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January 29, 2008 12:04 AM PST

Tamron details four new zoom lenses

by Stephen Shankland
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Tamron's new 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto for Canon SLRs will go on sale March 7.

(Credit: Tamron)

LAS VEGAS--Tamron, one of the larger third-party SLR (single-lens reflex) lens makers, on Monday detailed four new lenses and March launch plans, the week that the Photo Marketing Association trade show begins here. However, the company didn't reveal prices.

For telephoto fans, the company announced its SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di. Its close-focus distance of 0.95 meters provides a magnification ratio of 1:3.1 (which means a subject will appear on the image sensor nearly a third the size it does in real life), and it features a constant f/2.8 aperture across its zoom range and three low-dispersion lenses.

Tamron will ship Pentax-mount and Nikon-mount versions of this 17-50mm f/2.8 lens in March.

(Credit: Tamron)

The lens will go on sale for Canon SLRs--full-frame or otherwise--on March 7. It'll be released in Pentax, Sony, and Nikon mounts at an undetermined future date, the company said.

Another pair of closely related lenses bearing the SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II name also are in the works. One will ship March 7 for Pentax SLRs and the other on March 13 for Nikon. The Nikon version has a built-in motor, and both maintain a constant f/2.8 aperture. They're geared solely for use on SLRs with smaller image sensors such as Nikon's 24x16mm DX size.

Last, Tamron announced the AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II to ship for small-frame Nikon SLRs on March 7. Lenses with this wide a zoom range typically compromise with distortion, sharpness, vignetting, and chromatic aberration, but they're still popular for people who don't like changing lenses or for tourists who don't want to lug their higher-end glass around.

Tamron's 18-200mm super-zoom will ship in March for Nikon cameras.

(Credit: Tamron)

Also, last week, Tamron said it will begin selling its AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di for Nikon SLRs on February 1.

Correction 9:45 p.m. PST: The photo caption incorrectly described the 18-200mm lens. It's for Nikon-mount SLRs.

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
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This blog sheds light on digital photography subjects such as cameras, photo editing, and Web sites. Shankland joined CNET News in 1998 after a five-year stint as a science writer. He's a lab rat who grew up in Los Alamos, N.M., and graduated from Harvard.

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