Will Tamron set the bar for a budget wildlife lens?

[coastalconn]

Has anyone seen the Tamron press release about the Tamron 150-600? A bold prediction from me, this lens will smoke the Sigmas and possibly the Nikon 80-400 and the Canon 100-400 for a rumored $1500! I had the Tamon 200-500 and it was pretty darn good except for being a screw drive lens and not having VC (VR/IS). The new Tamron lens will address these issues and even add a focus limiter. I'm not an expert at MTF charts, but it looks like they are pretty good except for the contrast fall-off.. Tamron Europe:SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 VC USD[cam]=&tx_keproducts_pi6[vc]=false&tx_keproducts_pi6[sp]=false
I'm sure someone here can spread some knowledge about them, but it looks to me like the lens is optimized more for the 600mm end...

I don't think I will be trading my Sigma 120-300 in anytime soon, but I think it is great that Sigma and Tamron are really stating to step it up with their newest lenses. I know all the old school people out there hate Sigma and Tamron and brush them off, but I think times are changing...

 

[dxqcanada]

Yeah looks good.
My wife got the 200-500mm (based on your comments) and it is a good performer ... and I was hunting for one myself. Now that this one is out, I think I will dig for some more cash as it looks good on paper. Though I still wish for a slightly faster lens.

 

[robbins.photo]

Has anyone seen the Tamron press release about the Tamron 150-600? A bold prediction from me, this lens will smoke the Sigmas and possibly the Nikon 80-400 and the Canon 100-400 for a rumored $1500! I had the Tamon 200-500 and it was pretty darn good except for being a screw drive lens and not having VC (VR/IS). The new Tamron lens will address these issues and even add a focus limiter. I'm not an expert at MTF charts, but it looks like they are pretty good except for the contrast fall-off.. Tamron Europe:SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 VC USD[cam]=&tx_keproducts_pi6[vc]=false&tx_keproducts_pi6[sp]=false
I'm sure someone here can spread some knowledge about them, but it looks to me like the lens is optimized more for the 600mm end...

I don't think I will be trading my Sigma 120-300 in anytime soon, but I think it is great that Sigma and Tamron are really stating to step it up with their newest lenses. I know all the old school people out there hate Sigma and Tamron and brush them off, but I think times are changing...

95 mm filters.. lol - this thing must be a monster.

 

[coastalconn]

Yeah looks good.
My wife got the 200-500mm (based on your comments) and it is a good performer ... and I was hunting for one myself. Now that this one is out, I think I will dig for some more cash as it looks good on paper. Though I still wish for a slightly faster lens.

I still think the Tamron 200-500 is a great lens. I don't think will actually be released for 9-10 months so you have lots of time to save

95 mm filters.. lol - this thing must be a monster.

LOL, that's small, the Sigma has 105 filter and the Tokina has 112mm filter. Also at 4 pounds the Tamron is a super lightweight. My sigma is 6.5 (7 with the 2x) pounds by comparison! ...
I've seen some people complaining about the 4 pound weight already and it makes me laugh! It is a 600mm lens after all. The 200-500 was only a touch over 3 if I remember correctly

 

[lonewolfsx]

In my personal opinion, people complaining about lens size and weight are a joke. If I'm going somewhere where I need to image quality increase from my iPhone's camera to my DSLR, I don't care if I have to lug around a 10 pound lens or two as long as my images are of the utmost perfect quality. Granted, I'm young and in good shape so I don't have issues carrying stuff all day. Still, I wish manufacturers would keep the weight savings stuff to the consumer lenses and just let the pro lenses be god awful heavy if it means better image quality, and many of my "tog" friends agree with me in this area.

That was off-topic, but now on topic: this new lens does look very nice. I've always been a fan of Sigma's nicer lenses, they are great price/performance, especially used, and they offer some lenses that nobody else does. Tamron had some pretty awesome lenses before, such as the 28-105 f/2.8... I look forward to these third party manufacturers continuing to build high quality glass as it'll either force camera-brand lenses to come down in price or go up in quality... always good for us (consumers).

150-600... wow and f/6.3 while not great is still very respectable at that kind of length. If the quality is even half decent this could be great, though I'm not sure quite what market they're shooting for.

 

[gsgary]

Give me a 600 prime every day of the week

Sent from my GT-I9100P using Tapatalk 2

 

[sm4him]

Yeah, I saw this yesterday. If the price really does end up being in the $1500 range, and this thing gets good reviews, I'd definitely consider selling my Sigma 150-500 and going with the Tamron lens. Once it's actually out, I'll be reading with great interest what reviewers and early adapters have to say about it.

 

[astroNikon]

nice lens.

Weight doesn't bug me

Try carrying around a telescope whose tripod is heavier than all my lenses and camera put together.

 

[robbins.photo]

In my personal opinion, people complaining about lens size and weight are a joke. If I'm going somewhere where I need to image quality increase from my iPhone's camera to my DSLR, I don't care if I have to lug around a 10 pound lens or two as long as my images are of the utmost perfect quality. Granted, I'm young and in good shape so I don't have issues carrying stuff all day. Still, I wish manufacturers would keep the weight savings stuff to the consumer lenses and just let the pro lenses be god awful heavy if it means better image quality, and many of my "tog" friends agree with me in this area.

