Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 DI IF VC USD

Got mine pre ordered. Hoping Nikon mounts won't be too long off, Any one any ideas when they may be out??
 
Let us know how the replacement performs when it lands will you?
Shame this has happened to you and hopefully it's just a one off.
 
Got the replacement today, thanks Wex.

No dust.

At first try, seems better.

Can focus on the roof opposite at 600mm now. And somehow the focus seems a little more deliberate. Hard to explain.

Not been out yet but the ability to hand hold at 500mm and 1/40, wide open, absolute minimum range (hence shallow DoF) and get halfway decent results is I think pretty impressive. This is just first play straight out of the box. One thing it seems to handle pretty well is CA, not invisible but not bad. Hopefully will get out this weekend...


Shallow DoF Tamron by jamiewednesday1, on Flickr

There is now a flickr group for the lens with more images.
 
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good news jamie .keep us up to speed ,there are some good reviews now coming in from the states ,wish i had had one today :-0(
 
Just bought mine today from LCE in Guildford(last one). When I tried it in store and outside, AF struggled once and completely missed big building in front of me leaving it completely blurred. It was on one occasion only, so I'm hoping it will be ok. Weather was crappy most of the time I was out with it, so didn't manage to test it thoroughly. First thing I've noticed was AF tracking. In 7 out of 10 shots, bird was OOF. It could be my technique or I might just need to get used to this lens. Apart from that, lens is SUPERB! AF is fast and accurate on stationary objects. VC is outstanding and lens is very light (for 600mm). Tripod foot is comfortable and nicely positioned but could be a bit longer(taller if you know what I mean) as it might be an issue(very small issue) if you want to put it on the table with 1D series Canon attached. Focusing ring and all the switches are nicely positioned and are easily accessible. Having previous experience with Canon 100-400 IS, Sigma 50-500 OS and Sigma 150-500 OS, I can honestly say, It's a K.O. from Tamron. If tracking issue is due to my technique, both Sigmas and Canon are dead from now on! For £949.99 it's a belter!
I've attached few shots taken quickly in my garden. All wide open and hand held with ISO 5000 due to very poor light. Robin was taken at 600mm and at 1/15 to show VC performance. No post processing at all apart from resizing in CS6.






Peg at 600mm



500mm

 
Robin looks pretty good, however I'd change that peg before you get some rust on your clothes.
 
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Is it me or does the Robin at 600 look soft but the Robin @ 450 looks super sharp. I have been thinking of buying this lens but the problems people are have with BIF has worried me a little.
 
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sthwild said:
First thing I've noticed was AF tracking. In 7 out of 10 shots, bird was OOF. It could be my technique or I might just need to get used to this lens. Apart from that, lens is SUPERB! AF is fast and accurate on stationary objects. VC is outstanding and lens is very light (for 600mm).
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Interesting... and frustrating!!! It seems good but the tracking is an issue, seeing as much of my use will be air shows... although am thinking that most would be at infinity focus so shouldn't be an issue???
 
Servo-focus tracking is a game of two halves - the lens is only doing what the camera tells it to do. Shooting conditions also play a part (subject/light), focal length (and therefore max aperture for AF), and operator technique.

It's a difficult topic to get objective and conclusive data on.
 
sthwild said:
Wednesday or Friday, I'll be going to Cad West, so watch this space.
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Ah, let us know how you get on. A key reason for my purchase was to try some aviation shots this year and see how I get on. I like the idea of Duxford's fields, I think I'll try that out.

Your experience with the building sounds very like what I found with my first copy. The second one I've got seems better.

When out yesterday with it I found it tricky to lock on to birds in flight but then a) I'm not used to it, I'm not a 'birder' b) they were seagulls, zipping all over the place c) There were loads of them!

By and large though it performed pretty well with running dogs, running kids, trains going past and things

I'm still experimenting with what it can do, how and what I can use it for and what are it's limits at the boundaries because I'm just not used to a big lens like this.

I got a couple of nice 'slice of life' shots because of the distance between me and the subjects.

Some of the more artistic effect shots like the last one posted above worked out well too. (Been 'explored' today so a shot with the new big Tamron is going to get thousands of hits but I bet they would rather it was a picture of an Elk or something)

I do feel a bit conscious wandering around the place with something that large in my hands though, especially with the hood on but I'm terrified I'm going to whack that large front element on something, some time.

It's not that heavy compared to some other large lenses I've picked up, however I took my dinky 40mm with me in my pocket and when I swapped them over it was a nice feeling of release, the camera now felt lighter than air!

Overall I'm very pleased with it. I could tell the IQ was decent from the first copy, this one is the same but the hit and miss of the AF is improved. It's one of those lenses where the overall rendering of the image just seems 'nice'. One key thing is when I import into LR I haven't then felt the need to put in stacks of PP and when I have done some, I've kinda come round to what the original was like.
 
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jamiewednesday said:
One key thing is when I import into LR I haven't then felt the need to put in stacks of PP and when I have done some, I've kinda come round to what the original was like.
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I've had exactly the same feeling last night when I imported the pictures. It's the first lens since my old Canon 28-70mm f/2.8L that image looks spot on straight from the camera. Lovely contrast and colour.
 
