April 2014 Smart Photography 121 Smartphotography.

in
LENS
REVIEW

TAMRON SP 150-600MM F/5.6-6.3 Di VC USD
Great lens, great value!
Rohinton Mehta
A
spiring wildlife
photographers can take
a breather! The recently
announced, low-cost, compact,
super-telephoto-zoom lens is
now available (though currently
only in Canon mount). The other
mounts will be for Nikon and Sony
models. The lens is designed for
full-frame 35mm format. When
used on APS-C camera bodies,
it will offer an equivalent focal
length of approximately 225
to 900mm (Nikon) and 240 to
960mm (Canon). Lets see how the
150-600mm performs on our test
bench...
Design & Build Quality
By design, the Tamron 150-600mm
is a twist-zoom you twist the
zoom ring clockwise to go from
150mm to 600mm. The build
quality feels adequate. A rubber
gasket around the lens mount
prevents dust or moisture getting
in. The mount is made from metal
and the lens has a well-designed
removable lens collar. The 150-
600mm is about 258mm in length
and when fully extended, is
approximately 337mm. The lens
is made in China; the lens hood is
made in Philippines. The 150-
600mm weighs approx. 2095g with
detachable tripod mount, lens
hood and front lens cap. Filter size
is 95mm.
Key Features
The super performance
(hence SP in the
nomenclature) lens
employs 20 elements in
13 groups which includes
3 Low-Dispersion (LD)
glass elements for superior
corrections of chromatic
aberrations and other optical
flaws. To avoid/eliminate
flare and ghosting, the lens
employs BBAR (Broad-Band
Anti-Reflection) coating as
well as a specially formulated
eBAND (extended Bandwidth
& Angular-Dependency
coating), which, according
to Tamron deploys a nano-
structured layer with dimensions
smaller than the wavelengths of
visible rays of light. Its ultra-low
refractive index, combined with
the sophisticated
Lens (model A011E)
Lens hood
Front & rear lens caps
Tripod collar
SILKYPIX Developer Studio (Raw image
processing sofware)
Inside the Box
` 89,900
LENS
REVIEW

TAMRON SP 150-600MM F/5.6-6.3 Di VC USD
122 Smart Photography April 2014 Smartphotography.in
multiple-layer coatings
underneath, yields significant anti-
reflection properties, absolutely
minimising flare and ghosting to
deliver sharp, crisp images. The
lens also offers VC (vibration
cancellation) but Tamron does not
indicate how many stops advantage
the VC offers. The lens promises
swift autofocus, thanks to its USD
(Ultrasonic Silent Drive) motor.
Note: The Sony mount does not
include VC because Sony D-SLR
bodies include built-in image
stabilization.
The Tamron 150-600mms
zoom ring is 55mm broad and
rubberised for a good grip. The
ring is marked at 150, 200, 250,
300, 350, 400, 450, 500 and
600mm settings. A distance scale
(in meters and feet) can be seen
under a plastic window behind
the manual focus ring which can
be used to override the AF for
fine adjustments. A focus limiter
switch allows focussing between
15m-infinity or from the closest
focussing distance (of 2.7m) to
infinity.
Ergonomics
Its quite a heavy lens and
considering that at its longest
end it offers 12x magnification
over a 50mm normal lens,
its best to use this lens on a
sturdy tripod. However, it is not
impossible to use it hand-held
(for some shots at least). When
shooting hand-held, you may
find it easier to hold the lens
with the tripod collar removed
or rotated so that the base stays
on top. While travelling or just
moving around, the lens can be
locked at the 150mm setting to
prevent the possibility of damage
with an extended lens barrel.
The lens/body combination was
comfortable to hold. A personal
grouch is that the lens collar does
not have a Arca-Swiss type fitting.
Performance
We reviewed the lens using a
Canon EOS 6D body. Unless
otherwise stated, test pictures
were shot using a sturdy Gitzo
3542 tripod with a M30 ball-head
from Markins.
The front element does not rotate
and hence polarising filters and
graduated neutral density filters
could be easily used, except for
the fact that procuring 95mm
filters would be very expensive
and difficult in India. Autofocus
was fast in good light but did
slow down a bit in low light
and struggled to latch on with
low contrast subjects. This is
not surprising considering that
f/6.3 is its widest aperture at the
600mm end. The lens provided
sharp images at all focal lengths
though discerning users will be
able to notice the difference in
sharpness between the center
and the edges, especially at
wide open apertures. Again,
considering that the lens is
primarily a wildlife-lens, the
slight softness at the corners
matters little.
Darkening of corners at 150mm
setting was observed at f/5
and f/5.6. By f/8, there was no
noticeable corner darkening. We
were very pleasantly surprised
to find that the lens did not
exhibit any pin-cushion or
barrel distortion at any focal
length. The lens was also free of
Actual size thumbnail
Aperture:f/6.3; Shutter Speed: 1/200sec; ISO:100
VC on
Picture shot hand-held at 600mm focal length
April 2014 Smart Photography 123 Smartphotography.in
Aperture:f/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/125sec ISO:1000
Tripod used. Focal length 600mm.
Picture has been cropped
Rohinton Mehta
LENS
REVIEW