That was off-topic, but now on topic: this new lens does look very nice. I've always been a fan of Sigma's nicer lenses, they are great price/performance, especially used, and they offer some lenses that nobody else does. Tamron had some pretty awesome lenses before, such as the 28-105 f/2.8... I look forward to these third party manufacturers continuing to build high quality glass as it'll either force camera-brand lenses to come down in price or go up in quality... always good for us (consumers).

150-600... wow and f/6.3 while not great is still very respectable at that kind of length. If the quality is even half decent this could be great, though I'm not sure quite what market they're shooting for.

Well for me it's a tradeoff calculation. I do a lot of hiking sometimes to get the pics I want, so I have to decide is the extra weight/size going to be worth the extra range, and how does the IQ stack up against my current 300 mm? The 4 lb weight on this is pretty impressive for a 600 mm reach - but of course that usually means some compromises in build quality to use the lighter weight material. Like all things camera, you can't have everything. So I'll wait till they come out and some of the places I count on for such things have a chance to review it and test the Image quality, then if those results are promising and the price is right I'll probably look at purchasing one. So far though it looks like a very impressive offering.

 

[lambertpix]

Wow. Definitely worth watching. I've been pretty impressed with the pace that Sigma, especially, has been pumping out new lenses -- and lots of them have been getting very solid reviews. Canon's 100-400 could really stand a little competition -- I can't wait to see some reviews.

 

[sm4him]

Well for me it's a tradeoff calculation. I do a lot of hiking sometimes to get the pics I want, so I have to decide is the extra weight/size going to be worth the extra range, and how does the IQ stack up against my current 300 mm? The 4 lb weight on this is pretty impressive for a 600 mm reach - but of course that usually means some compromises in build quality to use the lighter weight material. Like all things camera, you can't have everything. So I'll wait till they come out and some of the places I count on for such things have a chance to review it and test the Image quality, then if those results are promising and the price is right I'll probably look at purchasing one. So far though it looks like a very impressive offering.

^THIS is much more my concern than the weight. I'm used to lugging my Sigma 150-500 on a gripped D7000 around, even on all-day hiking excursions, so the weight of this new Tamron would actually make my load *lighter.* But if the lighter weight is the result of serious compromises in build quality, and the IQ isn't *significantly* better than what I get now, then I'd stick with my Sigma.

 

[Derrel]

Looks like it's optimized for the image circle of APS-C more than FX, which would make sense; Nikon's 70-200/2.8 VR was the same way--best on APS-C, not FX. Looks like a lotta lens for the money in terms of range and zoom, but the f/6.3 end of the deal both keeps the price,size,and weight down, but also hurts performance potential in marginal lighting conditions. But still--if they can deliver it to market in the $1500 range, I don't think there's much competition from anything else in that kind of offering.

 

[robbins.photo]

Well for me it's a tradeoff calculation. I do a lot of hiking sometimes to get the pics I want, so I have to decide is the extra weight/size going to be worth the extra range, and how does the IQ stack up against my current 300 mm? The 4 lb weight on this is pretty impressive for a 600 mm reach - but of course that usually means some compromises in build quality to use the lighter weight material. Like all things camera, you can't have everything. So I'll wait till they come out and some of the places I count on for such things have a chance to review it and test the Image quality, then if those results are promising and the price is right I'll probably look at purchasing one. So far though it looks like a very impressive offering.

^THIS is much more my concern than the weight. I'm used to lugging my Sigma 150-500 on a gripped D7000 around, even on all-day hiking excursions, so the weight of this new Tamron would actually make my load *lighter.* But if the lighter weight is the result of serious compromises in build quality, and the IQ isn't *significantly* better than what I get now, then I'd stick with my Sigma.

I know what you mean. At the moment I'm working with a 70-300 mm Nikon lens, it's been getting the job done so far but I'm still trying to decide if I'll get more bang for my buck out of the next lens with something faster (F/2.8 200 mm zoom) or something with more reach (Originally I was looking at either a 400 mm or 500 mm lens). I can see advantages to both, and eventually I'd like to have both but my progression back into the world of cameras is going to be a matter of slowly and steady rebuilding my equipment list.

 

[coastalconn]

Holy crappola! $1069 in the US market. I can't believe this is hitting the market at such a low price... Availibilty inthe next month!

 

[480sparky]

I know what you mean. At the moment I'm working with a 70-300 mm Nikon lens, it's been getting the job done so far but I'm still trying to decide if I'll get more bang for my buck out of the next lens with something faster (F/2.8 200 mm zoom) or something with more reach (Originally I was looking at either a 400 mm or 500 mm lens). I can see advantages to both, and eventually I'd like to have both but my progression back into the world of cameras is going to be a matter of slowly and steady rebuilding my equipment list.

The 70-200 can't beat the 70-300 at the 300mm end, even with a Nikon TC. Been there, tried that.