The Tamron 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD boasts an incredibly useful normal to super-telephoto zoom range. Chris Niccolls takes a look at this new lens, and lets you know if there are any compromises for that big zoom in a relatively small package.
That sharp all the way, wow! Great lens for the range and money!
Sony E-mount is the new EF-mount apparently. Wide variety of lenses left and right. No words on how I envy Sony E-mount owners these days. I've been with Canon from 2001 and I just barely did forego switching when the R5 arrived (great cam). I went for Canon 20 years ago and STAYED because of the lens choice on EF mount. Shame RF is locked down now...
OK fine...I'll be "that guy" and point it out. Nobody has commented on what is playing at the movie theatre behind Chris in the focus segment. You guys were there for the entertainment :)
Always good with options although I must admit I see incredibly little point in that range, f4.5 at 50mm makes that 50mm very limited in use. 50mm for me is in a range where I actually desire some sort of speed and separation, 4.5 for a 50mm is incredibly slow and give almost no separation unless you stand up in the subject “face”
It mean that I still would need to carry a fast 50 for that effect, therefore for me it looses almost its entire reason to be owned. I much rather then have a 100-400 that have speed gain and that has less aberration issues.
In landscape low aberration lenses is actually desirable especially as high contrast areas are common and you actually desire sharpness through the range and corner sharpness, from what I seen of this it’s not the sharpest in corners, it dos admirable and I probably would prefer it over the sigma, but it clearly show aberration issues.
Frankly I would much have preferred a 100-400 etc. as that would have cut the weight and made it easier to rid the aberration
Same here Jeff, not *having* to carry anything between this and my UWA zoom will be a delight. I'd still carry a wide/normal prime, but it can now be any FL I want or even something as simple as a small manual pancake since I'd only reach for it for other purposes. 16/17-400 in two lenses totalling <1.6kg, what's not to like? The 100-400 GM is 1.4kg by itself...
Primes are likely to be faster at anything less than 300mm, but the point of this lens is to carry just one lens, rather than two, three or four lenses. It would be ideal for video scenarios that require a lot of flexibility in telephoto and near tele ranges (especially after cropping in video modes). On the other hand, there is an "art" to using a limited range of lenses with very fast apertures. This super zoom is close to something you would find on a camcorder.
@Malling There's already a Sigma 100-400 and a Sony 100-400. I'm glad Tamron is doing something different, and more importantly an option. I don't get it when people complain about having options.
I have checked about 10 pictures and except one somewhat soft one the rest is well focused and quite sharp. Of course the higher ISO was needed the more of details is lost...
The picture above with Chris' hand stretching out while holding the lens gave my a negative feeling. To me, it conveys the impression that he didn't want to hold it any longer and wanted to give it to someone else as quickly as possible. And that mischievous grin is not helping.
@Chris, 50-400mm is actually a very useful focal range for wildlife photography. You have to remember that not all wildlife is small birds or far away…
Isn't the 400mm f2.8 considered a wildlife lens? Also sometimes you want an environmental portrait of that wildlife. Not everything has to be so close that you can't even tell the environment they are in.
Exactly. I tried the Sony 200-600 for wildlife photography, and though it was amazing for "portrait" shots of a single animal, I absolutely hated its 200mm "wide-angle". No way to shoot interactions between animals, like a doe and her fawns when they get big enough to wander further away from her or like a hole herd spread across a field. 100mm is usually fine, but there are situations in which going all the way down to 50mm is very useful, even in wildlife photography.
Excellent lens again. So many times it would be the only lens to take. However I happy with micro 4/3 IQ and 600mm equivalent combo (75-300mm + E-M1) is lighter than this lens alone.
Nevertheless me personally I would love to have wider end. Tamron, could you possibly make 25-250 equivalent for micro 4/3? Sharp as this one with 5.6 constant aperture. And that would be the only lens to carry so many times in micro 4/3 realm.
I think he meant an actual 25-250 tele, eg a FF 50-500 equivalent... PL50-200 is pricey and has no collar option but it's probably the best bet for a small but really versatile tele on M4/3. I actually liked my PL8-18 + 35-100/2.8 pairing when I was still shooting wide often with M4/3... And I've kept the 35-100 for shooting it even alongside my FF kit.
I figure I'll take this 50-400 when I really care about having more range and leveraging my A7R IV's res, and I'll still resort to the 35-100 on the GX850 (or a couple tele primes) when I just want a versatile nice to use but inconspicuous tele that takes me thru 200mm EFL. That lens plus the M4/3 body isn't much heavier than a FF 28-200 or 70-300, but I prefer the way it handles & renders.
If OM wanted to be really clever, they'd adjust their plans for one of those two Pro teles on the roadmap and they could make something that's 25-2xx and pairs nicely with the 8-25 for a two zoom combo that totally obviates the need for a 12-xx.
For a while now I've always lamented the lack of M4/3 xx-2xx options in general, beyond the PL and the old 40-200 (bleh)... Even without taking into account this Tamron's wider short end, that 100-400/500 equivalent range is really popular on just about every other system, but M4/3 almost pushes you to xx-300 or xx-600/800 equivalent (again, save for the PL50-200).
Thanks for correcting me, I meant to say that I would like to have wider start thus native 25-250mm (50-500 FF equivalent). I loved using Bigma on APS-C where it was 80-800mm equivalent on Canon 70D, but it was bloody big and heavy. 3kg combo compared to my E-M1 + 75-300 (150-600 FF euq.) which is below 1kg.
