Wow , what a nice surprise for the moment on a Z6II body
First, forget the reviews talking about a horrible blurry lens unable to focus well. There is a button with Tamron lenses that set the focus to different configuration including one focussing between minimal focus distance and 10 meters , another for 10 meters to infinite and the last config for infinite. The guy that gave a bad rating for this reason was probably set for MFD to 10 meters and tried to focus on 30 meters far objects. It's sad people are not taking the time to understand third party lenses options and give bad ratings.
You know why I love the lens ?
1 - 500mm is just enough for good start in animal portrait. You may have to reach a bit by moving from a spot to another but you could take portraits of a lot of things . If you know how to reach a spot without doing too much noise , you can have wonderful shots . 400mm on Full Frame is limit. Sometimes the animal goes away. At 500 , it's more interresting but as Z6II can switch to APSC format , I get a pretty beefy 750mm.
2 - The lens is very portable for what it is compared to the Nikkor 180-600. It fits in the common backpack.
3 - Very nice for big pixels sensors like the Z6 ( Z6II , Z6III ) if you do videos !!! Read my reasons :
Yes , DX mode on Z6II makes us loose megapixels but for 4k videos , I need only 8.5 megapixels so with 10.2 , I got enough. I loose post-prod zoom abilities on some scenes but sincerely, You just have to center correctly. Just also note that 48 megapixels on a full frame sensor means smaller pixels and these are pretty bad in low exposure. That may explain why some users of this lens using Z7 or other 48-64 mpixels talk about blurry and bad results. If they have Z7 cams , they have 48 megapixels on the sensor ( so half smaller pixels ) and they don't understand it has some importance in low light + autofocus. Their ISOS are pumped at the max. These long range lens put your cam into a stress of low light on a cloudy day at 500 mm so yes , it may be disapointing on "over megapixels" cams. That's one of the reasons I sticked with the Z6II. It has low light exceptionnal performance and with this lens , I'm sure I'll have more fun because of that... than other Z8 users will. Why needing 3 times the number of pixels 4k videos require ? You want just enough pixels but bigger ones that " suck the light " like on the Z6 for any low light performance. Other cams compensate with effects but it makes the images less photorealistic.
For videos done in long zoom, it's way better to have 10.2 megapixels but big pixels than 48 megapixels of small pixels. The light denoising is so much easier on my 24mpixels Z6II than others on their Z7. That explains why there is still a Z6III new model on 24.3mpixels. Some are avoiding too much megapixels because effects are sometimes ruined by that and it may create not photorealistic images. If you are like me and not obsessed to buy a 8000$ CAM because it has more megapixels ..... and you kept a good pixel-sensor ratio , you will be enjoyed !
4 - Because of the point 3 , none of my trials gave me " un-crisp " images and noticeable critical focus issues. Bad ratings are at my point of view a bad understanding of how these lens work and probably also a bad understanding about having a 48 or 64 megapixels full frame sensor. Maybe also there was a defect one but it's not true it's super blurry .
5 - Okay , the stabilisation has not impressed me as much as on Nikon but sincerely , it can't be like on a 4000$ Nikon lens. It's still way enough for shooting videos on a tripod or while maintaining a good position. I'm a ninja almost while shooting so I will get to it. You'll have to to post-production stabilisation if you move a lot but since last firmware, Tamron enhanced the combination of Electronic VR and lens VR so it stopped struggling when used together. I will be able to use it nicely on a tripod. There is always a better lens but for the price and the quality , it's very interresting.
6 - The focus lock mechanism is not so disturbing for me even if other find this annoying. I'm so delicate when I work , I always turn the zoom in a perpendicular position. This is not at all a deal breaker for me.
7- It feels sturdy even if it's a bit plastic made. It's solid and it's weight indicates it . I don't feel like I have something cheap in my hands.
8 - The package was perfectly made by 鶹 and with isolation inside . Double box + isolation so it don't move inside. That's what we need for such a delicate item. People buying these kind of lens are sometimes freaks of details so they like receiving this well packed. I bet the other bad rating mentionning the bad packaging were out of luck because in my case it's for the moment a perfect transaction.
9 - Lens has no apparent traces of any usage and lens cover was still having the plastic protector on it. The original seal of Tamron is on the box so it's not a copy.
10 - If you give to this lens the good amount of light, the focus is as good to me than Nikkor lenses. Maybe ... 1/4 of seconds more to switch plans sometimes but really nothing noticeable to me yet.
I am happy to say " good job " to Tamron. I wanted an alternative to the 180-600 from Nikkor and the price was cut from 1000$ CAD to me if I selected the Tamron one. Okay, a little less range but it's portable in my case and the final quality of images , if we forget the stabilisation that may require tripod sometimes for video ... is awesome.
I may update this review if I discover something but by now , everything seems to work. Before returning the lens like some would do for stupid reasons , don't forget to update it by USB-C. There are recent improvements.
I don't think any other options yet for the price could be much better so I recommend this lens and I bet some reviews were coming from people bad lucked or less experimented ... that want always the more megapixels possible on their sensor.
If you're hesitating like I did , give it a try , it's worth it . Anyway , if you shoot high quality videos like me , you do it on a tripod ... so ... having a bit less stabilisation performance for photo is not gonna ruin them. You may have to use a bit lower exposure time but ... not a lot . It's almost anecdotic. For such a heavy lens anyway , filming handheld is not a purpose we ... wish for. It's my opinion.
I didn't try it outside home but I can tell inside here , it's performing very nicely and I can zoom on a little pills bottle from the other side of my appartment, read everything on it.
With the good amount of light , the DX mode will really help reaching the animal I target. At 750mm of zoom , you can manage a lot of scenarios even if not all.
I didn't have always perfect experiences on 鶹 and there was a kind of bug when I ordered first this lens. ... but I can pardon this when the item seems in perfect condition.
Update :
I had experiences shooting outside with this lens and I was very pleased.
The focus seemed also way better than the one on the Nikkor DX 50-250mm lens. Sometimes it fails for 1 or 2 frames while filming because it seems a bit longer to autofocus than Nikkor similar lens in tough conditions like aiming between branches. It's not a deal breaker and playing with the focus time will probably correct this.
Yet , I'm very happy with it and on a tripod for video, it's just nice. Over water, the tracking engine wasn't perfect but this is most due to the Z6II I bet. Quality of the videos are very nice. Like other lenses , when you add filters like CPL filter, it's ruining a bit the focus tracking and I bet all filters playing with reflections may remove contrast in some scenes and focus engines rely a lot on contrast. I had to correct the focus frequently while using a B+W CPL filter on it but I never used any CPL that didn't change a bit the tracking performance on Z6II, even for Nikkor S lenses.
Without CPL on it , the lens is so nice at tracking I feel it's better than the Nikkor DX 50-250mm I had. I filmed birds with this Tamron thing and when I put the configuration in DX mode, I have a big 750mm of zoom. It's 2 times what I had so I can film birds portraits.
| Manufacturer | Tamron |
|---|---|
| Item model number | AFA057Z700 |
| Product Dimensions | 21.34 x 9.3 x 9.3 cm; 1.88 kg |
| ASIN | B0CM3RVP36 |
