The SP AF 70-200mm F2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro is Tamron's latest lens, announced at the end of February 2008. A fast telephoto zoom for the more budget-conscious photographer, the design features 19 elements on 16 groups, including three Low Dispersion (LD) glass elements for minimizing chromatic aberration. Tamron say the lens is 'packed with features that allow stress-free photography', and accordingly these are indicated by the plethora of initials packed into that painfully protracted lens name. 'SP' designates this to be a member of Tamron's top-line 'Special Performance' range, 'Di' indicates that it is 'Digitally Integrated' (i.e. optimized for DSLR use, but still covering the full-frame 35mm format), and IF reveals that it incorporates an internal focusing mechanism. Finally the 'Macro' description provides a clue to one of this lens's more interesting characteristics, a minimum focusing distance of 0.95m, which leads to a class-leading reproduction ratio of 0.32x; slightly ahead of the Sigma equivalent's 1m/0.28x, and significantly better than the ~1.5m more typical of this class. Read the whole article here.