Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USDMy first weekend with Tamron 150-600 Outdoor conditions in 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 which gave me ISO’s around 12800 and it was actually an interesting test for Tamron’s “VC, Vibration Correction” as well as a good test on AF ability in less than perfect conditions on stressed train commuters. Following that 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 around 1600-3200.

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.