Tamron Blog: Travel Photography With A Tamron Superzoom

When packing for a weekend getaway or indeed a long trip to more exotic climates, the difficult task of fitting photography gear in among your swimwear, suncream and other essentials is a reoccurring issue. In fact, if you're traveling abroad it seems to get more difficult every year to find a bag that fits airline guidelines and that's before you've even considered weight restrictions and what they will do to your kit list. 

However, there is a way to save on space / weight without restricting yourself to a particular focal length and that's by packing a superzoom lens such as the Tamron 16-300mm we're using for our blog. 

With the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro lens you have macro capabilities, a long lens, a wide angle, and a mid-range telephoto. Plus, due to its compact size, it'll fit into a carry-on bag which stops you worrying that a baggage handler might launch your luggage with your precious kit in, potentially breaking it in the process. Also, as it weighs around 500g, it won't cause too much of an issue with weight restrictions either. 

Images: From wide (left) to full zoom (right). 

Before we got our hands-on a Tamron lens to talk about, site member David Pritchard wrote quite a few blog entries on the Tamron 18-270 PZD lens of which he had similar praise for when it came to traveling with kit: "Before I got the Tamron I’d have had to take a macro lens, and separate short range and long telephoto lenses. Any one of which weighs more than the Tamron," Said David. "I’d also have had to take my bigger bag, which weighs three and a half kilos empty, almost three kilos more than the one I used. So by using the Tamron, I saved myself about five kilos altogether."

Another advantage of packing the 'multiple lenses in one' lens is that you have more room for other accessories such as flashguns, memory cards, a small tripod, spare batteries, foldable reflector and more. Plus, you shouldn't hear as many sighs from family members who are bored waiting for you to change lenses again so you can capture a macro shot when before it was the top of a church spire that was your focus. Zooms are also perfect for everyday photography as well as family portraits and as you won't be searching through your kit bag every few minutes, you'll draw less attention to yourself, too meaning you're less likely to be a target for thieves. 

If you've captured some top travel shots with the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro lens, or indeed any other Tamron lens, please do share them with us in the Totally Tamron gallery. Also, if you missed our first post all about our new ePz Tamron Blog, you can learn more about it here: Introducing The ePHOTOzine Tamron Blog