The 35-100 F2.8, I fancy that lens a lot. I love 70mm equivalent. Had the 12-35 F2.8. There was something nice about the rendering of that lens. 35-100 is very versatile for many scenarios. And those lenses are tiny yet so enjoyable to use.
Hey Chris, "I have not seen a normal-to-supertelephoto lens design in a many, many years"
Well, so 2018 qualifies as "many, many years" ago to you?! The Sigma 60-600 was launched at that date. (And if you're nitpicking like "hey, that's 60, that's not "normal", dude!", well, the last generation of Sigma 50-500 was launched in 2010 and still available in shops 3 years ago, so unless you're a kid or a teenager you can't pretend it's many many years ago either.)
Also, it's not "a bit bulky", it's actually one full kilogram lighter than any competition (ie Bigmas 50-500 or 60-600). You should really use telephoto lenses more often: for people who do, it's incredible lightness is its most interesting promise. ;)
12 years usually imply it is many years ago no matter what age you are, even more so in regards to electronic that is after all the subject here.
Also 60mm isn’t really normal range under normal definition, for a lens to cover the normal range it at the bare minimum needs to cover that 50mm, or it’s just almost there but not quite.
how would this lens stack up against the Sigma 100-400mm f5-6,3 DG DN OS (C) Sony-E? they seem similar in size+weight. Mostly Tamron seems like a better deal if optical performance will be similar
The Tamron is marginally shorter, better sealed, and should have better AF; the latter would've made it my choice even without taking the more versatile range into account... There's cheaper 3rd party collar alternatives already available from iShoot & Haoge btw, since it uses the same as their old DSLR 100-400.
Everytime i see new zooms like this i am glad i still have my Nikon One system 70-300 5.6. It gives me a 189 to 810mm zoom at 5.6 with Super ED glass and VR on the J5 or V2. It is tack sharp and with the J5 and lens on it i can fit it in a large pocket. I have yet to find any zoom that beats or even matches it for cost, size, zoom range and sharpness. Every year i keep thinking of selling my one system but noting beats this lens and camera setup for zoom range and quality.
This looks like a very nice lens! Glad to hear the zoom is still sharp at 400mm. I have the 24-105 on the 7Ar3, and have been contemplating a super telephoto. The gap if using the Sony 200-600 seems a bit much (from 105 - 200), and there's a lot of useful focal range missing there. Don't mind having an overlap as then I'm not switching lenses constantly when shooting around 100mm.
I have the Tamron 28-75 and the 17-28. Thinking the same. This would allow me to go all the way up to 400. I am thinking of the 17-28 and the 50-400 combo for most travel and landscape work. Tamron has so many choices for Sony now. It is overwhelming.
I'm pretty happy with the 17-28, all my other E mount lenses are currently primes, the 50-400 on pre-oder will be my second and I think that'll make for a pretty versatile combo... I'm excited to try it out in practice.
I'd already shot with 16-35 & 70-200 equivalent combos, so I don't mind a bit of a gap, and I'd usually carry a 35mm prime anyway so I'm not too worried about the 28-50 bit.
Would love to see more about how the lens IS interacts with the body IS (e.g. on the A1 you're using). From reviews of other tele-zooms there seems to be a difference from how effectively the various lenses with IS cooperate with the IBIS on Sony. I understand that this is perhaps hard to assess, but it is important to how well using the lens to actually look at things goes and to how well they work for video. (Some of us actually look through those EVFs to see things as well as photograph them! : )
Hey I never said my favorite lens was bright! Just that I love it overall. Also I'm primarily using it for video and with OM Log forcing the ISO to 400 minimum it's actually not a detriment on that platform. I just think we have to consider the diffrent applications of different sensor sizes, and camera systems. It's too simplistic to just look at aperture numbers.
Because panther fan, whereas you except it or not, m4/3 is a system of smaller bodies and smaller lenses. Sure, you can get small FF bodies and small lenses for FF too, but for the most part, sensor size and system compactness go hand in hand.
Some like the smaller camera systems and just let them. It is not a crime to have other priorities than you.
I'm not sure any of it can be judged without taking use case into account tbh... I shoot both formats, I've actually kept both formats within very similar size & form factors (by mostly shooting primes on FF).
This 50-400 strikes an ideal compromise *for me* since I don't need a lot more speed for landscapes or some light daylight sports, should prove an interesting alternative to my slower M4/3 35-100 & 100-300 options.
Still not letting go of the 35-100/2.8 or 75/1.8 tho. For other use cases I'd rather shoot those on a 2nd small body than and FF alternative.
Comment makes no sense whatsoever. a MFT lens has a smaller image circle. I also wouldn't use this lens with a phone adapter. If you use MTF, read articles about MFT lenses.
I am not sure if you noticed, but that's not true anymore.
An OM-1 is the same size as any of the A7 bodies. A X-H2 or GH6 is bigger than most FF bodies.
Panasonics smaller bodies are all EOL. And Olympus also stopped production of the E-M5. Fuji has also discontinued the X-T30, X-T4 and X-E4 and is currently only selling the X-H2, X-Pro3 and X-S10
Bodies of all formats converged to the same size. And so did most lenses
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