Tamron 90mm F2.8 Di III Macro VXD Review: Sharp but Unstabilised

The Tamron 90mm F2.8 Di III Macro VXD is, as things stand, the only fixed focal length in the manufacturer's catalogue. Announced in 2024, it is a macro optic, and macro is a field in which Tamron has built a solid reputation over many years — its 90 mm f/2.8 was originally developed for the SLR era, with the first version dating back to 1996. This is the current mirrorless interpretation of that design. It covers the full-frame 24 x 36 mm format and is available in Sony E and Nikon Z mounts.

The lens is built for the specific demands of macro photography. It reaches 1:1 magnification natively, with a minimum focusing distance of 23 cm, and a 90 mm focal length is long enough to keep a workable distance from the subject. Mounted on a mirrorless camera with an APS-C sensor, it behaves as a 135 mm once the 1.5x conversion factor is applied.

It suits wildlife and plant photography, whether that means still life in the studio or work in the field. It is protected against the elements by seven seals that give it resistance to water splashes and dust. One caveat matters a great deal, though: this lens is not stabilised, so handheld work depends entirely on the five-axis sensor stabilisation of the Sony or Nikon body it is mounted on.

The lens offers a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and houses a circular diaphragm with 12 blades. Combined with short focusing distances, that arrangement produces very shallow depth of field and pronounced bokeh. Tamron's stated aims are a particularly soft bokeh and progressive, harmonious transitions in and out of focus. That fine control over depth of field will also interest portrait photographers, who can drown their subjects in blur.

The optical formula is a complex one: 15 elements arranged in 12 groups, including four low-dispersion glasses intended to limit chromatic aberration. The BBAR-G2 coating is also present, to restrain flare and ghosting. Beyond macro work, a lens of this kind is very much at home with close-up portraiture, delivering a high level of detail and attractive depth-of-field effects.

The 90mm F2.8 Di III Macro VXD presents very well. It is sober and elegant, built from quality materials to a very high standard of construction. It is surprisingly light at 630 g on the scales, and relatively compact at a little over 12 cm long without the hood. Because it uses internal focusing, its dimensions remain constant whatever focusing distance is selected.

Ergonomically the design is very — perhaps too — pared back. There is a wide manual focusing ring without any hard stops, which electronically drives the autofocus motor, but it moves with rather too much freedom. Fortunately its behaviour can be configured completely through the Tamron Lens Utility software, covering linear or non-linear response along with rotation angle and direction. That is a genuinely good point.

Less welcome is Tamron's decision to omit a physical switch for changing to manual focus. There is at least a focus range limiter, an indispensable tool in macro work, and the lens carries a configurable control button that can be set to switch between AF and MF — again through Tamron Lens Utility. The absence of a manual aperture ring is also a shame, as is the lack of any stabilisation controls, since there is no stabiliser to control.

Elsewhere, the USB-C port is positioned on the side of the barrel, which makes it easy to connect the lens even while it is mounted on a camera. The front accepts 67 mm circular filters, and the hood incorporates an ingenious hatch so that a polarising filter can be rotated without removing it.

Autofocus is handled by a VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor, the best focusing hardware Tamron makes, with performance that meets the demands of modern bodies. The system is very fast, very precise and particularly quiet — a real advantage in macro work, where noise can startle an insect. It is also highly effective for video. The lens supports subject-tracking functions on Nikon and Sony mirrorless bodies, and its USB-C connection allows firmware updates and in-depth configuration through the Tamron Lens Utility app, especially for video use.

The lens was assessed on a Sony A7R IV, whose 61-megapixel full-frame sensor produces images of 9504 x 6336 pixels. The images were captured as Extra Fine JPEGs with the camera's optical corrections set to Auto, since the body applies digital corrections for vignetting, chromatic aberration and distortion.

The optical results are excellent, close to flawless. Sharpness is strong — very nearly at its maximum — and uniform from the widest aperture of f/2.8. Despite a very slight dip at f/4, it rises again to peak at f/8 and holds steady all the way to f/16. There is no drop-off from diffraction, because Tamron has chosen to limit the minimum aperture to f/16 rather than f/22. A close-focus frame captured at f/8 showed a genuinely impressive level of detail.

Distortion is rarely a problem on lenses of this type, and the camera applies digital corrections at the body. The measured average distortion was extremely low, of the order of 0.03%. Chromatic aberration, also corrected digitally by the body, told the same story: negligible and imperceptible, measured at around 0.03%.

Macro lenses very often land on 90 mm or 100 mm, and that standard brings several advantages. It preserves a comfortable working distance from the subject while still exploiting the lens's maximum magnification, which is invaluable when photographing insects. A 90 mm also compresses perspective and allows more effective play with depth of field, which is already extremely shallow in macro because of the short focusing distances involved.

This lens reaches 1:1 magnification natively at its 23 cm minimum focusing distance, meaning the photographed object is recorded on the sensor at the same size it is in reality. That is the standard for a macro lens, although a handful of competing designs push beyond it.

Beyond macro, a 90 mm makes a fine companion for portraiture or urban architectural work. In those situations the maximum aperture of f/2.8 is enough to isolate a foreground from its surroundings. Move closer to the subject, however, and even at f/2.8 the depth of field collapses dramatically while the bokeh becomes progressively more pronounced. At a focusing distance of 50 cm it measures only around 6 mm. The bokeh itself is very soft and round, owing in large part to that circular 12-blade diaphragm.

Vignetting, another phenomenon corrected digitally by the camera, stays well contained. It makes itself felt at the widest aperture of f/2.8 but disappears as soon as the lens is stopped down to f/4, becoming entirely imperceptible beyond that. In any case it is easily corrected in post-production, and for some purposes it can be treated as an artistic asset that closes the frame and draws the eye towards the centre of the composition.

The surprise is the complete absence of optical stabilisation. Handheld shooting therefore depends on sensor-based stabilisation to bring shutter speeds down safely, and it is worth remembering that the shorter the focusing distance, the more any camera movement is exaggerated. It is an unexpected choice from a manufacturer that has a thorough command of optical stabilisation technology, and it may have been driven by a desire to keep the weight and the cost of the lens down. Whatever the reasoning, competing designs do exist with optical stabilisation on board, offering the benefit of a dual system working alongside the camera's own.