In-Depth Review: Tamron 150-600 f/5-6.3 VC

[Albi86]

I din't need a 600mm lens and even if i did i would not consider the tamron lens, because tamron is not willing to equip their lenses in ef-version with matching zoomring anf focus ring rotation direction. As long as they make their lenses nikon style only Which causes lost shots for canon users me, i will not buy from them. I liked the optical quality of the tamron 17-50/2.8, but sold it after a few months for this reason and got the canon 17-55 instead. I also trll the tamron people at any tradeshow i visit, that their products are seriously flawed.

I corrected your post

BTW, I got mine today!

First of all, the build quality feels great to me. The feeling is certainly not inferior to my 24-70/4 L.

AI Servo on 5D3 works on ALL points, also the side ones. AF seems fine even now: 1h before dark, very grey day, shooting grey pidgeons. It's not as blazing fast as a f/4 or brighter L lens, but I would say that it should cut the cake.

I can't comment on tracking because of my (poor) skill. For me, like many others, this is the first 600mm experience.

 

[Roo]

I din't need a 600mm lens and even if i did i would not consider the tamron lens, because tamron is not willing to equip their lenses in ef-version with matching zoomring anf focus ring rotation direction. As long as they make their lenses nikon style only Which causes lost shots for canon users me, i will not buy from them. I liked the optical quality of the tamron 17-50/2.8, but sold it after a few months for this reason and got the canon 17-55 instead. I also trll the tamron people at any tradeshow i visit, that their products are seriously flawed.

I corrected your post

BTW, I got mine today!

First of all, the build quality feels great to me. The feeling is certainly not inferior to my 24-70/4 L.

AI Servo on 5D3 works on ALL points, also the side ones. AF seems fine even now: 1h before dark, very grey day, shooting grey pidgeons. It's not as blazing fast as a f/4 or brighter L lens, but I would say that it should cut the cake.

I can't comment on tracking because of my (poor) skill. For me, like many others, this is the first 600mm experience.

Agreed. I really enjoyed the lens first time out. It is no 600 f4 but it's still ideal for sports with the shots below taken on a very grey Melbourne day.

 

[mackguyver]

Agreed. I really enjoyed the lens first time out. It is no 600 f4 but it's still ideal for sports with the shots below taken on a very grey Melbourne day.

Great shots, Roo.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Agreed. I really enjoyed the lens first time out. It is no 600 f4 but it's still ideal for sports with the shots below taken on a very grey Melbourne day.

Great shots, Roo.

+1

 

[JustMeOregon]

Agreed. I really enjoyed the lens first time out. It is no 600 f4 but it's still ideal for sports with the shots below taken on a very grey Melbourne day.

Great shots, Roo.

+1

+1

@ Roo, On the second shot (of the lone batter) did you add any vignetting or is that the native vignetting that is inherent in the lens?

 

[Roo]

And think about what i wrote, every time you turn the zoom ring of your tammy 600 the wrong direction.

I do....everytime I need a good laugh Happily the Tammy also has VC so I can laugh as much as I like without missing the shot ;D

 

[Roo]

Agreed. I really enjoyed the lens first time out. It is no 600 f4 but it's still ideal for sports with the shots below taken on a very grey Melbourne day.

Great shots, Roo.

+1

+1

@ Roo, On the second shot (of the lone batter) did you add any vignetting or is that the native vignetting that is inherent in the lens?

Thanks guys! The vignetting was added in lightroom along with some minor picture adjustments. The only sharpening that was done was on export for the screen.

 

[cliffwang]

Enjoy your new lens and stay away from "correcting" my posts, otherwise i will have to chop your typing fingers off.
And think about what i wrote, every time you turn the zoom ring of your tammy 600 the wrong direction.

LoL. I have no problem with the zoom ring direction of my Tomron 24-70 f/2.8 VC form the day one I got it. It's hard to believe people would make this simple mistake and cannot tell the differences between 150mm and 600mm.

 

[candc]

there are a couple threads going on this lens here now. from what i have read it seems to me that pretty much everyone that is using the lens is generally pleased with it. anyone considering getting the lens should keep that in mind. first hand opinions of actual users are in my opinion more valuable than those comparing it on paper or in theory. i have been using it for a few weeks and wholeheartedly recommend it. the lens handles very well and will give you great results at the focal lengths and apertures that you will use it at. i am very pleased with the af accuracy, i have not had any problems with missed focus at all. I am really enjoying the new lens. here is one from yesterday. its from the mid focal length and about a 1/4 frame crop

 

[justawriter]

Anyone know how long the backlog for the lens is? I ordered one a week ago from B&H and am trying not to be whiney about it. :'( On the plus side, I have decided to name it Tamronasaurus Rex. ;D

 

[wickidwombat]

there are a couple threads going on this lens here now. from what i have read it seems to me that pretty much everyone that is using the lens is generally pleased with it. anyone considering getting the lens should keep that in mind. first hand opinions of actual users are in my opinion more valuable than those comparing it on paper or in theory. i have been using it for a few weeks and wholeheartedly recommend it. the lens handles very well and will give you great results at the focal lengths and apertures that you will use it at. i am very pleased with the af accuracy, i have not had any problems with missed focus at all. I am really enjoying the new lens. here is one from yesterday. its from the mid focal length and about a 1/4 frame crop

wow!

what body is that on?
did you do much PP clarity and sharpening?

