Tamron 70-180/2.8 with A6500 or A6600

José B wrote:

math guy wrote:

I use it with the A6400, so I can't comment on IBIS. My primary use of the lens is for sports, anyway, so IBIS wouldn't really be a factor for me.

I used it this season for shooting my son's flag football games, and I was very happy with it. I'd say the IQ is on par with the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 I used to shoot on a Pentax DSLR, which was a very good lens. The AF is consistent, with very few complete misses (something I used to deal with frequently when shooting Pentax). The eye AF works well so long as the camera can see the face. That's been a real game-changer for me, giving me a lot more quality keepers than I ever got with my old system.

As far as portraits go, it holds its own pretty well. The bokeh doesn't stand out as being super dreamy, but it's also not busy and distracting. It's just there and allows the main subject of the image to be what attracts all the attention. And the IQ is already very good wide open, so no need to stop down - especially for portraits.

The only criticism I can think of is that it isn't an internal zoom. My old 70-200 was, and that is definitely a nice feature... just gave the lens a more upscale feel. I'm happy with carrying only 70% of the weight (even less when you throw in mirrorless vs. DSLR), so it's a good trade-off in my opinion.

All in all I'm very happy with it. I can't imagine too many people would buy this lens and be disappointed with its performance.

Thanks Joe for a detailed field report. Most likely I will buy this lens because it's what I've been waiting for in the A6xxx for sports and travel. It's going to be more on the sports than the latter thus the IBIS on my A6500 (or future A6600) will suffice.

Like you it would have been great if it is internal focusing. However, it's light, it's black and doesn't scream 'hey dude where's your press pass?' when I take it to stadiums and indoor arenas. At first I contemplated on a Sigma 135/1.8 or Batis 135/2.8. However the former is very heavy and the latter kinda expensive for an f/2.8 lens albeit it's a Zeiss.

I'm in no rush to get it since I don't imagine sports will be back to normal until summer of next year. Who knows Sigma might re-engineer the 135/1.8 and make one for mirrorless like what they did with the new 85/1.4. If not, I'll get the Tamron. F/2.8 should suffice even for indoor sports as the DXO PL4 Elite Deep Prime is outstanding in removing noise without hurting details. I'll have no qualms shooting at ISO 12800 RAW.

Thanks again.

José

Jose: How much improvement in noise reduction (while keeping details) would you say PhotoLab 4 has over PhotoLab 3?