Shots with my new 150-600 Tamron G2 Lens and Nikon D850

[DGMPhotography]

I got my new 150-600 Tamron G2 lens. Unfortunately on the same day, my D750 decided to crap out on me (part of the shutter recall, so it's getting repaired for free), but in the meantime, my friend let me borrow her D850. So I took the two out for a test drive. Here are the results. C&C welcome.

1. man's bird
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

And a selfie:

One thing I noticed was a lot of noise in my images. But it was manageable noise. That shot of the blue heron was around 18,000 ISO, if I recall correctly, and it's totally usable! But then, strangely enough, shots at 5600 ISO seemed to have almost as much noise. Maybe it's an issue with how my monitor resolves these 46 megapixel images - I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just used to the low light capabilities of my D750. But it did frustrate me.

Aside from that though, I had a great time, and I'm pretty excited to see what else this baby can do. And as you may have noticed from the watermark, these, and shots like them, will be a part of my Pause Shoot Photography brand, dedicated to wildlife, nature, and humanity work.

 

[smoke665]

That's a hunk of lens you have there, just a little bit envious! Couple of things that come to mind, first is motion blur. I have an old Sigma 70-300 that I rarely use. In part because unless it's on a tripod and braced I can't hold perfectly steady, at least not with the K3II, I haven't tried it on the K1MIII which may be better. The second thought is how the lens gathers and transmits light to the sensor. Not sure how to explain it, but your're magnifying the image, not the intensity of light received by the sensor.

 

[goooner]

Some nice shots. Took me a while to get used to, and it was a PITA to 'calibrate' to my D7200. I think the D850 does not need calibration, but your D750 might do. I used the dock from Tamron, where you can dial it in at different focal lenghts. I can get down to around 1/200th with VC on, but it does take some practice.

 

[Peeb]

Love most of those, but especially 5, 8, 9, 11 and 13.

Great set! Are you going to miss the D850 when the D750 comes home??

 

[tirediron]

Please tell me that's just a safety tether and that you are NOT carrying that rig around by the body's tripod socket (and assuming it is a tether, you should really put it in the lens' foot rather than the body)!!!!!!!!

 

[DGMPhotography]

Some nice shots. Took me a while to get used to, and it was a PITA to 'calibrate' to my D7200. I think the D850 does not need calibration, but your D750 might do. I used the dock from Tamron, where you can dial it in at different focal lenghts. I can get down to around 1/200th with VC on, but it does take some practice.

A few of these shots were around 1/200 at mode 3 of VC. Even that low though, still a lot of noise for my taste.

Love most of those, but especially 5, 8, 9, 11 and 13.

Great set! Are you going to miss the D850 when the D750 comes home??

I actually really miss my D750! If for any other reason than it's my own. But also because it seems to fare better in low light. Aside from that though, the 850 is a beast.

Please tell me that's just a safety tether and that you are NOT carrying that rig around by the body's tripod socket (and assuming it is a tether, you should really put it in the lens' foot rather than the body)!!!!!!!!

As you can see from the pic, I was holding it by the tripod foot most of the time. It never once dangled by the strap. But I will agree, the tripod socket strap she had was kinda strange to me. I'm used to the normal camera straps.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Why was your ISO so dam high?

Un-cropped I think 12 and 10 are the best of the bunch, but due to you having 46mp to play with I would definitely try cropping 3 and 4 MUCH tighter those have the most interesting backgrounds. Hard to tell if the images are soft due to the high ISO because they have been uploaded rather small.

Try and get that frame filled more, I had the first version of your lens and loved the reach on it, the G1 was stunning in decent light (would need to look in a folder at home to show examples, none online). So I'm expecting to see awesome things from the newer version. What I do love about the G2 is it the lens locks in place and doesn't slide about while your walking about.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Why was your ISO so dam high?

Un-cropped I think 12 and 10 are the best of the bunch, but due to you having 46mp to play with I would definitely try cropping 3 and 4 MUCH tighter those have the most interesting backgrounds. Hard to tell if the images are soft due to the high ISO because they have been uploaded rather small.

Try and get that frame filled more, I had the first version of your lens and loved the reach on it, the G1 was stunning in decent light (would need to look in a folder at home to show examples, none online). So I'm expecting to see awesome things from the newer version. What I do love about the G2 is it the lens locks in place and doesn't slide about while your walking about.

Lol, the meter told me to!

I kept my shutter speed at around 1/800, to be able to avoid camera shake with a long lens, and account for birds in flight. I kept the f stop as low as I could, and I put the camera on auto ISO. It was within the golden hour, so the sun was falling fast. But even then, these images don't look all that noisy. I was impressed. But I think as I learn the capabilities of this lens and my camera, I will learn how much light I need to keep my ISO low. Especially since I'm back to my D750 now.

I definitely wish I could fill the frame, but these fellas were out in the middle of an island on a lake. But hopefully with the 600mm I'll be able to fill the frame at some other locations. As for 3 and 4, I was thinking I wanted to not crop it, to show more of the background, but you're thinking it would look better cropped?

 

[birdbonkers84]

Why was your ISO so dam high?

Un-cropped I think 12 and 10 are the best of the bunch, but due to you having 46mp to play with I would definitely try cropping 3 and 4 MUCH tighter those have the most interesting backgrounds. Hard to tell if the images are soft due to the high ISO because they have been uploaded rather small.

Try and get that frame filled more, I had the first version of your lens and loved the reach on it, the G1 was stunning in decent light (would need to look in a folder at home to show examples, none online). So I'm expecting to see awesome things from the newer version. What I do love about the G2 is it the lens locks in place and doesn't slide about while your walking about.

Lol, the meter told me to!

I kept my shutter speed at around 1/800, to be able to avoid camera shake with a long lens, and account for birds in flight. I kept the f stop as low as I could, and I put the camera on auto ISO. It was within the golden hour, so the sun was falling fast. But even then, these images don't look all that noisy. I was impressed. But I think as I learn the capabilities of this lens and my camera, I will learn how much light I need to keep my ISO low. Especially since I'm back to my D750 now.

I definitely wish I could fill the frame, but these fellas were out in the middle of an island on a lake. But hopefully with the 600mm I'll be able to fill the frame at some other locations. As for 3 and 4, I was thinking I wanted to not crop it, to show more of the background, but you're thinking it would look better cropped?

If you can get a decent tripod/gimbal for this set-up (which would help with shooting in low-light, lower shutter speed and not having to worry about camera shake). The D750 + Tamron 150-600mm G2 is such a good set-up, I'm excited to see what you can produce once you've gotten used to shooting with it. If you haven't already I would recommend back button focusing. I would experiment with the lens VC, I know it was pretty good with the older version, you could probably shoot stationary subjects at 1/200 with it. F/8 was also the sweet sport for sharpness with the G1 so again you'll need to find what's the best for the G2.

No.3 and 4 are rather center focused, if I was to leave them showing their surroundings I would crop it so they are looking into the frame or out and definitely if the focus is there I would crop in closer, something like a 4x3 crop portrait. The bird with those lovely reflections would look great. Again something for you to experiment with!

Oh i found my examples of my G1 in awesome light: