The Canon 1DX and Tamron 150-600mm lens
Because this Tamron 150-600mm lens is so new, Lensrentals didn’t have it in stock for my original reservation date. So, I told them to send it when they could. One week later, it was in my hot little hands. Here’s my take on this brand new lens.
The Tamron 150-600mm lens retails for $1069 at BH Photo and at Adorama and is available for Canon, Nikon and Sony mounts. Right now (well, as of Feb 15), you can only pre-order the lens here in the USA.
Out of the box:
- It weighs .03 lbs less than the Sigma 50-500mm, so both are equal in terms of heft.
- When I first received the lens, I discovered that the lock switch did not work at the 600mm focal length. A Lensrentals tech told me that the lock switch was there only to work at the 150mm focal length to make sure the lens didn’t accidentally move out to a longer length while one was carrying the lens on their shoulder. Really? I should think the lock switch is supposed to work at any focal length, and not just the 150mm focal length. I may hate the locking mechanism on my Canon 100-400 but at least it works at all of the focal lengths.
- If you have microfocus adjustment on your camera, test the lens to make sure the focus is hitting like it should. On my 1DX, it was spot-on. On my Canon 5D Mk III, it was front-focusing.
A Day at the Park
I took my Canon 1DX and this lens out for a morning spin at Brazos Bend State Park, located about halfway between my home and Houston. Btw, mornings are the best time to go out there for birdlife and for few-to-no crowds. I made a return trip later in the day and the place was packed. I got out of the car, looked at all the people and then at the full parking lot at one of my favorite stops, got back in the car and came home. As I was exiting the park, I looked over to the entrance and saw a long line of cars waiting to get in. No thank you.
How did this lens do?
As far as image resolution – and this is my opinion only, based upon my own photographic results – I believe this lens is as good as or better than the Sigma 50-500. I kept the f-stop between 8 – 10 because I’d read other reviews indicating sharpness was better achieved at these apertures (same as with the reviews I’d read about the Sigma lens). Had it been an overcast day rather than the gorgeous, sunny day that it was, my ISO would have moved from 500 up to probably 1000 – 2000. As it was, I kept my ISO between 250-500 depending upon the light at any one spot. My shutter speeds ranged between 200 – 800.
After reviewing the magnified images on my camera’s LCD screen, I was ready to throw in the towel concerning this lens. Then, when I got the photos downloaded to my computer and I could get a better look at them, I was blown away at the sharpness. Yet another lesson to me that I should never quite trust what I see magnified on my camera’s LCD screen in terms of resolution clarity.
(Note: To see high-res versions of these low-res uploads, click on each image)
The original, cropped a little to get rid of extraneous stuff. Only adjustments were my normal curves and sharpening – things I apply to all of my images so nothing else special was done
65% crop of the original
BUT…. while this lens produces very nice images, it still has some quirks.
Focusing…..Oy Vey
I’d read other reviews about this lens having an issue with tracking and focusing. Yup. I had problems myself, but I don’t think to quite the extent that some reviewers experienced. Tamron didn’t do such a great job with the focus tracking, and I had a difficult time trying to get the lens to focus on anything in motion. Out of all of the photos I took while tracking movements of the birds, maybe 2 or 3 were in-focus. And I was using a Wimberley gimbal tripod head to keep things steady. I highly doubt I would have gotten those 2 or 3 decent shots had I tried to hand-hold the lens even with image stabilization engaged. The Sigma 50-500 was much, much better at tracking action images like birds in flight.
And speaking of focus, I discovered that it’s practically non-existent if using any of the focus points other than the ones in the middle of the screen. My 1DX has multi-focus points, and I sometimes use different points whenever I am in Servo Mode because the part on which I want to focus (like the eyes) may be in the far left, far right, upper or lower portion of the image; to have moved the focus smack dab in the middle of the composition would have cut out a part of the subject.
Aside from the items above, focus – as long as I used the middle focal points – worked just fine and was relatively quick.
Image Stabilization (VC)
Because I kept the camera and lens on a tripod, I didn’t really use image stabilization except a couple of times. It’s just different from what I am used to with my Canon lenses. At least the image stabilization with Tamron is not so jumpy and unpredictable as with the Sigma 50-500.
A Couple of Questions:
- Do I think this a good lens to use for sports (or any other type of fast action like birds in flight or bears battling for a prime spot at Brooks Falls)? No, not at this point in time. Won’t be until Tamron gets their focus tracking issues fixed – if they ever do (Tamron, I hope you are reading this post).
- Would I purchase this lens for my own uses? Hell yeah! I’m gonna get one….AFTER waiting awhile in the hope that Tamron gets all that focus stuff fixed. It’s a fantastic lens for getting stationary or reeeeaallllly slow-moving shots, but not so much for the faster action.
This lens doesn’t quite match the resolution output of a Canon prime, but like the Sigma 50-500, it’s an affordable option. Since my credit scores are not quite to the point that I could attempt to take out a loan for the Canon 600mm, this Tamron 150-600 (when the focus problems hopefully get ironed out) will be a great alternative.
Where The Trails Take You Photography 
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