Every lens has its own intricacies. There’s different buttons, some lenses have aperture rings, some lenses have multiple switches … you name it. With Tamron’s newest lenses for E-mount — the 35-150mm f/2-2.8 and the 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 — the company added a way where you can customize the different buttons and focus rings on your lens.
In a sense, the Tamron Lens Utility makes your lens fit you better, and your needs better. Similar to customizing the custom buttons and dials on a camera, or the custom menus, Tamron lets you have reign over what certain things do on your lens. It gives you another way to change a setting on your camera, without having to dig through the menus.
Possibilities opened with Tamron Lens Utility
Being an owner of the new Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 lens, I was excited to see how I could expand my shooting customizations with the Tamron Lens Utility.
The best thing here is that it doesn’t matter which camera you use it on. The customizations live inside of the lens. That means I can put it on my Sony a7 IV or my Sony a1 and have the exact same functionality without having to set it up for each camera individually.
To get started, just hook up your lens via a standard USB-C cable, and connect it to your computer. Download the Tamron Lens Utility software, install it and you’re on your way. With the 28-75mm G2 lens, I can customize the Focus Set button, as well as the Focus Ring — two parts of the lens I hadn’t previously used.
The Focus Set button allows me to choose from options like selecting auto or manual focus, a focus preset and more. I can also assign the function through the camera, and select from options like Focus Magnifier, Face/Eye AF settings, Focus Peaking and more. I chose to set mine to Focus Magnifier, so I could easily see my focus when shooting a long exposure on a tripod.
The Focus Ring functions really showcase the power of the Tamron Lens Utility. I can switch the ring rotation of the lens as well as changing the manual focus method. This lets you adjust your focal point based on how fast (non-linear) or how much you rotate the focus ring (linear). This is a must for video shooters!
You can see all the different functions you can choose from in the screenshot below. You can also save and load settings, so when you pick up new Tamron lenses, your settings can be applied to those lenses without having to dig through the software.
But that’s not all …
In addition to customizing your lens through the software, you can also customize the lens functions with your camera connected. This lets you test out the different functions available to you.
Finally, the Tamron Lens Utility also lets you easily update your lens’ firmware.
