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

[AlanF]

It's difficult to find birds to photograph! Here are two examples from today. The first is too easy: the robin was pretty close, and it should have been sharp. The second is a crane flying. The Tammy is not particularly fast at locking on, but when it does, it keeps on target. The crane is at the limit at what I can take, and I use shots like these as reference to what I have seen. It took some work in PP to get the image where it is. The Canon would have done better, but it doesn't make much difference. The robin is sufficiently sharp that having it any sharper wouldn't make any real difference. The crane still wouldn't have got to publication quality.

Both were at 600 mm, iso 640, f/8 on a 5DIII. The crops are at 100%, the full image of the crane is reduced just to show what was cropped. The robin is at a high compression, in the next posting.

 

[AlanF]

I couldn't upload the 3 at once, despite being well under the limit.

 

[Jack Douglas]

AlanF you should have been a news reporter! Very good at delivering the facts without bias.

Jack

 

[miah]

Yeah, thanks for posting these, AlanF. Very helpful indeed!

I shot these two today, male and female mallard ducks and a female red tailed hawk, using the trusty 400 f/5.6 and 5D3. Both photos are heavily cropped, hence the desire to pick up the Tammy.

 

[adhocphotographer]

Interesting justification for buying a lens!

(Cost of lens - re-sale cots)/rental cost per day.... if this number is smaller than the days you might rent it, you might as well buy it and sell it if and when you want to!!! hmmm lets see if my wife buys into this!

FYI didn't work!

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Yeah, thanks for posting these, AlanF. Very helpful indeed!

I shot these two today, male and female mallard ducks and a female red tailed hawk, using the trusty 400 f/5.6 and 5D3. Both photos are heavily cropped, hence the desire to pick up the Tammy.

Miah, I love the first image of the flying ducks ... very beautiful, the ducks seem to pop out of the image ... very nice indeed.

 

[AlanF]

Yeah, thanks for posting these, AlanF. Very helpful indeed!

I shot these two today, male and female mallard ducks and a female red tailed hawk, using the trusty 400 f/5.6 and 5D3. Both photos are heavily cropped, hence the desire to pick up the Tammy.

Nice. What were the sizes of each before you reduced them (if you did?)?

 

[miah]

Miah, I love the first image of the flying ducks ... very beautiful, the ducks seem to pop out of the image ... very nice indeed.

Thanks, Rienzphotoz, the originals look a lot better (of course). I was just glad to shoot my first birds of the year. It's unusually warm here in S Colorado, so they're showing up early. I'll head out again for a walk this morning and see what I find.

Nice. What were the sizes of each before you reduced them (if you did?)?

Thanks, AlanF, I also wanted to ask you how close to the Robin were you? It's a nice shot that shows off the Tammy. My original 5D3 files were cropped as follows:

5D3 native: 5760 x 3840
Mallards: cropped to 1595 x 1063, then reduced to 720 x 480 for posting
Red-Tailed Hawk: cropped to 1648 x 1098, then reduced to 720 x 480 for posting

Quick PP in Lightroom only, no plug-ins.

 

[AlanF]

Thanks Miah. That's pretty good performance by the lens (and you).

 

[AlanF]

Safety strap for Black Rapid

The Black Rapid strap connects to the tripod foot of the Tamron using a 1/4" bolt, attached to a swivelling caribiner, through which is threaded the nylon webbing.
I am worried about my 5DIII falling off the lens because of my accidentally unlocking it, which has happened, cracking the plastic top. I have also read of the Black Rapid failing because the swivel head comes loose or the 1/4" bolt becomes undone. I decided to hook the camera to the webbing or top of the caribiner to prevent the hitting the ground if it becomes loose and to add a safety cord if the lens comes off the webbing. The first idea was to buy a 1/4" bolt to fit into the bottom of the camera and use that as an attachment. However, Canon does not advise that the attachment would be strong enough. The camera lugs must be strong as they are designed to take the weight of the body plus lenses like the 70-200/2.8 hanging on a Canon strap. So, here is my cheap and cheerful solution.

I attached a looped cord to a key ring of suitable size, and tested the strength by swinging a 14 lb clock weight from it. Then, I threaded the loop through a camera lug and threaded the rest of the cord through the protruding loop. The cord was then attached to the webbing by the key ring.

 

[AlanF]

As an altruistic act on behalf of CR Tammy owners, I simulated a strap failure to test the rig. It worked. Make sure that the safety strap is not too long as the lens goes from horizontal to vertical on severing the link to its tripod mount and being suspended from the camera. I also replaced the cord with a section of flat webbing salvaged from old equipment as it is easier to thread through the lugs and also the key ring when changing lenses or camera bodies. The choice of webbing was between a lanyard from an ancient 110 Minolta or a pair of Nikon binoculars. I decided that although the latter might appear to be amusing to some it could offend a malicious Japanese god.

 

[Albi86]

Some BIF with the Tammy...

 

[Albi86]

And a couple more...

 

[Albi86]

Forgot to add: all are on a 5D3, ISO 1250, f/8, 1/2000s.

 

[Click]

Yeah, thanks for posting these, AlanF. Very helpful indeed!

I shot these two today, male and female mallard ducks and a female red tailed hawk, using the trusty 400 f/5.6 and 5D3. Both photos are heavily cropped, hence the desire to pick up the Tammy.

Miah, I love the first image of the flying ducks ... very beautiful, the ducks seem to pop out of the image ... very nice indeed.

+1

Beautiful image 8)

 

[miah]

Forgot to add: all are on a 5D3, ISO 1250, f/8, 1/2000s.

Thanks for posting these, Albi86, just one question: Were all of these shots with the Tammy at 600mm?

 

[Albi86]

Forgot to add: all are on a 5D3, ISO 1250, f/8, 1/2000s.

Thanks for posting these, Albi86, just one question: Were all of these shots with the Tammy at 600mm?

Yes 100% crops don't look too pretty, but I blame that on my (lack of) skill.

EDIT: to be fair, as you can see from the light in the picture, I was close to sunset. It's not easy for the lens/camera to focus in that situation, especially against high-contrast background like the canes.

 

[AlanF]

How good do you think the IS is at 600mm? It doesn't seem like 4 stops to me.

 

[Lightmaster]

How good do you think the IS is at 600mm? It doesn't seem like 4 stops to me.

depends.

how do you calculate that it is not 4 stops?
you shoot handheld with and without VC and look how many stops you need to see no blur from your tremors?

or you just say you should be able to handhold it at ~1/30s. @600mm.

 

[candc]

Without doing any scientific testing, I would say 3 stops.