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My first weekend with Tamron 150-600
Outdoor conditions were terrible, continuous rain and windy and +2degC brrr … anyway that made me go for some people shoots inside Stockholm Central station. Shooting at 1/125 gave me ISO’s around 12800 and it was actually an interesting test for Tamron’s “VC" (Vibration Compensation) as well as a good test on AF ability in less than perfect conditions.
600mm 1/125 at f/6.3 ISO 12800
600mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
200mm 1/125 @ f/5 ISO 12800
600mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
552mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
552mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
500mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
600mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
600mm 1/125 @ f/6.3 ISO 12800
Following Central Station I got out into the wet to catch some brave pedestrians fighting their way through the wind and rain. It was dark there too giving ISO’s from 1600 to 6400.
500mm 1/125 @ f/7.1 ISO 2000
500mm 1/125 @ f/7.1 ISO 1600
600mm 1/200 @ f/7.1 ISO 5000
600mm 1/200 @ f/6.3 ISO 3200
483mm 1/200 @ f/7.1 ISO 5000
600mm 1/250 @ f/6.3 ISO 3200
500mm 1/250 @ f/6.3 ISO 6400
483mm 1/250 @ f/6.3 ISO 5000
600 mm 1/250 @ f/7.1 ISO 4000
309 mm 1/125 @ f/5.0 ISO 1250
600 mm 1/250 @ f/8 ISO 100 handheld and cropped.
My overall first weekend conclusions are that this is indeed a great lens, easy to handhold and gives consistent and good results:
Stabilization works well from 1/125: meaning I found it difficult (at 1/125) to distinguish a steady tripod shot versus a handheld shoot. Shooting 600mm with 1/60 (!) gave visible motion-blur but still big improvement compared to do the same without VC activated.
F6.3 @ 600mm looks fine, F8 is just little bit sharper with maybe a bit more contrast but you have to pixel-peep at 100% to see the differences. And further stepping down to F11 did not make any change what I could see. DXO writes about reduced performance at the long end but such performance issues were not visible in this simple test.
AF was spot on and very consistent, it was easy to track approaching pedestrian’s bicycles etc. AF acquisition was ok but when it missed then there is a long travel for the focus screw. There is a 0-15 meter AF block but 15 meters is too far I think … which made me switch it off and when acquisition missed it took a good second to get focus again.
The zoom turns in opposite way as compared to my other Canon lenses …really irritating; I kept turning the wrong way all the time. Also in the freezing temperatures zoom was not as smooth as in indoor temperatures. Canon Extenders 1.4 II & 2.0 II do not fit: there is not enough space for them behind the Tamron lens.
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Pre-wedding photoes with Lena and Christoffer
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Anna and Max wedding May 26, 2012.
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Pre-wedding images with Tobias and Kristin in Stockholm.
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Pre-wedding photos with Anna and Max in Stockholm.
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f/1.8, 1/125, ISO 12 800 (!). Canon EOS 5Dmk3 with EF 50mm f/1.2.
Walpurgis Night 2012, celebrating spring together with neighbors just outside Stockholm, this year the evening was fantastic: totally wind free, not exactly warm, but to be able to sit outside in Sweden last day in April until midnight and have dessert near the lake under candle lights ….well then you feel for the first time that the summer is finally approaching after what seems to have been an almost endless winter.
The photos are taken with Canon 5D Mk3 together with EF 50mm F/1.2. The only lights were from a few candles on the table and a small bonfire 15 meters away. Images are RAW converted without much editing in DPP, AWB correction and some exposure tuning. Now with 5D3 it is amazing to use the EF50mm wide-open and to be able nail the focus on most of the images, finally this lens works! And ISO’s used are all the way up to ISO 12800 and still colors look fine and not too much noise either. Under conditions like these the 5D Mk3 is really a huge improvement over the 5Dmk2.
f/3.2, 1/160, ISO 1600
f/1.4, 1/30, ISO 5000.
f/1.4, 1/30, ISO 6400
f/1.4, 1/40, ISO 4000
f/1.4, 1/40, ISO 5000
f/1.4, 1/40, ISO 8000
f/1.4, 1/30, ISO 5000
f/1.2, 1/30, ISO 10 000
f/1.2, 1/40, ISO 5000
f/1.2, 1/30, ISO3200
f/1.8, 1/160, ISO 2000
f/1.8, 1/125, ISO 10 000
f/1.8, 1/160, ISO3200
Thank you very much Elisabeth for a lovely evening!
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Fixed focus 35mm does not sound very sexy and with the rather massive price-tag this lens was far away from being on my investment horizon. But the rave-noises on many photo-forums caught my interest and once it was on my camera it didn't take too many shoots to understand that is a very special lens.
Common misunderstandings are that wide angle lenses gives you long Dept of Field, DOF. Not true, just look at these images! Close up (high magnification these are taken about 1 meter shoot distance) and large aperture: equals razor thin DOF! The backgrounds are not blurred in the same way as with tele-lens, the out of focus drop-lets are smaller making the background visible yet out of focus. The effect is very different, cool I think!
f/1.4, 1/125s, ISO 1600 Canon EOS 5Dmk2
Needless to say this lens is a night photo performer!
