The type of photography that you are planning to use is an important decision factor. Here we have evaluated the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di and the Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS for their suitability to various photography scenarios:
Size and Weight Comparison
Size of a lens is an important deciding factor when comparing two lenses.Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di is the longer of the two lenses at 149mm. The Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS with a length of 108mm is 41mm shorter. Besides being longer, the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di also has a larger diameter of 81mm compared to Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS's 64mm diameter.
Weight of a lens is as important as its external dimensions, especially if you are planning to hand hold your camera and lens combination for longer periods. Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS weighs 345g, 57% (470g) lighter than the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di's weight of 815g.
Below you can find the dimension and weight table of the 'Telephoto Zoom Lenses in Sony E Mount for size comparison purposes.
Telephoto Zoom Lenses in Sony E Mount for Size Comparison
Lens Mounts
Both Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di and Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS has the same Sony E lens mount. Some of the latest released cameras that are compatible with the Sony E lenses are Sony A7R V, Sony FX30 and Sony A7 IV.
Focal Range
Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di has a focal range of 70-180mm and 2.6X zoom ratio . When it is mounted on an APS-C sensor camera with 1.5x crop, it provides an 35mm (FF) equivalent of 105 - 270mm.
Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS has a focal range of 55-210mm and 3.8X zoom ratio which has an effective (full-frame 35mm equivalent) focal range of 82.5-315mm when used on a APS-C / DX format camera.