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Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 DI IF VC USD (4 Viewers)

No issues at all. He probably has a faulty lens, only time I heard of this from all the reviews and forum posts in Japan, Hong Kong, USA and Europe.
 
HERE is the first real comprehensive review I have seen - makes interesting reading. This guy has taken thousands of shots with the lens and includes scores of sample images. This lens is looking like a real game changer for those that are unable/unwilling to pay the mega bucks for one of the big white superteles.
 
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Another review HERE were the Tammy at 400, is pitted against the bare 400/5.6 - the 400/5.6 is best but amazingly there is very little in it.
 
Roy C said:
Another review HERE were the Tammy at 400, is pitted against the bare 400/5.6 - the 400/5.6 is best but amazingly there is very little in it.
Click to expand...

yes roy ,BUT interestingly he also says that tracking a b.i.f is erratic at best unless you get a lock on at lower zoom levels and virtually impossible in other than centre point a/f .at the end of the day if you want static birds on the beach or pond it looks fine ,if you want that fly past as well theres work needed .and like you i have yet to see a photo from this that makes me go WOW .

i think you can discount the one on TP to user error looking at exif data .

the lens ticks quite a few boxes for me regarding i/q and reach and close up ability ,but if it can't adequately cope with b.i.f which i suspected would be its achilles heel then its a non starter ,the dust issue could also impound on it .time will tell ,thank god for the internet
 
I found the AF to be very good on the 7D, better than the one on the150-500 and 50-500 (maybe due to the limiter) and as good as the 100-400

It is not as good as the AF of the 400mm prime but then again nor is the AF of many lenses, especially zoom ones.
 
Roy C said:
HERE is the first real comprehensive review I have seen - makes interesting reading. This guy has taken thousands of shots with the lens and includes scores of sample images. This lens is looking like a real game changer for those that are unable/unwilling to pay the mega bucks for one of the big white superteles.
Click to expand...

That's a very interesting review for me as I probably fall into a similar category as a photographer to that fella. Whilst BIF would be nice it wouldn't be the end of the world for me if it didn't have the ability.

One bird I have always wanted to get a decent shot of in flight is one of the Marsh Harriers up at Minsmere and I reckon that this could be achieved with this lens, maybe not as super-sharp as I would really like but to a standard that would make me smile - and at a price that I could afford and conceivably justify. The other birds I would be after in the air are Barn and Short eared owls - I think they could prove to be a step too far for this lens but am willing somebody to prove me wrong. Perched, though, I reckon I could get some quite serviceable images and with the Kingfishers that I have access to I think this lens would out-do my 300 f4/tc combo.

Also for landscapes the possibilities open up; I can't find the link to a shot I saw this morning of the sun rising behind an America long-span bridge but it made me think. A bit of softness in an image like that makes very little difference, if any at all, but the possibility of an image of the sun through this lens on a crop sensor is thought provoking. That review also says that, with obvious image degradation, the lens works with a Kenko 1.4x tc.

Too soon after Christmas to go chucking money around and I would like to see some more reports on the dust issue but I have checked my local supplier and they are stocking it so it is a possibility as opposed to one of the big whites which are still a lottery win away.

Paul
 
From everything I have read thus far AF is way better with a FF Camera like the 5D3 than with a crop Camera - this would suit me B :)
 
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Hello

New to this forum, but love to shoot birds. Was reading about the new Tamron 150-600mm, I've had it on pre-order since Dec. now it looks like it's delayed. Was looking forward to having it this week. Bummer
 
Roy C said:
From everything I have read thus far AF is way better with a FF Camera like the 5D3 than with a crop Camera - this would suit me B :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if there are just as many if not more bird photographers with crop sensor cameras taking a good look at this lens. That said, a 5D3 is going to focus better and take better photographs than a 70D at 600 mm. Whether you can make up for the added pixel density by cropping a 5D3 image is an interesting question.

I'm purchasing the 150-600 to see if the longer FL zoom is any better than my 7 year old 400 5.6L. I don't expect the Tamron to compete with the Canon at 400 mm for IQ and focus speed but I'm hoping it will be better than the Canon with the non-reporting Tamron 1.4 TC on my 70D. I'm also hoping that the zoom and VC will help make it a better bird lens too.
 
Here's another test of the Tamron 150-600 against the older 200-500, the Canon 100-400, and the Sigma 50-500 OS: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/01/tamron-150-600-telezoom-shootout

Looks like the 150-600 is a pretty impressive lens. I'll stick with my Nikon 80-400 AF-S since I own it, but it looks like the Tamron definitely would provide almost the same sharpness for much less money. That said, it always impresses me how well the Canon 100-400 has held up despite being introduced almost 16 years ago!
 
It is not surprising to me that this mega slow lens (f6.3) has the occasional problem with AF, especially on 1.6 croppers - if it was not down the the fact that the lens hides its true aperture at the long end then AF would be impossible on a 1.6 cropper as it is limited to f5.6. In this regard a Camera that AF's to f8 is almost certain to be better/quicker to focus.

I would be interested to see if using back button focus in AI servo mode helps with the AF as it is easy to bump/pump the focus when using this method (I always use AI servo and back button focusing myself).
 
Obviously, the Nikon D7100 (crop body) will AF at f8.

Interesting to see when the Nikon-fit versions of this lens are realeased how this combination of lens-body performs in the focus-tracking AF department.
 
The AF is certainly faster than when using the 120-300 (non-sport) and as fast as the new Sport model with the 2x so I would not classify it as mega slow

I had no problem tracking gulls with the 7D

If all goes well I will be testing it with a 70D, 5d3 and 1D4 soon and will report back on how it works on those cameras too.
 
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micloi said:
The AF is certainly faster than when using the 120-300 with the 2x so I would not classify it as mega slow
.
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In photographic terms an f2.8 lens is considered 'fast' and a f4 lens 'medium' whereas an f5.6 lens is considered 'slow' (this is of course to do with the amount of light it gathers). So if f5.6 is considered slow than f6.3 must be 'mega' slow as it were (as far as I know there is not anything 'slower' than f6.3 available for AF lenses today). This is not always an indication of the focusing speed of a lens as the 400/5.6 proves but it certainly givers an indication where teles are concerned.
 
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chris129 said:
I wouldn't be surprised if there are just as many if not more bird photographers with crop sensor cameras taking a good look at this lens.
Click to expand...
I would have thought that goes without saying - for any bird photographer that is currently shooting with a FF (or even say a 1D4) then the chances are that they already have a big white supertele (500/4. 600/4 or maybe just a 300/2.8) so they are much less likely to be interested in a lens like this Tammy as that would certainly be a backward step for them!
 
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