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A kilo of massive glass, a strange beast, crazy expensive, awkward and heavy in the camera bag. And be carefull when you put it on the camera, if not you risk scratch the back lens which almost flush with the bayonet mount, it is like Canon stretched the design to the limit of what is practical.
f/1.2, 1/45s ISO 1600. Canon EOS 5Dmk2
However once on the camera the 85mmF/1.2 feels really nice, it is nice to hold and the added weight gives some extra stability. Yes this is the king of night photo and portraits. Very sharp wide open but precise careful focusing is a must, for close ups the DOF is ridiculously short, focus on the eyes and the tip of the nose is blurry.
With Canon 5Dmk2 ISO3200, 1/80 sec and f/1.2 candle light photography was definitively possible but the AF system of 5Dmk2 made it a hit and miss game, the probabilities for focused images were (for me) typically 50% at best. Now with Canon EOS 5DMk3 things really have changed; the low light performances with the new AF system, the possibilities to go to 6400 ISO and beyond together with a lens like the 85mm F/1.2 are nothing short of spectacular and will change photography.
f/1.2 ISO 800 Canon EOS 5Dmk2
f/1.2 1/160, ISO 3200 Canon EOS 5Dmk2
f/2, ISO 100, Canon EOS 5Dmk2
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I love the classic 50mm view with its natural look and feel without either tele-compression or any wide-angle effects. 50mm lenses are small lightweight, fast and (probably) relatively easy to design and manufacture. In fact you can purchase a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 for just 100USD however the EF 50mm f/1.2, just slightly faster and much better build quality comes with a killer price tag at a staggering 1500USD. At this price level it should be the perfect 50mm without any issues.
It has taken me a long time to understand this lens and now after 3 years I am somewhat at peace with it. In spite of much frustration and low keeper percentage it is slowly becoming one of my favorites because when it delivers the results are wonderful. In focus isolation, bokeh and the way the 50 renders out of focus points of lights are distinctly different to the characteristics of for example the 85 & 135. The out of focus droplets at medium photo distances are quite small making the background visible. On some backgrounds the effect can be a bit “disturbing” but often the visibility of the background (yet out of focus) makes the background included in the context of the image (as compared to the more total out of focus blur characteristics of for example the 135/2).
The mentioned low keeper rate are all related to the difficulty for the fifty to really nail critical focus. But when focus is 100% the results are great. Wide open it is soft and many optical aberrations become painfully visible and are exaggerated even if only slightly out of focus. In most portrait situations I prefer to use this lens from F1.8 and from F2.8 it starts to get really good, but that is not what you expect when you invest 1500 USD.
Many have written about focus issues with this lens. My own frustration has made me do many different tests but to make a long story short and contrary to many others opinion I find that in good high contrast test-conditions the 50 is both accurate and consistent, with no real issues. But in reality the problems starts as soon as target contrasts are less than perfect. Of course focus point accuracy drops as contrast goes down and sooner or later all lenses will suffer and give inconsistent results, but for some reason the 50 is more sensitive to this effect. It will fail in situations where the others, for example the 85, 135 are still accurate.
On the positive side once you recognize the tricky situations it is possible to be careful and work around the problem, at least to some extent. The best cure is simply to ensure enough contrast at the focus point … this issue applies to day-light backlit situations as well as in general low light situations. In dark (night) portrait situations a single candle reflecting light on the eyes can be the cure and in backlit daytime photo a reflector bouncing light into the model face is often the best cure also for AF accuracy. Other work-a round’s are LIVE VIEW focusing and also EG-S focus screen can help a bit. But moving targets in low contrast light is a hopeless case for this lens at least together with 5D2:
More on this subject can be found on Canon’s own homepage from their master photographers stories … apparently one of the main reasons to upgrade to 1Dmk4 (from 5Dmk2) is to get focus system you can rely on – “I've never really used AI Servo as I've never trusted it” (comment by Jeff Ascough wedding photographer on 5d2 performance …. 50/1.2 & 24/1.4 are his main tools)
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/jeff_ascough_blog.do
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There is not so much to say about the 135/2; in short it is Canon’s best portrait lens. There are no issues, performances wide open are out-standing, but you still may want to step down since DOF can be too thin on close range head-shoots and on group photos you better step down to get everybody in focus. The 135mm FOV portrait characteristics will give a bit of tele-compression and this effect will be flattering for most faces. Isolation and out of focus characteristics are simply top class, probably beaten only by the crazy expensive 200 f/2.
The design of the 135/2 is very similar to the 200/2.8 and it makes me wonder why the 135 should cost 30% more, they look absolutely identical from material point of view. But Canon pricing is not always logical. Still in terms maximum bang for the buck the 135/2 may well be number 1, especially among Canon's L-glass portfolio.
With 135mm the working distances for head and shoulder portraits are from around 3.5 meters (60cm shoots in landscape orientation) to 10 -12 meters for full body portraits. This can in many cases be a bit far and is actually one of the reasons why I sometimes favor the 85/1.2 over the 135/2 (the other reason would be that the 85 is a better choice for night shoots).
To summarize: the 135/2 is in my opinion Canon's best portrait lens and the only down side are the relatively long working distances.
I sold this lens, not that it is bad in any way; actually it is being one of the lowest cost L-glass lenses in Canon’s portfolio and it gives you the same stunning creamy bokeh as the 135/2 for 30% less price. It is also working very well with the 1.4 extender giving you a light weight 280mm f/4 lens…. So why did I sell it ….well I got the 70-200/2.8 which is just so much more flexible. For me the focal length made the use rather limited and as I have far too many lenses I let it go. (At a far too low price. But now it is gone and I will not lock back.)
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