Introduction
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is a super-telephoto zoom lens for Sony full-frame and APS-C mirrorless cameras.
It provides an efficient focal vary of 225-750mm when used on an APS-C digital camera.
The Tamron 150-500mm for Sony lens options an optical development comprising of 25 components in 16 teams,together with a number of particular glasses and hybrid aspheres for correcting optical aberrations and a BBAR-G2 coating on the lenses to assist decrease reflections contained in the lens and suppress ghost photographs and flare.
It has an iris diaphragm with seven rounded aperture blades, minimal focus distance ofs 60cm and a moisture-sealed development.
There’s a intelligent Flex Zoom Lock mechanism which permits the locking of the zoom ring at any place, a Vibration Compensation system with three distinct picture stabilisation modes, and a detachable rotating tripod collar with an Arca-type appropriate foot.
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens is priced at £1379 / $1399 within the UK and USA respectively.
Ease of Use
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is predictably large and ponderous given the focal size on supply, measuring 21cms in size with a most diameter of 93 mm and weighing in at just below 1.9kg with the removable tripod mount hooked up.
Whereas you should use it on a smaller APS-C physique, it will not stability very effectively in any respect (and the focal size may even change) – as demonstrated by the photographs beneath, it is a greater match for a professional-grade, full-frame digital camera just like the Sony A7 III, though it nonetheless dwarves what’s a comparatively small physique.
Construct high quality is great, regardless of Tamron historically providing lenses on the cheaper finish of the market. The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD feels very strong in your hand, with the outer barrel made out of high-grade plastics as in all of their current lenses.
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD includes a Lock button which fixes the lens at its 150mm setting and prevents it from extending when it is pointed downwards.
It additionally has a zoom lock mechanism which permits the locking of the zoom ring at any place just by pulling the zoom ring forwards – very intelligent – though I did discover it to be just a little too delicate and subsequently liable to changing into locked when you do not need it to be.
The zoom ring is generously broad and has a ridged, rubberised grip band. The lens extends whenever you zoom out from 150mm, reaching 29cms in size on the 500mm setting. The filter ring would not rotate, excellent news for filter customers.
The focusing ring is far narrower, making it just a little tougher to find in a rush, however it’s effectively damped. There is not any distance scale and no depth of discipline scale on this lens.
The main target limiter swap has 3 settings – Full (2.2m-infinity), 3m-infinity and 15m-infinity. An AF/MF swap on the facet of the lens makes it straightforward to modify between the 2 focusing techniques.
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD includes a VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) with a linear motor, as beforehand used within the 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD lens.
It permits for quick and near-silent auto-focusing. Importantly, this resolution permits immediate guide override even when the main target mode swap is within the AF place.
In use, we discovered the focusing to be very quiet and in addition very quick with the lens mounted on a Sony A7 III physique. As with most lenses of this sort, it may be liable to searching just a little on the lengthy finish of the zoom vary.
The ultimate controls are the VC On / Off swap, which turns the lens’ built-in Vibration Compensation on and off, and the VC Mode swap, which selects between the three completely different modes. Mode 1 balances between stabilizing the viewfinder picture and the seize picture, mode 2 is solely used for panning, whereas mode 3 stabilizes the captured picture quite than the viewfinder picture.
In observe we discovered the system reliably provided round 3 f-stops of compensation, clearly dependant upon the focal size used and your individual explicit hand-holding method, making it simpler to make use of the lens in low-light situations and nonetheless obtain acceptably sharp outcomes.
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD advantages from a moisture-resistant development which helps to stop moisture from penetrating the lens, though we might hesitate to make use of it within the rain for a protracted time frame.
The lens is equipped with lens caps and a large plastic, round lens hood (HA507) with a versatile, shock-absorbing rubberised finish that locks into place, however there is no bag included. The filter dimension is 82mm.
Focal Vary
This lens provides a 4x focal vary of 150-600mm for full-frame Sony Alpha cameras – the angle of view is 16°25’ at 150mm and 4°57’ at 500mm.
150mm
500mm
Chromatic Aberrations
Normally seen as purple or blue fringes alongside high-contrast edged in {a photograph}, chromatic aberration is usually a downside for some lenses. With the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens, nonetheless, this can be very well-controlled, to the extent that it’s extremely tough to seek out examples of any sort of fringing occurring in any respect. An especially spectacular efficiency.
150mm
500mm
Mild Fall-off
When taking pictures on the most apertures of f/5.6-6.7, you may see some slight vignetting at 150mm. It’s not massively noticeable when taking pictures regular topics, however you may see it when photographing a white wall. The impact is far more minimal when taking pictures at 500mm. All through the focal lengths, the issue nearly utterly disappears whenever you shut down the aperture to f/8-11.
150mm
500mm
Distortion
There may be only a small quantity of pincushion distortion at 150mm, however total the impact is effectively managed and will be eradicated in modifying software program and not using a compromise on ultimate picture high quality.
150mm
500mm
Sunstars
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is able to producing fairly good sunstars when stopped-down to f/22 or f/32.
The lens is just a little vulnerable to flare when taking pictures instantly into the solar, although, even with the lens hood that’s equipped within the field fitted.
Macro
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD will not be actually a macro lens, however the close-focus level is a helpful 60cm from the movie/sensor airplane at 150mm and 1.8m at 500mm, and Tamron quotes a most copy ratio of 1:3.1 at 150mm and 1:3.7 at 500mm.
The next examples illustrate how shut you may get to the topic with the lens set to 500mm to help magnification.
Bokeh
Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is often described in qualitative phrases, similar to clean / creamy / harsh and many others.
One of many causes to purchase a super-zoom lens like this one is to have the ability to isolate the topic from the background, and the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD has an iris diaphragm with 7 rounded blades for a reasonably pleasing rendering of the out-of-focus highlights.
Under you may discover some examples, however you’re additionally inspired to take a look at our pattern photographs.
Sharpness
As a way to present you ways sharp the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.
