Tamron announces development of 17-50mm f/4 lens for full-frame Sony E mount

Tamron has announced the development of a new lens. This one, though, claims to be the world’s first 17-50mm wide-angle lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. Of course, that claim comes with caveats.

The 17-50mm F/4 Di III VXD (Model A068) lens is coming for full-frame Sony E mount cameras. No mention has been made yet as to what other mounts we may expect in the future, but it’s expected to start shipping this autumn.

17-50mm F/4 Di III VXD (Model A068)

There aren’t too many details about the lens so far, as this just a development announcement. As it’s a development announcement, any details we do know are also subject to change.

Oh, and that caveat I mentioned? It’s the “world’s first¹ 17-50mm wide-angle zoom lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras…”

¹Among the zoom lenses for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras (As of July 2023 — TAMRON)

It’s an interesting focal length range for a full-frame camera. It provides an extremely wide field of view for when you need it and zooms down to a “normal” field of view. It would make for a great travel & street photography or general walkabout lens.

What do we know so far?

Tamron has said that it will have a minimum focus distance of only 19cm at the 17mm end of the focal length range. This increases to only 30cm when you get towards the 50mm end. It features Tamron’s VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear focus motors for fast and quiet autofocus.

One feature that will be beneficial to those who are shooting video footage is that it doesn’t change its length as you rack through the focal lengths or focus. This means you can safely use it on your rig with a fixed matte box on rails without worrying about the lens crashing into it.

This groundbreaking lens zooms from 17mm ultra wide-angle to 50mm standard, the world’s first with such a dynamic zoom range for full-frame mirrorless cameras.

Tamron press release

For those with matte boxes or filters that screw onto the end of the lens, it comes with a 67mm filter thread. So, you’ll be able to use it with all of your larger filters using step-down rings and most screw-on matte boxes come with a 67mm adapter.

Its small size, Tamron says, also makes it an ideal lens for use on a gimbal. The f/4 maximum aperture isn’t super bright, but depending on what you’re filming, a lens that goes from 17-50mm offers a lot of compositional versatility.

Price and Availability

Well, there’s no price yet, because this is just a development announcement. But Tamron says the lens is expected to become available “this fall”. That still leaves us with potentially a few months to wait, but it should be announced before Christmas, if you’re thinking of asking Santa for one.