Railfan Technology > Tamron 150-600 lens?

Anyone have experience with Tamron 150-600 lens?  I have seen wome wildlife shots that looked particularly good.  Would use with my Nikon D7100.
 

Lots of talk about it on the DP forums.
  Nikon Cameras: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/1034
  Third Party Lenses: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/1043?view=list
Scott

Scott Schifer
Torrance, CA
TinyTrains Website

"The focal length range of this lens was extended by 50mm on the wide-angle side and 100mm on the telephoto side compared to the existing model (Model A08), making it possible to take even more striking photographs of birds, wildlife, sports, and other distant subjects. Mounted on APS-C DSLR cameras, it has a stunning equivalent focal length range of 233mm to 930mm, almost to 1000mm."

Best I can see it is an FX lens as it will cover full FX sensor.  As they advertise it can be used on DX like 7100 as can any FX lens but the
FOV "equivalent" puts it at the long end.  Not going to read the reviews but would look carefully what the reviews are on an DX body???
and think about your uses.

Bob

A good friend has one of these long Tamron zoom lenses.  It's not very sharp at the long end.  His photos are quite soft.  He liked the price but I don't care for the images - too fuzzy for my taste.  Just my opinion.

There are two manufacturers of the 150-600, Tamron and Sigma.  Tamron makes just one model while Sigma produces two, the Sport model and the Contemporary.  The Sport is a professional grade lens and has been getting rave reviews from those lucky enough to have received one from Sigma.  The response to this particular lens has overwhelmed their production lines although according to Sigma they should have all the backorders filled by the mid-May timeline.  It is a much heavier lens and fully weather sealed.  I've played with one at a seminar and it is as heavy as my Canon 500 f4.  Used properly, meaning a good quality ballhead and good quality tripod or monopod it is nearly as sharp at nearly all focal lengths as the Canon-Nikon primes.  In descending order of sharpness the Sigma Sport is #1, Sigma Contemporary #2 and the Tamron #3.  All three lenses fall off somewhat at the full 600mm end, although with that said what you get in the Sport for $1999 is incredibly sharp for the money.  A lot of bird and wildlife shooters who carry the big and heavy and bulky primes around are going for the Sport: simply Google Sigma 150-600 Sport and their are entire websites devoted to it where you can view actual full-res files shooters have uploaded.  Another consideration is the price.  Canon and Nikon want way north of $10,000 for their 600 primes, and Canon around that amount for their new 500 lens. Having owned one for a few years I have to say I am VERY excited for my Sport to arrive, having preordered one through a local camera shop last November.

I've given up on third-party glass. After years and years of trying them here and there, and almost universally being disappointed with the results, I'm sticking with OE lenses. I have one Tamaron lens left and it will probably go when I can afford a replacement.

I had the Tamron on my Canon A-1 it was a great lens. Mostly birding at the time.....Swede....Albany,Or.

I own the Sigma lens and feel that if you want a large lens it is money well spent. I researched the Tamron and the Sigma and felt the Sigma was the better lens for the money.

Rent before you buy is the best way to test. I recently rented a Canon 24-70 f/4L IS from Borrow Lenses. Unfortunately, that rental left a sour taste in my mouth because it was soft in the upper left corner as well as right of the center of the image. I didn't bother disputing it with customer service since some reviews on their Facebook page point to them blaming the camera operator instead of the defective rental lens.

So, if you can, rent it first. Just avoid Borrow Lenses. I used Aperturent here in Atlanta back in 2012 for my sister's wedding and had no issues, so it looks like I'll go back to them and rent the 24-70 f/4L before I decide to plunk down a chunk of change for the lens to own it outright.

LensRental is the way to go.  They have an ace optical shop, and they know what they are doing.
john

I have a full frame Canon and bought a Tamron 150-600 late last year for birds/animals on a trip to Africa but have ended up using it for trains quite a lot

bearing in mind the standard challenges when working with a super-tele, mine is sharp up to about 550mm as long as you use a decent aperture (f9-f13) and a fastish shutter speed as strangely enough I've handheld almost all the pictures taken with this lens. The VR is good, focus is fairly quick for a slowish aperture lens, flare is well controlled when shooting into the sun, contrast is good (although beware of haze and heat haze at long lengths).

I have a 400 2.8 plus 1.4 teleconverter but this is so light and portable (and cheap) in comparison. I'm sure the 400 is sharper, but this is good enough for me. I probably would have bought the fancier of the two sigma versions had it been around at the time for build quality and its probably sharper, but I am happy enough with this to find no reason to change.

Some pics (link address included if links don't work)

Netherlands into the Sun   https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16983040599/in/dateposted-public/

Barnetby after sunset         https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16156343077/in/dateposted-public/

Barnetby Sunset                https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16167844119/in/dateposted-public/

Netherlands S curve          https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/15913034674/in/dateposted-public/

Chicago at night                  https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16955905478/in/dateposted-public/

[url=http:// https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16061408623/in/dateposted-public/]Netherlands sunset[/url]             https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16061408623/in/dateposted-public/

Netherlands tunnel climb    https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwibonds/16059019544/in/dateposted-public/

and almost all the recent pictures from Africa in that phototream.

 Cheers



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/15 09:34 by Darryl.