Testing the Tamron 150-600 G2

coastalconn · Oct 21, 2016

I finally got a copy of the Tamron to test out. I've been shooting it the past few mornings to see what it could do. I don't have the dock yet which I need because there is a little fine tuning I need to do at various focal lengths and distances. Haven't found very many cooperative flying birds and haven't even seen one of my Hawks yet. VC is very good. I always figured out that Tamron's info is wrong about reproduction ratio as they have it listed at 1:3.9 and it is actually 1:3.5, So at MFD of 2.2 meters, the entire frame is only 8.2 CM wide. So at MFD effective focal length is 490mm which isn't too bad for a 600mm lens. Anyways here's a couple images...

1

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk 10_20 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

2

Great Egret Flight 10_20 1 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

3

Great Egret 10_20 2 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

4

Testing Tamron 150-600 G2 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

5

Testing Tamron 150-600 G2 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

6 This one really surprised me because I was trying out the new 1.4x TC with it. 750mm handheld on a crop camera is pretty challenging. I'm not a fan of TC's and I didn't expect it to work as well as it did. You need a lot of light... VC is very good...

House Finch 10_21 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

7 At 850mm the DOF is paper thin up close... I was shooting pretty slow too (1/320th) and the wind was blowing pretty hard

American Goldfinch 10_21 1 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

spiralout462 · Oct 21, 2016

Nice set. Thanks for doing the research. This lens may be in my future if I can't find a bargain Canon 500 or 600.

zombiesniper · Oct 21, 2016

Once again proves that excellent photographers shouldn't review kit. They can make a barbie camera look good.
So the solution is you send all your gear to me and I'll give it the mediocre review it deserves. :allteeth:

Great pics.

If this is un-tuned it looks like it will be a fine piece of glass.

Tailgunner · Oct 22, 2016

Interesting! I'm looking into volunteering to watch Raptors for the state and was thinking about the Tamron 150-600mm. All I really need is a spotting scope or binoculars...but there is no way I'm going without a camera.

Anyhow, I rented the Tamron 150-600mm a while back for whale watching and was impressed with it. So do you know when the G2 will be available?

DarkShadow · Oct 22, 2016

It's already available B&H and Adorama.

ZombiesniperJr · Oct 22, 2016

Great set

MSnowy · Oct 22, 2016

Lens looks pretty good. Oh and what great light we've had the last few days here in the Northeast

DarkShadow · Oct 22, 2016

It does look good because its in the right hands, So far the few reviews I have read have been positive but I am sure the crappy reviews will probably follow from the ones don't learn how to use the lenses properly and trying to over reach and then complaining about sharpness and low contrast.Some maybe copy variant but I almost bet many complaints with type of lenses that a good majority are user error.