Canon vs Sigma vs Tamron | Which Brand has Better Camera Lenses?

I plan on buying a new lens for my Canon 800D, so I did a little research on the internet and found that there are also some much cheaper Tamron and Sigma alternatives available with decent quality.

In my previous article, you saw how much value you could get from a brand like Pentax.

Therefore, stick around for this article as we compare Canon, Tamron, and Sigma lenses to figure out which brand is the most worthwhile.

General Pricing

If you’re looking for the cheapest lenses, Sigma and Tamron are the way to go—but if you want something that’s really high quality, then you might want to consider Canon instead, even though their lenses will cost you about 50% more.

While Sigma’s prime and zoom lenses are more expensive than Tamron’s, their telephoto-macro lenses are cheaper. Given that prices occasionally change, this could not be the case for every single product.

Simply take the data above as a general guideline and conduct your own study before making a decision. Canon is undoubtedly the most luxurious of the three, that much is certain.

Image Quality

Canon lenses are renowned for creating crisp pictures with superb color reproduction and contrast. Additionally, they include a remarkable autofocus technology that enables them to swiftly and precisely focus on objects in both bright and dim light.

I don’t own any Sigma or Tamron lenses, so I had to gather information from the internet. 

In image(1), except for the brightness, which is not equally set(so I can’t really compare it), the difference in quality is not as noticeable as one might anticipate based on the pricing.

However, if we take a deeper look at the zoomed image(2), you will immediately notice that the Canon is as always the sharpest.

Tamron experienced some focus issues which do not happen again in the other experiments so it could be a one-time error or just something related to their telephoto lenses. In terms of color balance, all three lenses look almost identical to me.

In image(3) we can see that the Sigma lens with a low aperture struggles a lot to retain focus on the edge of the frame.

This is not something that just happened in one photograph. You will see that trend happening again later in this article. I would say that Tamron did really well considering how much it costs.

Image(4) is probably the most impressive for me since that Tamron 24-70 G2 lens seems to be doing equally well if not better than the Canon one.

The Sigma lens again seems to have less detail and keep in mind that this is the center of the frame so it’s definitely questionable. The thing that I like the most about all 3 brands is that their lenses do not seem to add any extra colors to the picture.

I would hate to edit a video and try to match shots that are taken with different lenses.

In image(5), I bet you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the lenses. I certainly couldn’t at first since they look like it’s the same picture.

However, if you look carefully, you can notice that the Sigma lens has more contrast while the Canon is a little bit sharper than the rest.

Finally, the last image(6), again, demonstrates what I mentioned earlier about the focusing issue of Sigma.

At a shallow depth of field, it seems to be able to focus very well and provide a sharp and crisp result in the center of the frame (Image(5)) while struggling to do the same the further away you go from the focus point.

IMPORTANT: Tamron has, in my opinion, the best video image stabilization of the three so if you are into videography, you should seriously consider them as your first option. I definitely will since we shoot videos on YouTube.

Technical Support

Canon has highly qualified professionals on staff who can assist you in resolving any issues. Additionally, if you are a Canon CPS member, you get further benefits such as repair discounts, free shipping, and more.

Tamron is also known for providing excellent customer service. If you’re willing to reach the top level of Tamron’s VIP program, which is fairly comparable to Canon’s, you’ll receive some pretty special rewards in exchange.

Sigma, on the other hand, doesn’t provide a pro membership option and their assistance generally doesn’t seem to be as dependable.

Final Verdict

All three brands make some truly exceptional lenses that are suited to a variety of uses, and you can feel confident in knowing you are purchasing a quality lens from whichever one you choose.

The choice between the two really boils down to personal preference, though mine after this article is that Tamron is superior since you get the image quality and customer support that’s closest to Canon’s while also saving a lot of money.