Re: Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 (v1) vs Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD
MamiyaSekor wrote:
I'm in the market for a 70-200 lens or close to that. I am looking at used Sony 70-200 f2.8 lenses that are going for roughly $1400. I know that I want f2.8 and I'm not overly concerned about reaching 200mm exactly.
The 70-180 loses focal length with closer focus. The long end is more like 150mm at closest focus. The 70-200 GMs seem to stay closer to their stated focal length.
I don't plan to use it in bad weather, but I will be using it in colder weather, but not below 30 degrees fahrenheit. The only competitor to the Sony I see on the market is the Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD. I like the fact that it's light weight and the reviews seem pretty good? I will be using this on an A7RIII. I see that the Tamron lacks a tripod mount and does not have image stabilization. Does the A7RIII's built in image stabilization compensate enough for the lens not having it?
Sony IBIS is much better than no stabilization. The firmware update for the 70-180 addressed stabilization issues. The focus distance encoder seemed reasonably accurate so it should have effective 5-axis stabilization.
And lastly, does the weight of the lens (810g/1.79lbs) put a strain on the camera body when the camera is mounted to a tripod and the lens is fully extended?
All lenses strain the mount. The Tamron was fine optically fully extended on a tripod. I didn't see signs of tilt. There is a lot of leverage on the mount. It is more likely for the mounts to be damaged by impacts when extended.
Anything else I need to be concerned about when going with a non Sony lens?
The 70-180 like the other native Tamron zooms is a varifocal design meaning the lens doesn't mechanically hold focus when the zoom is adjusted. E-mount has fairly effective electronic focus compensation, but it does lag some with mechanical zooms.
Zoom lenses tend to have alignment issues somewhere in their range. The first 70-180 I received was worse at the wide end.
The VXD motor would often pulse slightly but continuously when the focus was locked in AF-S or in MF mode. I haven't seen this with any other lens.
The 70-180 only supports half the frame rate of the GM zooms on the Alpha 1. Whatever causes this might not effect performance on A7 cameras.
Sony used a thin aluminum ring to connect two halves of the 70-200 GM V1. Lens Rentals went as far as to design a titanium replacement because they found this part distorted when they tore apart lenses that had developed misalignment. I've seen one photo of a 70-180 with a cracked outer case.
The 70-200 GM V1 seems to be the only Sony FE lens with mechanical manual focus. The front focusing group uses an old style piezo-electric ring drive just like the Minolta 70-200 SSM from 2003 (and even older Canon USM lenses). The focus control is connected via a mechanical clutch. These mechanisms tend to be fairly fragile, but it provides full-time direct manual focus.
The focus control on the Tamron is only enabled when AF is disabled like with other focus-by-wire E-mount lenses. There is no full-time DMF option on your camera--Sony has added it to the A7RV. The GM V2 has a full-time DMF enabling switch.
Re: Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 (v1) vs Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD
MamiyaSekor wrote:
I'm in the market for a 70-200 lens or close to that. I am looking at used Sony 70-200 f2.8 lenses that are going for roughly $1400. I know that I want f2.8 and I'm not overly concerned about reaching 200mm exactly.
The 70-180 loses focal length with closer focus. The long end is shorter than 135mm at closest focus. I don't know about the GM.
I don't plan to use it in bad weather, but I will be using it in colder weather, but not below 30 degrees fahrenheit. The only competitor to the Sony I see on the market is the Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD. I like the fact that it's light weight and the reviews seem pretty good? I will be using this on an A7RIII. I see that the Tamron lacks a tripod mount and does not have image stabilization. Does the A7RIII's built in image stabilization compensate enough for the lens not having it?
Sony IBIS is much better than no stabilization. The firmware update for the 70-180 addressed stabilization issues. The focus distance encoder seemed reasonably accurate so it should have effective 5-axis stabilization.
And lastly, does the weight of the lens (810g/1.79lbs) put a strain on the camera body when the camera is mounted to a tripod and the lens is fully extended?
All lenses strain the mount. The Tamron was fine optically fully extended on a tripod. I didn't see signs of tilt. There is a lot of leverage on the mount. It is more likely for the mounts to be damaged by impacts when extended.
Anything else I need to be concerned about when going with a non Sony lens?
