Tamron 150-600 G2 focus or Vc?

SuzukiGS750EZ · Jun 4, 2018

Hey guys. I shoot with a cabin 80D. I bought my first lens and it had issues, so they determined I needed a replacement. I sent in both my camera and the lens and had them calibrated at Tamron. I haven't shot with this lens in months so I can't remember but...

I was shooting a baseball game the other day at 1/1000, 1/1250 & 1/1600 with vc on nice 1 & 3. The camera would focus but the picture was soft but not blurry at 600mm. Turning vc off shooting but at like 450-500 looked a bit better.

Am I wrong to use vc at any shutter speed? I was hand held and then resting on my knee at one point.

Overread · Jun 4, 2018

A few thoughts

1) Vibration control works only so well, but does take a few moments to "spin up" before it works. If you aim the shot and then take it fast the VC might not have spun up to counter motion and thus might be causing its own softening effect. For this reason some people dislike it as they are a very "point and shoot". Meanwhile if you were tracking motion (with the shutter half pressed and thus VC engaged) it should be spun up to work

2) In my experience the ideal handholding theory of 1/focal length works in the 50-200mm ish range. Shorter than 50mm and you can often handhold a lot slower than the theory would suggest; longer and you often need much faster. This varies a lot on posture, shooting condition, physical fitness, fatigue and weight of the setup. Bigger heavier gear, less fitness, poorer posture and lets throw in the end of a day so some fatigue and you'd need faster shutter speeds by far.

3) In a zoom lens of that kind you will get some softness at the long end, its unavoidable. Every zoom lens is going to be softer at the longer end; though by how much varies from lens to lens. 150-600mm is a very long range to cover so I would expect the 600mm to be softer than the 150mm at a noticeable level. However from what I've heard its sharpness at 600mm is still very usable so without examples to compare, it might be that you are just seeing its normal variation. You could just be seeing the variation that's normal and have high standards - or you might have more softness than is expected.

4) Best thing is to get some test shots. A tripod mount on a stable surface and take some shots at different focal lengths, apertures and distances. Do it methodically so that you can compare things. By using a tripod and turning VC off you are comparing the actual sharpness of the lens without anything else getting in the way.

From there you can experiment with handholding at turning VC on and off.

Best to test things in a controlled environment and work through them methodically. Sure its going to be a whole bunch of boring test photos; but it lets you see and compare the results you get without distraction or confusion. From there you can clearly know what your lens properties are and also how to get the best out of it.

zombiesniper · Jun 4, 2018

Overread beat me and with more detail.

+1 to Overread.

K9Kirk · May 22, 2020

I know this thread is a little old now but I thought I would mention one other thing about the VC lens that I personally don't like ... it's having to always remember to flip the switch on the lens to the right setting, depending on your distance from the subject. You have to go back and forth to the "0-15 meter" setting or the "15 meter to infinity" and you have to guess the distance right or you'll waste time fumbling to switch it over. Can be a real pita at times. I don't know that it's the same with the G2, never used one. 'Maybe' best save your money a little longer and get a good prime lens instead. I kind of wish I had.