Shallow Review: Tamron 150-600 f/5-6.3 VC vs 300mm/2.8 II +2xTC III

[AlanF]

You could do a comparison. Print off the iso chart (you can find it on the internet) on A4 or US paper, and photograph it at a distance to give the same size image as I posted. Then photograph it with your 100-400 at the same distance and upsample it at 1.5x and compare.

I was only joking about your 300 being a bad copy - the lens is phenomenal.

In that case I need to copy your exact distance, camera, camerasettings and PP settings as well.
Also shooting at 2500 iso is meaningless if you are looking for details at 100% crops.
And printouts for test purpose? I dont find that to be suitable for high res comparisons.

Anyway, here is a 100% crop from my 100-400mm. raw file opened in fastone (no sharpening):

OK, use your set up and conditions and post a 100% crop from your 600mm combo and an upsampled one from your 100-400.

 

[J.R.]

Thanks AlanF.

How do you find the AF for bird tracking (I know you shoot critters)? AF on Tamron lenses has been questionable in the past so it would be great if they have sorted this out in this lens.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for sharing the images ... from whatever I read/saw so far, I am very impressed with the Tamron ... the fact that people are actually comparing it with lenses that cost far more, speaks volumes for the Tamron which costs just a little over $1000 ... looks like the third party manufacturers (especially Sigma & Tamron) have really stepped up their game. After the announcement of this Tamron lens, Nikon has recently dropped the price of their newest 80-400 VR II lens by $400.

 

[Pit123]

You could do a comparison. Print off the iso chart (you can find it on the internet) on A4 or US paper, and photograph it at a distance to give the same size image as I posted. Then photograph it with your 100-400 at the same distance and upsample it at 1.5x and compare.

I was only joking about your 300 being a bad copy - the lens is phenomenal.

In that case I need to copy your exact distance, camera, camerasettings and PP settings as well.
Also shooting at 2500 iso is meaningless if you are looking for details at 100% crops.
And printouts for test purpose? I dont find that to be suitable for high res comparisons.

Anyway, here is a 100% crop from my 100-400mm. raw file opened in fastone (no sharpening):

OK, use your set up and conditions and post a 100% crop from your 600mm combo and an upsampled one from your 100-400.

We know the Tammy is very good at F8@600. And also very good at 400mm wide open. Question is, Whats best: upsampled 400mm wide open vs 600mm wide open. Please show us!
I cant see a comparison between my lenses (upsampled 100-400 vs 300mk2 +2xtc) can contribute anything. What I am saying is that my 100-400@400 f5.6 looks much sharper than your tammy @600mm f6.3 examples.
I agree the Tammy looks great at F8. But for me, f8 is not very useful.
However, if tammy @ 600f6.3 gives more details in a 100%crop than an upsampled tammy 400f6.3, it start to be very intersting. Hope you can make the comparison!

 

[TrabimanUK]

AlanF,

thanks for the images. I am now seriously tempted to get this lens instead of the 100-400 for the extra range at the lower price, as the image quality looks (for my needs) pretty damn good.

thanks again

 

[Lichtgestalt]

i try to buy it but amazon germany don´t have it.

two weeks ago there were a few resellers on amazon who offered the tamron.
but since sunday there is none.

all other resellers i trust have it on backorder.

i knew we should not have sold our family camera shop last year.
but i guess i would not get it faster then anyway.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for sharing the images ... from whatever I read/saw so far, I am very impressed with the Tamron ... the fact that people are actually comparing it with lenses that cost far more, speaks volumes for the Tamron which costs just a little over $1000 ... looks like the third party manufacturers (especially Sigma & Tamron) have really stepped up their game. After the announcement of this Tamron lens, Nikon has recently dropped the price of their newest 80-400 VR II lens by $400.

I wonder if this lens has put similar pressure on the upcoming release of the 100-400 by Canon?

I hope so ... it'll be good for all of us ... but again we've been hearing about the 10-400 L rumoros for a veeeeeeeeery long time, with no end in sight

 

[Rienzphotoz]

i try to buy it but amazon germany don´t have it.

two weeks ago there were a few resellers on amazon who offered the tamron.
but since sunday there is none.

all other resellers i trust have it on backorder.

i knew we should not have sold our family camera shop last year.
but i guess i would not get it faster then anyway.

This lens seems to fly off the shelves real fast ... I tried ordering it though my ex-boss, but between the time he added the lens to the cart and hit check-out, all the 16 lenses that were in stock (at the time of adding to cart) were sold out. Now the next available date is between 30 to 90 days
The excellent quality vs its very low price seems to have made it a big hit.

 

[Lichtgestalt]

I wonder if this will push its price up?

by the way.... i noticed the nikon and sony mount is 200 euro more @ amazon.

 

[Albi86]

i try to buy it but amazon germany don´t have it.

two weeks ago there were a few resellers on amazon who offered the tamron.
but since sunday there is none.

all other resellers i trust have it on backorder.

i knew we should not have sold our family camera shop last year.
but i guess i would not get it faster then anyway.

Ha! I preordered mine a few days ago when Amazon Italy went crazy and had it for 1099€

 

[Rienzphotoz]

i try to buy it but amazon germany don´t have it.

two weeks ago there were a few resellers on amazon who offered the tamron.
but since sunday there is none.

all other resellers i trust have it on backorder.

i knew we should not have sold our family camera shop last year.
but i guess i would not get it faster then anyway.

This lens seems to fly off the shelves real fast ... I tried ordering it though my ex-boss, but between the time he added the lens to the cart and hit check-out, all the 16 lenses that were in stock (at the time of adding to cart) were sold out. Now the next available date is between 30 to 90 days
The excellent quality vs its very low price seems to have made it a big hit.

I wonder if this will push its price up?

I hope not.

 

[Plainsman]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for sharing the images ... from whatever I read/saw so far, I am very impressed with the Tamron ... the fact that people are actually comparing it with lenses that cost far more, speaks volumes for the Tamron which costs just a little over $1000 ... looks like the third party manufacturers (especially Sigma & Tamron) have really stepped up their game. After the announcement of this Tamron lens, Nikon has recently dropped the price of their newest 80-400 VR II lens by $400.

I reckon that Sigma will drop the price of their 120-300/2.8 as well in due course.

Also second hand prices of Can/Nik 300/2.8 IS/VR should take a hit.

May even affect the pricing of a new 100-400/5.6 if it ever gets born. That would be good! It would serve Canon right for p*****g everybody off by keeping shtum about it.

Looking forward to see a photozone or photographylife detailed review of this great Tamron.

 

[Dylan777]

Thanks Alan,

@ f8 and smaller, Tammy shows better IQ in 600mm. This is good news for those want long zoom & shooting at slower shutter speed.

I'm no expert in BIF photography. Last time I tried, my shutter speed was in 1/2000ish.

F8 + 1/2000ish = ??? IQ

 

[Albi86]

I don't think the price of brand-name 300/2.8, the new 100-400 or the Sigma are going down.

Reading the reports, it seems that AI Servo on this lens only works well with newer cameras (i.e. 70D, 6D, 5D3, 1Dx) and, maybe except for the 1Dx, only with the central points.

It's not clear at this point if it is a hardware (camera) or software (lens firmware) problem. We all hope that it is the second, especially if it is the reason why availability in Europe seems zero as of yet.

 

[AlanF]

The rain stopped and the sun appeared so I could go into the garden and do more systematic tests as requested.

These are not ultra accurate tests as done by TDP, but field tests. I set the 5DIII to iso 640, which is my standard for bird photography and often used by many of us as a compromise between noise and shutter speed. I deliberately choose the iso_12233 chart to be further away than used by TDP so the fine lines of the centre ring are just on the verge of being resolved - that way you can see more clearly the resolving power of a lens.

All are 100% crops. The raw files were downloaded into PS, which sharpens them all by 25 units. There is no noise suppression.

The first pair are at 400mm, f/5.6 at the top and f/8 in the middle. The fine outer circle lines cannot be resolved because they are at the Nyqvist limit - they don't span two pixels. No amount of upsampling will resolve them, and the bottom frame is the f/8 image upsampled to 600mm dimensions by x 1.5.

The lens is very sharp at 400mm, but it can't reach the levels of its performance at 600mm for resolution, as will be seen later.

 

[AlanF]

Here are 500mm at f/6.3 (Top) and f/8 (bottom). The outer fine lines of the central circle can just be resolved as we have crossed the Nyqvist limit.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

Thanks Alan,

@ f8 and smaller, Tammy shows better IQ in 600mm. This is good news for those want long zoom & shooting at slower shutter speed.

I'm no expert in BIF photography. Last time I tried, my shutter speed was in 1/2000ish.

F8 + 1/2000ish = ??? IQ

LOL. Exactly.

And AF?

 

[AlanF]

At 600mm the lines are well resolved at both f/5.6 (top) and f/8 (middle). The f/8 is a much better image. At the bottom is 600mm from the 300mm f/2.8 II + 2xTC III at f/5.6.

The difference between the Tammy at f/8 and the Canon at f/5.6 is not night and day, as claimed. And, the 400mm up sampled is not as good as the Tammy at f/6.3.

The focus was much quicker in use today with the limter set to 15-infinity and in good light. The problem with autofocus on older Canons is the fault of Canon as I have problems with their own lenses on the 7D, but not the 70D or 5DIII.

 

[JPAZ]

Charts and real world are two different things but it kinda looks to me like the 300 2.8 with 2x turns in a bit better resolution the the Tammy at 600. But, the cost of the Canon is about 6x the Tammy. Tough call.

 

[mackguyver]

Charts and real world are two different things but it kinda looks to me like the 300 2.8 with 2x turns in a bit better resolution the the Tammy at 600. But, the cost of the Canon is about 6x the Tammy. Tough call.

Alan, thank you for the excellent tests and I agree with JPAZ that Canon combo does resolve better, but only when truly pixel peeping. For the money, the Tamron is a fantastic lens, and if the IS, AF, and durability is decent, it's an absolute steal over the Canon combo that we both own. I won't be selling my 300 f/2.8 IS II anytime, but I could see myself using the Tamron for travel, for situations where the 300 simply isn't practical, and anytime the advantages of having zoom would outweigh the Canon combo.