The 70-180 like the other native Tamron zooms is a varifocal design meaning the lens doesn't mechanically hold focus when the zoom is adjusted. E-mount has fairly effective electronic focus compensation, but it does lag some with mechanical zooms.
Zoom lenses tend to have alignment issues somewhere in their range. The first 70-180 I received was worse at the wide end.
The VXD motor would often pulse slightly but continuously when the focus was locked in AF-S or in MF mode. I haven't seen this with any other lens.
The 70-180 only supports half the frame rate of the GM zooms on the Alpha 1. Whatever causes this might not effect performance on A7 cameras.
Sony used a thin aluminum ring to connect two halves of the 70-200 GM V1. Lens Rentals went as far as to design a titanium replacement because they found this part distorted when they tore apart lenses that had developed misalignment. I've seen one photo of a 70-180 with a cracked outer case.
The 70-200 GM V1 seems to be the only Sony FE lens with mechanical manual focus. The front focusing group uses an old style piezo-electric ring drive just like the Minolta 70-200 SSM from 2003 (and even older Canon USM lenses). The focus control is connected via a mechanical clutch. These mechanisms tend to be fairly fragile, but it provides full-time direct manual focus.
The focus control on the Tamron is only enabled when AF is disabled like with other focus-by-wire E-mount lenses. There is no full-time DMF option on your camera--Sony has added it to the A7RV. The GM V2 has a full-time DMF enabling switch.
Re: Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 (v1) vs Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD
MamiyaSekor wrote:
I'm in the market for a 70-200 lens or close to that. I am looking at used Sony 70-200 f2.8 lenses that are going for roughly $1400. I know that I want f2.8 and I'm not overly concerned about reaching 200mm exactly.
The 70-180 loses focal length with closer focus. The long end is shorter than 135mm at closest focus. I don't know about the GM.
I don't plan to use it in bad weather, but I will be using it in colder weather, but not below 30 degrees fahrenheit. The only competitor to the Sony I see on the market is the Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD. I like the fact that it's light weight and the reviews seem pretty good? I will be using this on an A7RIII. I see that the Tamron lacks a tripod mount and does not have image stabilization. Does the A7RIII's built in image stabilization compensate enough for the lens not having it?
Sony IBIS is much better than no stabilization. The firmware update for the 70-180 addressed stabilization issues. The focus distance encoder seemed reasonably accurate so it should have effective 5-axis stabilization.
And lastly, does the weight of the lens (810g/1.79lbs) put a strain on the camera body when the camera is mounted to a tripod and the lens is fully extended?
All lens strain the mount. The Tamron was fine optically fully extended on a tripod. I didn't see signs of tilt. There is a lot of leverage on the mount. It is more likely for the mounts to be damaged by impacts when extended.
Anything else I need to be concerned about when going with a non Sony lens?
The 70-180 like the other native Tamron zooms is a varifocal design meaning the lens doesn't mechanically hold focus when the zoom is adjusted. E-mount has fairly effective electronic focus compensation, but it does lag some with mechanical zooms.
Zoom lenses tend to have alignment issues somewhere in their range. The first 70-180 I received was worse at the wide end.
The VXD motor would often pulse slightly but continuously when the focus was locked in AF-S or in MF mode. I haven't seen this with any other lens.
The 70-180 only supports half the frame rate of the GM zooms on the Alpha 1. Whatever causes this might not effect performance on A7 cameras.
Sony used a thin aluminum ring to connect two halves of the 70-200 GM V1. Lens Rentals went as far as to design a titanium replacement because they found this part distorted when they tore apart lenses that had developed misalignment. I've seen one photo of a 70-180 with a cracked outer case.
The 70-200 GM V1 seems to be the only Sony FE lens with mechanical manual focus. The front focusing group uses an old style piezo-electric ring drive just like the Minolta 70-200 SSM from 2003 (and even older Canon USM lenses). The focus control is connected via a mechanical clutch. These mechanisms tend to be fairly fragile, but it provides full-time direct manual focus.
The focus control on the Tamron is only enabled when AF is disabled like with other focus-by-wire E-mount lenses. There is no full-time DMF option on your camera--Sony has added it to the A7RV. The GM V2 has a full-time DMF enabling switch.
Dec 24, 2022 at 06:21 AM
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