first tamron 17-50 shots

This is the third lens in the fast-standard-zoom-for-APS-C class, after Sigma's 18-50mm f/2.8 and Canon's EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. The Tamron is about $40 more than the Sigma, but smaller, lighter, and 1mm wider. If it can match or beat the Sigma in image quality and focus accurately and reasonably quickly, I may be tempted to get it instead of the 2.6x-as-expensive Canon 17-55.

Not very informative reduced-size shot at 55mm f/2.8:

http://www.gnpa.ca/forums/storage/25/5875/_MG_9000.jpg

Interesting pair of shots at 17mm f/2.8 and 34mm f/2.8:

http://www.pbase.com/lou_giroud/lenses

The second shot seems out of focus, or possibly blurred due to subject motion, but the first one seems to be in focus without any obvious motion blur. Hard to draw any solid conclusions on such meager evidence, but I'll try:

1. Out-of-focus highlights look remarkably similar to those of the Canon EF-S 17-55mm


2. Good resolution in the center - could be a match for the Canon 17-55 based on similar shots posted to the Web


3. Low contrast. This could be due to any number of reasons: motion blur, lighting, Nikon's shitty noise reduction (ISO 320? I seriously hope this was pushed a couple stops, because Canon's ISO 800 - equivalent in sensitivity to Nikon's ISO 1000 - looks better than this)

All in all, looks promising. Need more controlled shots with more in focus to get a clear idea on how it stacks up.