Tamron 150-600 Review

[PJL]

Hope you enjoy it BT

[Mel]

I shall watch this topic...

...and your report back, BT. Would be happy to hear your comparison against the Bigma as well.

[nan]

me too
I hope weather will permit you

[Bushcraft]

Please report back BT

[BluTuna]

Looks like I may have to change the venue, I've been warned that there have been some hold-ups at Marievale. The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens is favourite at the moment but I might go to Rietvlei.

It all depends on the weather.

[PJL]

BT - how are you getting on with your new lens?

[BluTuna]

I have been busy over the past two weeks. Once I managed to get out and about I couldn't wait to get out and about some more so I could get to play with this excellent lens. I've been to Rietvlei three times, Rondebult twice and WS Botanical Gardens once.

The new lens has surpassed my expectations, when I bought the Sigma 150-500mm it was probably the best budget ultra-zoom on the market and I was more than pleased with my results. The Tamron is in another class and it has another 100mm reach! Images are sharp at 600mm and it doesn't have back focusing problem I had with my Sigma. The IS/VR (or whatever Tamron calls it) is completely silent and seems to work really well - it was noisy on the Sigma and I was never quite sure if it was effective (aside from the epileptic fits it had from time-to-time).

The only down-side I've noticed is that it sometimes hunts for focus and this can be frustrating when doing birds in flight. If you don't have the focus dot on the bird when you engage the auto-focus, it tries to focus on the sky and you lose the subject. Otherwise, focusing is fast and silent.

I wish I'd listened to my little voice and got this lens before my last Kruger trip!

As soon as I get some images processed I'll post them here, including the focus test shots I took from both lenses.

[PJL]

Glad you're enjoying it BT

The only down-side I've noticed is that it sometimes hunts for focus and this can be frustrating when doing birds in flight. If you don't have the focus dot on the bird when you engage the auto-focus, it tries to focus on the sky and you lose the subject.

Agreed
What camera body do you use? I think for me, part of the reason the BIF focussing is hard is that I'm often trying to do it at 600mm... which is more like 960mm on my crop sensor camera. Any lens would have difficulty locking focus at that range I guess

Looking forward to seeing your pics

[BluTuna]

I use a Nikon D5100 (hopefully soon to be a D7200), so in effect it's a 900mm lens! Holy Moley, monster lenses like that were unheard of when I started photography!

If I manage to get the dot on the subject before it tries to focus I don't have the problem - except when it decides to hunt on its own. I have the same issue - but worse - with my Tamron 90mm Macro - superb optics but it often to hunts for focus and the focus is very slow as well.

[Mel]

Would you say it's equally slow (and stubborn enough to hunt on its own) compared to the Sigma, BT?