fotoword
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Posts: 514
Re: Tamron 100 400mm question
cmcm789 wrote:
DarrenCZ wrote:
Hi,
8 months on, how did it all end?
Did you stick with the tamron 100-400mm (after maybe updating firmware)
or
did you end up going for the rf100-400?
I did buy the Tamron in the end. Unfortunately the local store didn't have any stock for me to test or order so i had to order online.
Lens had a great feel to it and sharpness was excellent fully open right through the focal range. However..........
The focusing was awful. At 100mm it wasn't so bad, but as soon as i zoomed in a bit it slowed way down. At 400mm it was taking over 3 seconds to cycle from near to infinity and back. Honestly it was that bad and if i can find the video at home i will upload it.
Checked the model number and confirmed it had the latest firmware. Checked Tamron's site for compatibility with the RP and it was listed. Then after numerous tests with focal limiter on/off, IS on/off etc i tried it on a friends 5Diii and another's R6. Lens worked fine and was as fast at 100mm as it was at 400mm on these cameras.
I googled to see if it was a common issue with the RP but little turned up. Retailer tried to say the lens was fine and wouldn't offer an exchange or refund. Paypal eventually got involved and i got my full money back.
Also, the Kenko 1.4TC wouldn't work with it (a big reason i chose it over the rf) even though it worked on the Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 i had before.
Still don't know if it was just a faulty lens (brand new) or an RP compatibility issue. Quite disappointed.
Went out later and bought an RF 100-400mm for £200 off retail price (trade in offer) and happy enough with it. Does what it says, is compact and fully compatible.
After all my trawling i found this video which highlighted the problem i had:
https://youtube.com/shorts/YdBW5lnvzXc?feature=share
Hi
I just checked the focussing of my Tamron 100-400 with my Canon RP.
Yes I found focussing from near to far was indeed quite slow. I found the small area af (the small square with the 4 points around it) to give the best result but it was still slow.
I tried it on my Eos M6 mark ii (Not R6) and it was about the same maybe very slightly faster, not sure.
From near to far it was about acceptable (not good, not great, not brilliant) and probably a little above bad lol.
I have a Fujifilm X-T4 with an Eos-EF to Fuji-X adapter (Fringer Pro ii) and it was surprisingly fast. With this combination I would rate it as good to great.
The thing is I still got some good shots with it on the RP when travelling with it.
If I was already focussing close to where the subject was then it was reasonable.
These were in Alcatraz (San Francisco USA)

And plenty of very average ones.
I underexposed it unfortunately due to the bright sky so had to recover it in post

I got one shot at a Red-Tailed Hawk but the focus definitely was way to slow and the bird was terribly soft and heavily backlit and then it flew away. (very heavily cropped and processed in Topaz AI)

If I was buying now I very likely would get the RF 100-400 as I usually shoot this lens at f8 anyway.
Cheers
Paul