 

[HankMD]

there are a couple threads going on this lens here now. from what i have read it seems to me that pretty much everyone that is using the lens is generally pleased with it. anyone considering getting the lens should keep that in mind. first hand opinions of actual users are in my opinion more valuable than those comparing it on paper or in theory. i have been using it for a few weeks and wholeheartedly recommend it. the lens handles very well and will give you great results at the focal lengths and apertures that you will use it at. i am very pleased with the af accuracy, i have not had any problems with missed focus at all. I am really enjoying the new lens. here is one from yesterday. its from the mid focal length and about a 1/4 frame crop

Excellent capture and processing! Makes me wish mine would arrive sooner than "end of February or early March".

 

[Roo]

there are a couple threads going on this lens here now. from what i have read it seems to me that pretty much everyone that is using the lens is generally pleased with it. anyone considering getting the lens should keep that in mind. first hand opinions of actual users are in my opinion more valuable than those comparing it on paper or in theory. i have been using it for a few weeks and wholeheartedly recommend it. the lens handles very well and will give you great results at the focal lengths and apertures that you will use it at. i am very pleased with the af accuracy, i have not had any problems with missed focus at all. I am really enjoying the new lens. here is one from yesterday. its from the mid focal length and about a 1/4 frame crop

Great shot

 

[Albi86]

Anyone know how long the backlog for the lens is? I ordered one a week ago from B&H and am trying not to be whiney about it. :'( On the plus side, I have decided to name it Tamronasaurus Rex. ;D

I think it has been called Big Ron but I wanted to call it Tankron. Tamrosaurus sounds good too

 

[candc]

[/quote]

wow!

what body is that on?
did you do much PP clarity and sharpening?
[/quote]

that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting

 

[lux]

Thanks for the sports photos. I'm trying to decide between a used 100-400 vs a new one of these. I would use it to take pictures of kids sports primarily but I do like to take pictures of eagles and other birds when they visit. I'd love to see more sports photos...football, soccer, rugby or any other field sports. I use a 6d center point focus.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting

AWESOME! ... those are some of the best images I've seen from Tamron 150-600 VC, great sharpness and excellent bokeh. Thanks for sharing ... can't wait to get my hands on the Tammy.

 

[Roo]

Thanks for the sports photos. I'm trying to decide between a used 100-400 vs a new one of these. I would use it to take pictures of kids sports primarily but I do like to take pictures of eagles and other birds when they visit. I'd love to see more sports photos...football, soccer, rugby or any other field sports. I use a 6d center point focus.

Welcome! I usually focus on the batsman's head in cricket so I tend to use the upper focus point rather than the centre. Over the next month mine will cop a solid workout - waterskiing, cricket finals, military airshow, f1 gp and hopefully some birding, so I'll more often than not use the centre point in those. So far I'm really happy with the lens.

 

[AlanF]

Welcome! I usually focus on the batsman's head in cricket

Just like the fast bowlers.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

A colleague of mine, (a newbie in DSLR photography) needed some assistance to get the stuck filter on his EF-S 18-135 IS lens, so we went to the local Canon dealer (my office recently moved just 5 minutes walk from the Canon/Nikon/Tamron dealer ... me very happy) ... anyway, when we went to the store I was very surprised to find the Tamron 150-600 VC lens in display (apparently they've got 12 of them) ... usually in this country we receive new lenses a good 6 - 8 months after their release, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see this lens (also, this is an indication that this mighty Tammy is very popular even in this small country and that is the reason why the dealer here got them so quickly) ... anyway, the very customer friendly salesman (he's the one in the suit in the below pic) allowed me to play with the lens with his 5D MK III (unfortunately I was not carrying my camera, as it was meant to be a short visit to get the stuck filter off the lens ... so I don't have any sample images to compare).
Having played with the lens for about 10 minutes, these are my first impressions of Tamron 150-600 VC lens:
1. The AF, accuracy & speed are very very good (just as good as the EF 100-400 L IS)

2. Build quality is very poor in comparison to Canon EF 100-400 L IS (I don't think it will survive a fall) ... but considering its very low price and superb performance, I don't see how anyone can improve the build quality at that price point.

Unfortunately, the Tamron 150-600 VC lens price here (as usual) is very high i.e. US$ 1863 ... obviously I would not want to spend that kind of money on Tamron (despite its superb image quality, bcoz I am afraid that it may not last long due to its poor build quality) ... but ordering from USA at around US$ 1220 (1069+customs+shipping) sounds reasonable ... I was really excited about it for the past month or so, but after having held it in my hands, now I am in two minds :-\ ... my Sigma 150-500 OS has much better build quality then this Tammy and I know from my personal experience that lenses this big tend to get bumped into things very easily, so not sure if I want to spend US$ 1220 :-\ :-\ :-\

Anyway, here is an image made at the store with the Tamron 150-600 VC & Canon EF 100-400 L IS, next to each other ... compared to the Tammy the build quality of Canon is far superior.

PS. Image below is made with a mobile phone, hence the great quality ;D