This lens was a revelation for me. That's a lot of focal length in a very compact package. I'm just amazed at the IQ it's capable of. This lens forced me to make a serious revamp of my lens line up.
For 600mm needs, my 300 2.8 VR with 2x TC iii combination became irrelevant. This combo is unusable wide open. At f/8 my copy of Tamron is slightly better in the center. On top of that there is the weight/cost/flexibility advantage for the Tamron. AF is almost the same. At 420mm, things are not very different. Again the Nikon combo has to be stopped down for IQ. At f/5.6 the center quality is almost the same. But Nikon has the AF advantage. Still Tamron wins on weight/cost/flexibility. But at 300mm the advantage is with Nikon and obviously the Tamron can't substitute it. These observations are similar with the Sigma 120-300 OS and TC combinations as well on my side by side tests.
Wide open at 600mm the Tamron is very usable and at f/8, it's fool proof. At 600mm it focuses down to 2.5 meters! thats a magnification of 1:5. And above all I don't need a tripod and I can finally fire my Sherpa The VC is awesome and easily better than the VR 1. In good light this is all the lens I need for wild life.
Now that I got that out of my system, I'll stop my jibber jabber.This lens has got a lot of negative criticism in all the forums, because of images posted by folks who don't know what they're doing with a 600mm optics. If this lens can perform in my mediocre hands, I can't wait to see what it can do in lots of capable hands we have in this forum. Since this is Nikon forum, we'll limit it to Nikon bodies only.
Fabulous images! I couldn't agree with you more. Even inexperienced hands like mine can eke out halfway decent results from this gem of a lens. The following images were taken with my D7100.
Do you think Nikon and/or Canon will figure out the sales market they are missing by not producing a lens in this price range with this focal-length range, weight, & IQ?
Imagemaster wrote:
Sorry, don't care if this is the Nikon Forum.
Do you think Nikon and/or Canon will figure out the sales market they are missing by not producing a lens in this price range with this focal-length range, weight, & IQ?
I didn't realize you Canon folks lurked around here Nice shots BTW.
I don't know about Canon and Nikon (they're busy playing "who makes the most expensive lens" game), but Sigma took the cue. The sports version is too heavy for the concept, I'd rather have the 120-300 at that weight. But it'll be interesting to see the contemporary version. It has it's work cut out though, and has to be rather special to better the Tamron.
Wonderful images with this new zoom. Doesn't this light, hand holdable lens makes your "birding" life easier.
All it's attributes compel you to get closer to your subject.
Thank you! The weight (or lack of it) is truly liberating.
Actually, its the other way around. It lets us get the image even if we're not able to get closer. Even with crazy cropping - like the sample below, the files don't fall apart.
Totally agreed with the comments above : this Tamron zoom can replace many of my Nikon long telephoto primes/zooms in most shooting conditions, with my D4s !
4mpx wrote:
Totally agreed with the comments above : this Tamron zoom can replace many of my Nikon long telephoto primes/zooms in most shooting conditions, with my D4s !
Awesome kestrel flight shots! I assume most of it is from the same burst of sequence? Seems like D4s gives it a AF performance boost compared to the d800?
These were obviously taken with a 300mm f4 Nikon AFS with a 1.4 converter. No zoo lens could produce such excellent results. Eat your words Will, this lens really rocks. This lens
really IS for the birds.
I never really had the real chance to put the lens in its paces so I only have a few shots from my home studio that's worth sharing...but I am beyond impressed on what it can do so far.
4mpx wrote:
Totally agreed with the comments above : this Tamron zoom can replace many of my Nikon long telephoto primes/zooms in most shooting conditions, with my D4s !
No kidding, it's really a great lens for handheld, long lens work. I've really been enjoying mine, and have barely used my regular go to super tele, the 500/4, since the tamron came out.
From the results posted here, it appears that the worst it can do, is to give the Nikon a real run for the money! Plus the Nikon doesn't go to 600mm! Plus the Nikon is almost 2 1/2 times the money! It looks like an easy decision to me. What I wonder is how it will compare to the new Sigma lenses both price and performance wise?
The VC is awesome and easily better than the VR 1. In good light this is all the lens I need for wild life. 