TAMRON SP 150-600MM F/5.6-6.3 Di VC USD
124 Smart Photography April 2014 Smartphotography.in
to use higher ISO sensitivities
without too much of a problem
for digital noise. And that could
be your saviour. So as an example,
if your camera gives you decent
images (in terms of digital noise)
up to ISO 800, your exposure (in
our example) for deep shadow,
could be about 1/800 sec at f/6.3
at ISO 800. With side lighting
or back-lighting, exposure
problems can be even higher. By
understanding this limitation,
you are better informed. But
what about image sharpness at
f/6.3? The Tamron 150-600mm at
600mm, wide open, is quite sharp
(see the bird picture). Also, many
advanced D-SLRs now allow you
to use even ISO 1600 without
too much noise. Control over
digital noise seems to improve
with every new camera model,
and hence the limitation of slow
apertures is not likely to be a big
problem.
Value for Money
The Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5.6-
6.3 Di VC USD lens is available
at an MRP of Rs.89.900. At this
price and performance we say the
lens is good value for money.
any chromatic aberration, which
speaks highly of the lens design
and quality of the optics. Flare
was noticed in strong against-
the-light shots. We did not
notice any false colouration due
to the lens coatings, which is a
very good thing.
Observe the thumbnail of the
bird picture, shot hand-held at
600mm at wide-open aperture
of f/6.3. See how small the
bird is in the thumbnail. The
picture next to it is enlarged
100%. Though tones have
been adjusted, absolutely no
sharpening has been applied in
post-processing.
Lets be very clear
about some limitations
The basic exposure for a wildlife
photographer for an average-
tone subject with frontal
lighting, is 1/1000 sec at f/5.6
at ISO 100 (that is the same as
1/125 sec at f/16 for a landscape
photographer). With the
Tamron, at 600mm setting, the
basic exposure would be around
1/850 sec at f/6.3. As soon as
the subject gets into shade, you
need to open up 1-stop. Since
you cannot make the aperture
any wider, you need to reduce
the shutter speed from 1/850
sec to (around) 1/400 sec. If the
subject gets into deeper shade,
your basic exposure is likely
to be 1/200 sec at f/6.3. Even
if you are using a tripod, there
is always a chance of subject
movement that cannot be
stopped at 1/200 sec. Of course,
most modern D-SLRs allow you
Model No. : A011
Lens construction : 20 elements in 13 groups (includes 3 LD ele-
ments)
Angle of View (Diagonal) : 16 25 4 8 (full-frame format)
10 38 2 40 (APS-C format)
Focal length : 150-600mm (4x)
Diaphragm blades : 9
Aperture range: : F/5.6-32 (150mm); F/6.3-40 (600mm)
Minimum focus : 2.7m
Maximum magnifcation ratio : 1:5
Filter size : 95mm
Weight, Canon mount : Approx. 2095g with detachable tripod mount,
lens hood and front lens cap
Diameter x length : 105.6 x 257.8mm
Supplied accessories : Lens hood, detachable tripod mount
Mounts available : Canon, Nikon, Sony
Vibration Reduction : Yes, for Canon and Nikon mounts
(Sony camera bodies have built-in vibration reduction)
SPECIFICATIONS
84%
Design and Build Quality 17/20

Key Features 16.5/20

Ergonomics 17/20

Performance
Autofocus 4/5
Sharpness 4.5/5
Distortion Control 5/5
Aberrations 4/5
Darkening 4/5
of Corners
Extra Features 4/5
Sub-Total 25.5/30
Value for Money 8/10

FINAL SCORE
A 600mm lens (a prime lens though) from the competition would cost over
rupees six lacs in India and would be faster than the Tamron 150-600mm
but then, the Tamrons MRP is under rupees ninety thousand! Te overall
performance of the Tamron 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 Di VC USD is very good
indeed, and we have no hesitation in awarding it Best Buy!
VERDICT
PLUS
Compact
size
Very good
sharpness
Good value
for money
MINUS
Odd flter
size
Aperture
limitation will
force you to
use higher
ISOs
Quite heavy