Painting the Town with the 18-270 VC

by Ken Hubbard

Few cities are as alive and electric as Vegas. The dramatic entertainment, bold lights, the clanging casinos, lavish shops and colorful street scenes are made to impress. But any visitor can tell you, Vegas is all about moving. If you have any interest in capturing the dynamic cityscape, the Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO lens is a must have.

"It’s the perfect lens for travel,” says professional photographer Ken Hubbard who spent a few days documenting his trip to the desert. “It’s an all-in-one lens that covers wide angle to ultra telephoto to macro. “

The 18-270mmVC is also equipped with Tamron’s exclusive, proprietary tri-axial Vibration Compensation (VC) mechanism that eliminates or substantially reduces the effects of handheld camera shake.

Hubbard’s colorful image of the Japanese gardens in the Bellagio Hotel was easily cap-tured using the 18mm focal length, and an aperture of f/11.

“I wanted a larger depth of field to include the yellow flowers as a leading line to the base of the figure.”

Hubbard acknowledged that the Vibration Compensation was invaluable, “The amount of light was so minimal. I had to use a shutter speed of 1/8sec and incurred no blur. I gain more latitude with the VC and I’m more confident in my shots.”

The Bellagio and its dancing fountains are synonymous with the Vegas street scene. Capturing the full image required a wide angle lens. The bright lights illuminating the fountains against a black sky as well as the medium tones of the hotel meant lighting contrasts that required Hubbard to meter off the fountains.

"I used an aperture of f/11 @ 1/15sec, then bracketed up and down in manual mode.”

Just before sunset, he captured the famed Bellagio as a vertical using an 18mm focal length.

"It was a dusky kind of day and there was just enough light reflecting to capture the blues in the fountain.”

Hubbard was positioned on the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas when he took the sharp daylight image at a focal length of 22mm with no tripod.

Using the full telephoto, Hubbard then framed the familiar Bellagio tower, with the desert and mountain peaks of Nevada as a backdrop.

"Shooting at a focal length of 270mm provides a different perspective of the mountains and valley,” says Hubbard. In order to preserve the details of the background, Hubbard metered off the columns on the tower and was able to include the detailed contrasts of the background and foreground, reminding the viewer that the spectacular illusion of Vegas is set within the western desert.

Hubbard consults his histogram after every shot to ensure a well balanced image.

"There is no perfect histogram reading,” he cautions and says that instead the photographer should view it based on his or her own preference for the final image. “Don’t over think it.”

Just 30 minutes after sunset, Hubbard challenged the 18-270mmVC lens by shooting the Eiffel Tower replica, turning the lens upward off its horizontal axis at 18mm.

“The wide angle does a great job of distortion correction,” says Hubbard.

He used an aperture of f/11 @ 1/6sec and captured the golden tower against an indigo blue sky.

The versatility and technical superiority of the lens has clearly captured Hubbard’s imagination.

“It’s such an extreme range, 15x zoom. Usually one would have to sacrifice wide angle or telephoto, but this lens has macro as well. It’s the first time a lens offers all this in one zoom. You don’t need anything else.”