Tamron 150-600mm f5-6.3 lens

[smudge]

Released into the wild now.  How can they do it for £949?

Frank Wong's review is here

Personally I'm disappointed it's so small an aperture at the long end. 

Since most people who buy it will be using it at 600 mm, why do companies like Tamron go to the trouble and compromise of such a large zoom range?  Either fix it at a 600 mm prime, or design it with a tighter zoom range like 400 - 600.  Either way would be much simpler and the weight saved could be worked back as bigger elements to hold f5 all the way.

Some visual tests against the Canon 400 f5.6 ( which I adore )

http://camahoy.com/2014/01/13/finally-tamron-150-600-vs-canon-400-f5-6l/

Looks blimmin' great!

[jasT1981]

I'm not very up to date with DSLR lens and how they work etc, isn't a 150-600 only equivalent to a 6x opticacl zoom? Or have I been misinformed about how DSLR lens work? lol

[smudge]

It's a tricky question an answer, but in general the human perception of 1x is about 80mm focal length on a 35mm-frame camera.*

So a 600mm is somewhere around '7.5x' as perceived by a human.

On a crop-sensor DSLR like a 7D it would look like a considerably longer focal length.

Incidentally, a 50mm 'standard' lens on a 35mm-framer has the same field-of-view as the human vision.  So you could also take that as 1x.

Edit:

* based on the view perceived through the viewfinder, which is usually around 0.7 magnification of the image from the lens.**
** some recent mirrorless cameras don't have a viewfinder!  Phillistines!

[Dave]

The lens is a 4x zoom (600 ÷ 150) however I think you are trying to compare it to a bog standard digital zoom. In that case, a 600mm lens on a Canon crop sensor DSLR is roughly the same as 27x optical zoom on a small digital camera.

This lens could be a bargain for airshow photographers, the zoom giving lots of flexibility.

[smudge]

Just out of interest, I've just attached a 40mm pancake to a 1.3x crop APS-H body. 

With 0.76 magnification viewfinder, the image size in the viewfinder is an exact match for the 'size' perceived by my other eye so that looking at the scene with both eyes open is seamless.  I didn't expect that!

Nah, for closer object it's slightly out.  So I would need closer to 60 / 70mm working focal length to 'match' perception.

[Angry Turnip]

Tamron do have a decent reputation of quality lenses,but they are left trailing by the likes of Nikon,Canon and Sigma.

[CH53E]

I've seen a pic of it lined up alongside a Canon 100-400 and Bigma 50-500,it's a brute of a lens!

If the flying ever picks up again I would consider buying one - but until then things are too quiet to justify a purchase.My Nikon 300f4 doesn't get out much at all at present 

[Dave]

Seems to have spurred Canon to rush out an announcement of replacement for their 100-400 'trombone'; rumours are we'll hear about it this week.  Needs to be a considerable step-up to compete against this and the Bigmas, but Canon has a tendency to whack a 30% price increase on their Mk II lenses.

A new Canon 100-400mm sounds interesting. It's been rumored for years however I was tired waiting for an updated 100-400mm that I switched to Nikon thanks to their new 80-400mm.


If true, I'd expect a price around the £2000 mark. Not everyone likes the push-pull of the 100-400mm however I adored it.