What is it about Tamron lenses that you don't like?

I have this lens. It was an emergency purchase while I was on a photo trek and I have no regrets. Build quality is quite good. It does have plastic but aside from Canon L lenses, most do. It was a replacement for the Tamron 24-135 and I do miss the longer end of that range. Aside from that, AF is reasonably fast for a Tamron lens. There is very minimal barrel and no pincushion distortion (that I've experienced so far). Images are sharp, contrast is good but not excessive, colour rendition is neutral. Performance wide open is reasonable and corner softness is well-controlled. Stop down a couple and it's sharp across the image.

As for reviews, I'm not aware of any magazine reviews available but there are plenty of user reviews at Fred Miranda.

Hello. The Tamron 28-70 is a good lens; and you won't go wrong with Vivitor or Canon. You may want to look at the article "I Love Great Optics!" by Barry Evans, Page 116, December 2002 issue of Photographic. Take care and good shooting!

I'll agree with the others here: I too have a Tamron 28-70 2.8, and it is the "second" lens I carry (my primary is a Canon 28-135 IS). I am actually quite happy with this Tamron (my 28-200 works great with my Elan 7, but produced soft focus photos on my 10-D).

Someday, I am going to give serious consideration to the Tamron 28-300 lens, as it will give me pretty much the whole range I want in a single lens.

If it's not too late you might want to look at the Tokina 28-80 AT-X Pro. I use this lens as my primary shooting lens. The build is excellent (read very little plastic) with very sharp optics.

I looked at the 28-70, but decided to go with the more expensive 28-105 2.8. I love it, it's been on my camera since the day I got it.