Tamron 150 600 woes

[alexturton]

Bought a tamron 150 600 for my 5d3 and 60d. It has AFMA problems (-6 tele, +5 wide)

Sent it back for calibration. Came back worse (-15 tele, -5 wide).

Gave up and I'm sending it back for refund.

Anyone else had problems with this lens?

 

[FEBS]

I don't have the tamron 150-600. But what's wrong with a afma of -6 to 5?
Or was the afma not consistent?

 

[Lightmaster]

no, no problems... and if the correction solved it i don´t know why the hell i would send it in... ???

sending in only the lens doesn´t help much.. it´s a camera + lens combination thing.

 

[alexturton]

no, no problems... and if the correction solved it i don´t know why the hell i would send it in... ???

sending in only the lens doesn´t help much.. it´s a camera + lens combination thing.

You can't correct for afma on 60d which makes for out of focus shots

 

[Atonegro]

My eyes need -3 and -2.5, but when corrected, I can see pretty good.

When a lens needs AFMA it doesn't mean it is faulty.
If that was the case, I only had my MF-lenses left...even my 70-200 needs +2.


Send it in with your 60D, and AFMA your 5D after that.

 

[Canon1]

no, no problems... and if the correction solved it i don´t know why the hell i would send it in... ???

sending in only the lens doesn´t help much.. it´s a camera + lens combination thing.

You can't correct for afma on 60d which makes for out of focus shots

How do you know it was off on the 60d? Just because it was off on the 5d means nothing. Lenses AND bodies both factor in on AFMA optimization.

 

[Loswr]

How do you know it was off on the 60d? Just because it was off on the 5d means nothing. Lenses AND bodies both factor in on AFMA optimization.

+1. I've had lenses needing >5 units on one body and none on another.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Bought a tamron 150 600 for my 5d3 and 60d. It has AFMA problems (-6 tele, +5 wide)

Sent it back for calibration. Came back worse (-15 tele, -5 wide).

Gave up and I'm sending it back for refund.

Anyone else had problems with this lens?

That's the unfortunate problem when buying a lens made by a 3rd party. Its not possible to tell if its the lens, the camera, or a combination of both. It puts lens makers in a tough spot.

With 7D's being priced so low, you might consider upgrading to one, then you will have AFMA.

 

[AlanF]

Mine on the 5DIII is +3 at 150mm and -7 at 600mm. On the 70D it is 0 at 600mm. It beats me why you sent it back for -6 and +5. I have worse results for expensive Canon primes.

 

[Dylan777]

Bought a tamron 150 600 for my 5d3 and 60d. It has AFMA problems (-6 tele, +5 wide)

Sent it back for calibration. Came back worse (-15 tele, -5 wide).

Gave up and I'm sending it back for refund.

Anyone else had problems with this lens?

At that state, if the images are sharp I would keep it.

 

[philmoz]

No problems here, and have had excellent service from Tamron.

I sent mine to Tamron to investigate a servo AF issue on the 5DIII - they updated the firmware and must have calibrated the lens because it's perfect at 0 AFMA wide and tele. Before it was -5 (W) to +3 (T).

Phil.

 

[alexturton]

I knew it was a problem because images were not in focus on my 60d.

Yes, i could afma on 5d3 but I refuse to spend 1000£ on a lens that doesn't work on both my bodies. I have 9 lenses all of which are calibrated perfectly (no afma require at all) across both bodies.

 

[Canon1]

I have 9 lenses all of which are calibrated perfectly (no afma require at all) across both bodies.

What method of AFMA do you use? Out of 3 pro bodies and 11 L lenses I have never had a lens and body combo that did not require AFMA adjustment. I have also only seen a couple of lenses from other photogs over the years that did not require any afma adjustment. You must be the luckiest camera and lens buyer in the world to get perfectly calibrated lenses and bodies...

 

[AlanF]

Both the Tamron 150-600mm and the Canon 100-400mm L are much better on FF than crop - see for example
http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Tamron-150-600mm-f5-6.3-Di-VC-USD-Canon-mount-lens-review-New-contender/Tamron-150-600mm-f5-6.3-Di-VC-USD-vs.-Sigma-150-500mm-f5-6.3-APO-DG-OS-HSM-vs.-Canon-EF100-400mm-f4.5-5.6L-IS-mounted-Canon-EOS-5D-Mk-III-Good-overall-IQ

And look how much worse the 100-400L is on the 60D.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=113&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=7&API=0&LensComp=113&CameraComp=736&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=7&APIComp=0

Like the OP I have a 5DIII and I use the Tamron on that only - I wouldn't want to use the Tamron on a 60D if I had one (and I don't use it on the 70D).

 

[alexturton]

I have 9 lenses all of which are calibrated perfectly (no afma require at all) across both bodies.

What method of AFMA do you use? Out of 3 pro bodies and 11 L lenses I have never had a lens and body combo that did not require AFMA adjustment. I have also only seen a couple of lenses from other photogs over the years that did not require any afma adjustment. You must be the luckiest camera and lens buyer in the world to get perfectly calibrated lenses and bodies...

I use dot tune method. Plus I return any lens with any afma inconsistencies and get another copy

 

[candc]

roger at lens rentals wrote a really informative article on the whole afma issue. simply put all lenses and cameras have some variation. lets just say +/- 5 arbitrary units for example. you can have anything from -10 to +10 using those 2 values so don't take the need for afma as meaning the lens is bad.

i really like the tamron and thinks its great on ff or a crop body. i mostly use it on the 70d and am very happy with what it produces. this squirrel is typical of what you can expect

 

[Loswr]

I use dot tune method.

Personally, I've tested the 'dot tune' method, and found it to be inconsistent. One good thing about it: you get your money's worth.

 

[tomscott]

The likelihood of getting a perfect lens to match your body is slim at best.

Any gear in all industry needs to be calibrated correctly, just a fact of using high end gear thats designed to work for a large amount of bodies etc

Obviously its disappointing but not the end of the world, just sort it out.

 

[Lightmaster]

I have 9 lenses all of which are calibrated perfectly (no afma require at all) across both bodies.

What method of AFMA do you use? Out of 3 pro bodies and 11 L lenses I have never had a lens and body combo that did not require AFMA adjustment. I have also only seen a couple of lenses from other photogs over the years that did not require any afma adjustment. You must be the luckiest camera and lens buyer in the world to get perfectly calibrated lenses and bodies...

I use dot tune method. Plus I return any lens with any afma inconsistencies and get another copy

LOL....then you better never buy a new camera body or you might have to buy new lenses again.

honestly that´s just nonsense what you do.

i have lenses that worked perfect on my 5D MK2.
when i bought the 5D Mk3 they needed some small correction.
on my second 5D MK 3, backup body i bought a few month later, they need different corrections.

AFMA and good.. that´s what it is for.

when you have a body with AFMA and one without.
send the lens AND the body that has no AFMA in for calibration.
then use AFMA on the other body.

 

[Loswr]

Plus I return any lens with any afma inconsistencies and get another copy

LOL....then you better never buy a new camera body or you might have to buy new lenses again.

Not necessarily – it depends on what 'inconsistencies' means. Needing AFMA is fine, different values on different bodies is normal. But I test zoom lenses at both ends and 1-3 intermediate focal lengths, and if the intermediate FLs don't fall on the regression line between W and T, I'd call that an 'AFMA inconsistency' and return the lens or send it to Canon for service.