs and adapted for Sony mirrorless camera was already very good in image quality, the new f/1.8 AF improves on it by adding the AF that was missing. It is close to what Sony’s 135mm f/1.8 GM offers while being much cheaper (almost half the price). The manual f/2 version suffered from flare and chromatic aberration at wide apertures, but this is no longer the case with the f/1.8 which has the luxury of doing better on these points than the Sony GM.

For 950€, it is a 135mm lens of choice. Even if the AF is not as reactive as its Sony competitor, it costs less, weighs a little less and provides excellent quality images. The Sigma Art, adapted from the DSLR version, is clearly heavier and not as good, as is the Zeiss Batis, which is not only more expensive but also has a f/2.8 focal length (its only advantage is that it is the lightest of the 4).

If you are interested in longer lenses, please check out our article on the best Sony telephoto lenses.

Tamron and Samyang indeed offer other lenses, some of which have been mentioned above, but they’re not, in my opinion, interesting enough options to be included in the descriptive table. In particular, I’m thinking :

• The Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD is 800€, and it offers a nice focal length range and a more interesting maximum aperture than other zooms of this type. Although I said that this kind of zoom isn’t an interesting choice in general, this 28-200mm nevertheless offers more than the 24-240 from Sony.
• The Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD is also quite interesting compared to the Sony version, since it’s priced at 550€. it’s a good option if you don’t want longer focal lengths or higher quality and aperture.
• The Tamron 24 and 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2, have a very attractive price (around 200€ currently) and very good image quality. Their f/2.8 aperture seems to me less interesting than the Samyang f/1.8, which also has the same weight. By the way, we reviewed the Tamron 24mm f/2.8 extensively here on our blog. For its price, it is an excellent choice for small budgets.
• The Samyang f/2.8 range is composed of a 14, 18, 24 and 35mm. They are very light and compact lenses, but this comes at a price: lower optical quality and a plastic build.
• The 35 and 50mm f/1.4 from Samyang unfortunately do not have the image quality of the 85mm from the same range, and they’re even globally less good than the 35 and 45mm from the f/1.8 range.

With these lenses offered by Tamron and Samyang for Sony cameras, we have nice alternatives to Sony lenses, which are often more expensive and not always better if we don’t go to the high end. All three of these third-party brands, Sigma, Tamron and Samyang, allow you to equip yourself with Sony full format lenses for a much lower price, without sacrificing a certain level of quality. The APS-C format at Sony also benefits, to a lesser extent, from the offerings of these brands.

We can expect to see many more interesting lenses from these makers. Tamron, for example, has already announced the renewal of the 28-75mm f/2.8 and the development of a 35-150mm f/2-2.8 (although I hope they don’t leave the fixed focal lengths behind—in particular, a 90mm macro that Tamron had for SLRs).

I hope this article will help you choose lenses for the Sony E-mount and encourage you to give these brands a chance to prove to you that you don’t have to spend a fortune on high-end Sony lenses to make beautiful images. To go further into the details of these lenses, I invite you to check out our complete article on the best 24mm lenses for Sony cameras.

See you soon,

Sylvain