Tamron 17-50 vs Sony 20-70 Lens Comparison Showdown

this is the Sony 20 to 70 f4g lens and this is  the Tamron 17-50 F4 lens what's the difference between these two and if you're looking for  a you know $1,000 less than $1,000 lens for kind of walk around vlogging all- inone  lenses which one of these should you buy on paper they're pretty similar obviously one  has a little wider one goes a little longer on the telephoto end but they're both  an F4 lens constant throughout the zoom range and they're both uh frankly a really  great walk around vl

ogging lens but one of them might be a lot better for you so let's  test these out and see what they're capable of okay this is at 20 50 70 all right now switch  the lens oops not that one I got so many freaking lens caps in my pockets right now nice got some ice crystals on the lens  that'll be helpful for later when I have to clean them up and post all right it's essentially  the same spot uh let's see 17 uh and 50 very nice okay so next I do some video clips and show  you the difference betwe

en 17 mm and 20 mm because that's you know and then of 50 and and  uh the compression you get between 50 and 70 mm too on the long ends of the lenses cuz it  is actually pretty Stark uh a pretty dramatic difference all right here we go so this is what  17 mm looks like I'll have to mark my spot here in a sec and here's 50 mm so you can see this is  all that at 56 so one think about the difference between 17 and 20 is you think it's only 3 mm  but it actually is pretty a pretty big difference whe

n you get on that wide end and of course you're  gaining 20 mm on the long end with the Sony which makes a very large difference when you're getting  a little bit more of that compressed background look the longer lens look all right where was I I  think I was right here right yeah well this is 20 mm 50 mm oh boy I hear 70 mm now just so you know that was all an eight  K with just the standard stabilization which means just the mechanical stabilization built  into the camera because you obviousl

y get the full field of view when you do it that way  on the Sony cameras if you switch to active stabilization you get a fair amount of crop so I  feel no it's an 8K with no uh you know no extra crop so you could see the full entire field  of view of each of those lenses but there is something that's not much discussed my buddy  Chris Brockers has mentioned it a couple of times but you do actually get better active  stabilization when you're using native Sony lenses so next let's try a handheld

walking  shot with the Sony lens and then we'll do as close to the same exact shot as we can with  the Tamara lens and see how those different uh looks work out with stabilization so this  is handheld 20 mm standard stabilization which is just the ivis now we're going to switch to  the active stabilization so this is 20 mm with active stabilization on the Sony 20 to70 here now  we're on the Camron in standard stabilization just handheld walking at 17 mm which uh does make a bit  of a difference

here's the Tamron at 20 standard stabilization now we'll switch to active so here  is the Tamron at 17 mm active stabilization on the A1 here is the Tamron at 20 mm on active  stabilization again makes quite a difference now in the stabilization this is where I do see  a pretty large difference the Sony because it communicates better with the camera or it's  programmed into the firmware of the camera or something Sony is able to calculate how to change  or adjust the active stabilization based

on the focal length of the lens where it just doesn't  perform quite the same as a third-party lens like the Tamron or Sigma or anything like that which  is interesting cuz you know you would think the focal links are same and it's it's communicating  the focal length with the the camera but there's something about the way Sony has calculated the  active stabilization with Sony lenses that it just knows a little bit more about the lens about the  you know image characteristics whatever it might

be that it can get that calculation that much  better and give you a much smoother much more stable shot than a non-native Sony lens so another  thing not talked much about non-native Sony glass I mean we talk about it but in practice how much  does it work out I'm using the A1 so it should be able to shoot up to 30 frames a second in  high-speed Burst Mode question is how does it actually work when I'm using the Tamron versus  when I'm using the Sony let's find out he here we go all right now w

e're on the Sony and that will be where you'll see the most  difference especially if you're shooting on something with high burst frame rates like the  A1 or the A9 Mark I or Mark III uh a non Sony lens may not be able to F Focus as quickly as  the camera can and you'll see a difference when you're shooting moving subjects I keep hoping for  a moving subject and so far uh there aren't any all right we're moving on it's too dang cold  to sit here and do anything so we're going to go see about uh

maybe a different location see  if we can find something that's a little more pleasant at least a little out of the wind and  on the plus side it will let us get warmed up by getting some uh some blood moving hey if you're  enjoying this video or getting value out of it then consider subscribing my focus is helping  solo creators like myself make good decisions when it comes to buying new gear and then also  get the most out of it by giving you tips and tutorials on how to use it and maximize i

t  it was an extremely cold day but it was a beautiful day to take photos but let's look at  some of the differences between the two photos um there actually weren't as much as I thought  so I've got the Tamron uh this is the Sony 20 mm here pull that up and look at some of the  sharpness this is the Tamron there we go and again this is on the A1 so 50 megapixel Stills  I mean if you're not going to see sharpness but I they're very very close like I see the Sony  has a little bit more contrast a

nd maybe a tiny bit more sharpness um look at the sun Stars  the sunf flares honestly here I kind of like the uh the tamon sun Stars a little bit better  personally but that's you know it's just that's I think that's pretty subjective um uh oh this  is going to be hard to match up let's go right there so I mean they're very close I I do think  the Sony has a slight Edge on sharpness over uh and a little bit better contrast but they're  they're extremely close for two F4 lenses they're doing extr

emely well so beyond that there are  some other differences you need to be aware of one is the fact that Tamron this is an internal  zooming lens so the outside of the lens doesn't change at all it is well weather sealed it's got  a nice little uh weather sealing on the back and then it has a focus hold button or programmable  button and the ability to us or uh upgrade and change the lens function via USBC other than that  it's pretty simple and pretty straightforward now the Sony on the other h

and has a click ring for  aperture clicking on or off it has the aperture ring which is pretty nice you can uh manually set  your aperture of what you want it to be and then of course it has autofocus manual focus switch  and focus hold buttons on the side and the top but if you're going to do a lot of gimbal work  this lens does have an extending Barrel so from 20 to 70 you can see it extends a fair ways and  that might make a big difference for you if you do a lot of gimbal work and that's one

of the  reasons I actually really like the Tamron 17-50 for gimbal work is it gives you just a nice  Zoom range but it doesn't change the weight on the gimbal enough to have to rebalance or  anything now now when it comes to weight the Tamron is 458 G so pretty light weight and the  Sony is 489 G and then of course there's the size differences the tamron's a little narrower  and a little longer the Tamron has a 67 mm filter thread where the Sony has a 72 mm filter thread  but again if you're go

ing to zoom the Sony out 70 mm that makes it quite a bit longer and doesn't  really necessarily change the or the length of the tamaron doesn't really necessarily change  it doesn't change cuz it's internal zooming and then of course we come down to what is arguably  probably the biggest determining factor for most people and that's price the Tamron comes in  at $699 whereas the Sony comes in at $1,99 so a $400 price difference so if you're very budget  conscious then the Tamron is definitely go

ing to be the lens for you the performance is excellent  but I'd love to know what you think which one of these lenses is better were you surprised by how  they performed compared to each other let me know in the comments below next you're going to want  to watch this video over here which covers some great budget lenses for Sony I'll see you over  there as always if you have questions ask me in the comments below or join my live stream  which happens most Wednesday nights at 400 P p.m. Alaska t

ime 8:00 p.m. Eastern where we can  have a little bit more of a conversation maybe get two questions I didn't answer in this video  I'll see you again soon in the next one cheers