So I took it to my local Nature Reserve today and had a play with it. First impressions:
1. It's definitely not a speed demon but it's not the slowest lens I've ever used. It's very similar to Sigma 50-500mm OS.
2. It's equally effective with subject going from side to side and coming towards the photographer.
3. It tends to struggle a bit more in poor light and less contrasty conditions.
4. Focus limiter is very useful and should always be set to 14m - infinity if shooting distanced objects.

Here are few examples straight from the camera. All stopped down to f/8. Shot with 1D4 and AF expansion set to Surrounding points.













I'll keep this lens, test it further over next coming days/weeks and post my findings here.
 
sthwild said:
Wednesday or Friday, I'll be going to Cad West, so watch this space.
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The mountain forecast for Wednesday says;

Wednesday
Rain, preceded by hill snow, through the morning. This rain will be heavy and persistent. Clearing to squally showers during the afternoon, some heavy with thunder and merging into period of more prolonged rain. The showers will turn to snow above 600m later in the day. It will be another very windy day across the hills with severe upland gales, perhaps storm force for a time leading to atrocious conditions and severe wind chill. Freezing level lifting above summits, but dropping to 700m later.
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Might be better leaving it until Friday. ;) I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this lens's suitability for low level usage. The comments on focus speed are a little worrying for me given the 'one shot' nature of low level shooting. Good luck. :)
 
piotr looks like you have put the it won't focus on b.i.f myth to bed ,as i have suspected from the start this lens needs someone thats used to long lenses and technique to make it work ,your comments really sum it up and unless you wish to spend mega bucks on a big white this lens is gonna compliment a 1d series camera
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jamie your shots are excellent to and i am being nudged further and further towards one of these lenses .having recently switched to a 1D3 i,m missing the length a bit and this will do it .

piotr on your 1D4 does it darken the viewfinder at all or is it still bright ?????
 
sthwild said:
...I'll keep this lens
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Easy to see why!
waytogo2.gif


Thanks for sharing... so far, it looks like exceptionel value for the money....


b****r!
biggrin3.gif
 
bledyn125 said:
would this lens work ok on a canon 60d
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can't see why not ,the only problems i have seen with bodies seem to come from people going from short focal length lens and trying to apply the same way of shooting to this one ,its 600mm that equates with a 1.6 crop camera to nearly 1000mm focal length ,you have to be spot on at that F/L and give yourself time to get used to it ,so far trawling through various forums ,here and abroad the only genuine faulty one seems to have been jamies ,all the other complaints once you go into there comments or exif data seem to be simply user error .once i have made sure my car will pass the m.o.t without to much cost ,this lens is on my hit list
 
I have now read about several very experienced long lens photographers who have returned their 150-600 because of a AI servo AF problems when at the long end - apparently Tamron have now confirmed they are aware of the problem and are looking into it. It seems as if it is only guys with a lot of experience in long lenses that are picking up this problem which figures I guess as they know what to expect from AI servo mode. For static shots most are saying that the lens is excellent. I really hope that Tamron can fix this problem (maybe with a firmware update). Although I have seen some reasonable BIF shots they have mostly been of slow flyers like gulls,Owls and soaring birds.


Here are a few quotes:-

'In AI Servo, the lens will not change focus in the 450-600mm range when I focus on something close then focus on something distant. In reverse, it will refocus. It does not matter in which position the focus-limiter is set. And the near subject I focus on is not closer than the MFD anyway. This problem occurs with both my 7D & 1D4.
It is going back to the retailer for a refund.

I'm convinced that I've got a rotten egg. I set up my blind 10 yds from my feeder where there is a downed elm tree with lots of perches for birds to land on. Took about 150 shots and they all stink. I used a monopod, shot wide open and stopped down. Kept a fast shutter speed to avoid motion blur. Sending it back.

Went out yesterday with 1DMKIII, I too have an AF problem on continuous focus. A call to Tamron service confirms they are aware of the problem
 
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Although bad news, it's good news in the sense that it is a confirmed and known issue.
 
the black fox said:
can't see why not ,the only problems i have seen with bodies seem to come from people going from short focal length lens and trying to apply the same way of shooting to this one ,its 600mm that equates with a 1.6 crop camera to nearly 1000mm focal length ,you have to be spot on at that F/L and give yourself time to get used to it ,so far trawling through various forums ,here and abroad the only genuine faulty one seems to have been jamies ,all the other complaints once you go into there comments or exif data seem to be simply user error .once i have made sure my car will pass the m.o.t without to much cost ,this lens is on my hit list
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thanks for that info i thnk i will try one when the sort the focusing issues out

cheers
 
gramps said:
Thanks, I can see a number at £729/£749 but I couldn't see where he was getting it under £600 :)

Indeed, but I don't see the cashback offer listed :thinking:
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The £100 cashback link on the wex website links to a pdf file and you can enter the retailer name on there. It's a sigma imaging uk promotion, not limited to wex (for example it mentions that 3rd part amazon sellers will not be eligible). :)
 
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