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

You're welcome

I must add how silent the autofocus is and switching between near/far focus points it is definitely speedy

Poked it at the garden through the double glazing this morning and noticed it's not only the birds we're feeding...This is at about 500mm approx 12 metres away. Still gloomy so slow (1/30) and moderately high ISO (500) but looks like it's getting brighter later, so may get a proper play...If nothing else I'm getting used to the counter zoom and figuring you can actually get pictures out of it in difficult conditions



Opportunist by jamiewednesday1, on Flickr
 
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Got to get one!!
Does anyone know about new Tamron lens prices? They are likely to drop at some point once the maket settles muck like any new item, but are they likely to drop in the near future, say within 12 months or is it likely to be longer?
If within 12 months I will probably wait, if longer then I need to get my pennies together A.S.A.P.
 
Do Tamron do an extender which could be used with this lens ?
 
I see canon out of stock now and nikon on preorder did anyone find a date for. Nikon release / incoming stock ?
 
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Dave P said:
Do Tamron do an extender which could be used with this lens ?
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Hi Dave, 6.3 max aperture x 1.4 = 8.82 as this is almost f9 you will probably have problems with autofocus. as max recommended is f8, hope that helps, Mike.
 
My finer is still hovering over the nikon 80-400 but very drawn to this lens
 
Yes I know but starting at 80mm is a consideration for me as was looking at a 70-200 too and a lot that have the 80-400 say they don't use the 70-200 anymore but the 600mm reach is really calling me :)
 
I think if I were to use this lens, it would be with the 70-200 on the other side of my harness, just for the extra light or if something was close and I wanted super sharpness...well that's what I think anyway, if I'd bother with it is another story :)
 
Personally I think if you are wanting 600mm you are looking for some quality glass, this lens may or may not prove to be that, but I think we need more 'real world' examples before being convinced.
 
Looks ok to me gramps from what I've seen so far - remember the price to performance ratio as well, for a high performing 600mm you're probably spending 4x the amount...I don't have that so would have to make do with fairly decent lens and a bit of Photoshop skills lol
 
Phil Young said:
for a high performing 600mm you're probably spending 4x the amount...
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and the rest!
No I agree it's always likely to be a compromise but I think it's an unknown how much of a compromise until more images/tests are seen, if it compares well with say the new Nikon 80-400 or the 200-400 then that would be brilliant ... Tamron does have the potential. :)
 
From what I have seen from the recent breed of Tamron lenses I think it will outperform its price tag, and I think Tamron have a better consistency with their quality from lens to lens than other third party manufacturers, just my opinion though.
 
c22w1 said:
From what I have seen from the recent breed of Tamron lenses I think it will outperform its price tag, and I think Tamron have a better consistency with their quality from lens to lens than other third party manufacturers, just my opinion though.
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I've had 5 tamron lenses now and they've all lives up to my expectations.

Then again so has Sigma and Tokina...
 
i dont know so far from the photos it is not giving me goose bumps maybe i have bad eyes lol but in low light it not that much better than a good 50-500 sigma plus what you gain on the extra focal length you lose at the short end i would like to see real life tests done with it side by side with a good 50-500 sigma in good daylight just to see how much better the iq is over a sigma
 
Phil Young said:
I've had 5 tamron lenses now and they've all lives up to my expectations.

Then again so has Sigma and Tokina...
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The only manufacturer I've ever had problems with is Sigma, maybe I've just been unlucky but have had 3 fail on me, which makes me very wary of that brand. Tamron on the other hand have always performed exceptionally well.
 
there's not many options for decent 600mm tho are there?, and then there's cost and weight, and maybe prime or reduced zoom range
 
OK, been out with it today but there is a problem. At long lengths it sometimes won't focus. Most times it's fine and very speedy, other times it just won't focus. For example on one occasion with a swan on the lake about 30 metres away. The lens just wouldn't focus on it, swan was dead centre in frame. Just come back and tried something simple like focusing on the ridge tiled roof of a neighbour's house and again sometimes fine but often just won't focus at all.

Plus, had lens out just twice and already there's a fair bit of dust between front two elements.

Will be speaking to Wex tomorrow.

Most time focus is fine but most time isn't good enough! I'll try to get some time to post pics later.
 
by wont focus are you talking about the lens hunting? ie it going by the focus point and back a few times but fails to lock? this could be down to a low light issue
 
sore one that less than 2 days old and af probs and there in short supply are they even going to have parts to sort it for you
 
Must say IQ is absolutely fine as you'll see with pics later but yes light not a problem, not even close to hunting in and out, just sometimes won't pick up focus at all. But focused images are great!
 
Interesting thread as I'm likely to be choosing between this and the Nikon 80-400. The extra 200mm would be nice but I'd rather have 200mm less and consistent results than be left hoping the lens decides to focus on the target. Thanks for your input, very useful indeed.
 
Images.

If you click on the image below that will take you to my flickr page with a new string of 11 images (this is no. 11). No editing, no PP. Just straight conversion to jpeg in DPP. You can view the Exif and all sizes in flickr. Some are more picturesque than others but I was taking 'test' shots more than anything else and I figured they would be a good cross section for those that want to know...

Now I'm no expert in long lenses and I've never used something of this length before but IQ seems pretty good IMO...'course, it needs to focus...


DPP_0011 by jamiewednesday1, on Flickr
 
just out of interest are you hand holding it when it wont focus or is it on a mono or tripod ? because if its on a mono or a tripod and the vc is on it will be fighting the af and knocking it oof
 
It hunts a little but doesn't hunt 'enough' to get close to focusing, if that makes sense. Doesn't freeze.

All pics hand held apart from the shed(!)
 
yip harry that 1 got me to very sharp jamie did you try it off al servo on one shot and center spot focus point if so is it still showing the same symptoms
 
Tried various while out, figuring multi focus points in servo mode might be too tricky for it to work out...

When I got back I went into test mode, using a tiled roof as something a fair distance away, 30m, at high zoom ranges and without a high number of features and contrasts. I wasn't trying to make it too 'difficult', any lens should focus, but I wanted t see if there was any trend, so I was working on it's failing. Although it failed when focussing on birds on the water I wondered if the large water area was 'confusing' it, though the swan instance that really bugged me had the bird fair filling the frame.

The tiles on the roof are sculptured so there were contours and shadows to focus on and I could move from roof, to edge of roof with sky to try and figure out a trend.

It was during this that I switched between servo and single shot and single and various combios of multi focus points more frequently. Full focus range and 15m + too (there's a switch). There was no consistency, it often failed to focus on any/all combos. Plenty of light, the sun was shining on the roof. Just a blur and hunting around that blur too often. The common factor was it was at longer focal lengths, say 300mm +. Not great.

Someone on FM seems to have had a similar problem at 600mm I notice.

Also a bit put out about the dust already behind the front element!

It's a real shame as clearly it's able to produce sharp images. More than that, it does seem to be one of those lenses that is just capable producing 'nice' images. There's lots from today that are very pleasing and I'm happy with as early test shots. It always takes me a while to get fully used to a new lens and I think especially so with such a long focal length being new to me but I can't live with this one's inconsistency.
 
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