The Tamron 150-600mm VR/IS is an inexpensive ultra telephoto zoom that works much better than I had expected. Price: around 1600 EUR new (incl. 19% VAT), same as the Sigma Sports. Both the Tamron A011 and Sigma Contemporary are much cheaper. The new tele converters both have an exorbitant asking price of 650 resp. 700 EUR. [-] With all of these lenses featuring identical focal length/aperture ranges and similar features (like vibration/optical stabilization), other lens aspects become the prominent differentiating factors.

Considering its huge range, this Tamron looks and feels great. Presuming you don't intend to abuse it physically, for the super-low price, this Tamron is an unexpected winner. Optics: 21 elements in 13 groups. It looks the same as the optical formula of the A011 model with one additional element at the rear. The Sigma Sports with 24 elements in 16 groups is a bit more complex. The new lens has three low dispersion elements, improved anti-reflective coating using nanotechnology, and fluorine coating on the front element for easier cleaning. The lens sports an electromagnetic aperture mechanism now also for Nikon mount that should result in faster and more precise control of the aperture. [+] Compared to the recently-announced Nikon AF-S Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR, the Tamron manages to keep pace optically across the shared zoom range - there are some small differences in measured sharpness here and there, and the Tamron has slightly higher CA at 400mm, but overall the lenses are more similar than different. The only lens that comes out noticeably ahead in any way, in fact, is the Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM II, which offers spectacular sharpness wide-open at 400mm. extend to the Canon big white telephoto lens range. Its price-to-performance ratio makes it an excellent value.The following images were taken with the Tamron SP 150-600mm f5-6.3 VC G2 (A022) lens mounted on a Nikon D810 body. The images are RAW files developed in Lightroom 6.6 with camera standard settings, no lens profiles, CA-removal=ON, Noise Reduction=OFF, sharpening=35/0.5/36/10. The individual exposure details are available for each image.

A few short years ago, there were no super telephoto zooms featuring a 150-600mm focal length range. How things have changed...On the flip side, when shooting landscapes, corner-to-corner sharpness is more important. NIKON D810 + Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG @ 150mm, ISO 250, 1/500, f/8.0 Tamron announced the lens at the end of 2013, which means it's the most modern in its class, and therefore, in principle, has the most up-to-date optics. It includes several features that are more-or-less essential to this type of lens - optical image stabilization (which Tamron calls Vibration Compensation, or VC for short) and an UltraSonic Drive motor for fast, silent autofocus (hence USD). It also comes with a collar for attachment to a tripod or monopod; at almost 2kg (4.3lb) in weight, you're probably not going to want to shoot it hand-held for long. The Siemens-star test-targets are shot at a distance of 40x focal length (i.e. at 20 m for 500 mm focal length). But performance of lenses also depends on the shooting distance. Therefore I present another series of test-shots of a city-scape around 1km away. Processing was done in Lightroom 6.6 from RAW at Adobe Standard settings. Noise-reduction is set to 0, sharpening to 35/0.5/36/10, with no extra tone, or saturation-adjustment. There’s no tinkering with vignette-control so you see it here as it is produced by the lens. I used AF in live view at the largest aperture and did not change focus for other apertures. Autofocus works great. This Tamron works better on my Nikon D810 as far as autofocus and general usage than other third party lenses, none of which has gotten instant focus override to work properly, as it does on this Tamron. Size (diam. x length): 108 x 258mm (4.3 x 10.2in). Add another 97mm for the hefty lens-hood and zoom-in to 600mm focal length (+79mm) and you end up at a total length of 434mm (17.1in). But the Sigma Sports is still considerably bigger at 121 x 290mm (w/o hood at 150mm focal length) extending to 46cm (18.3in) with attached lens-hood at 600mm focal length. The Tamron A011 is of the same length, only the Sigma Contemporary is a bit shorter. [0]

Tami nails this Crested Caracara shot: NIKON D810 + Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 @ 600mm, ISO 500, 1/1000, f/9.0 The improved VC minimizes blurring caused by slight camera movement, which is prevalent with long telephoto lenses and even more troublesome with higher-resolution cameras. VC enhances the freedom of hand-held shooting at slower shutter speeds required by low-light conditions such as dusk. Its a very nice lens, and frankly it and te Sigma do a dine job, however my colleague who loves the Tamron, and be it a sample difference or not, conceded when we compared it in the field and on computer side by side to the 200-500 Nikon, the Nikon seemed to edge it out overall. Birders in our club say the same about the Sigma is also excellent but again they lean to the Nikon. Ergonomics are surprisingly good. For what ought to be a giant lens, it's trivially easy to handhold, zoom, focus and shoot. Three LD (Low Dispersion) lens elements completely eliminate axial and transverse chromatic aberrationsWhen you start getting out into the 500-600mm range you’re shooting at 10-12x magnification – more than a standard 8x pair of binoculars. There aren’t many photo subjects other than wildlife that require such reach. Perhaps a few sports where you can’t get close to the participants – like motorsports – or taking photos of the moon. If you’re not shooting small, shy critters, then you probably can get by with a lighter, more compact zoom like a 70-300mm or an 80-400mm/100-400mm. 400mm is generally long enough for larger wildlife like deer, elephants, lions and the like. NIKON D4S + Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 @ 320mm, ISO 8000, 1/640, f/5.6 The A011 model fared pretty well too. Its stabilizer even surpassed the results of the A022 model at 500mm and 1/250 sec and 1/125 sec. And at 600mm its performance peaked at 1/160 sec where it again performed better than the new A022 model in my tests. See Nikon Lens Compatibility, and read down the "AF-I/AF-S,""G" and "VR" columns. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" (gelding) is a deliberate handicap which removes features and compatibility. This also happened at times with low-contrast subjects. NIKON D810 + Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG @ 440mm, ISO 800, 1/500, f/6.0 Sure, if you want perfect results limited only by diffraction at 600mm, then buy a real 600mm lens, but for the people who buy this lens, it works very well at all settings, especially 600mm.

Because Tami displays field curvature it can cause focusing issues at wide apertures. For instance, if you focus using the center point, then recompose to move your subject near the edge of the frame, at that point the subject is slightly out of focus, requiring either refocusing using an outer AF point, manually tweaking the focus or stopping down to increase depth of field. I didn’t notice this as much with Niki or Sigi, but I didn’t have near as much time shooting them as I’ve had with Tami. I love shooting wildlife through foliage to give a sense of the individual in its environment – say a heron hiding behind the reeds in the mist. NIKON D810 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 @ 330mm, ISO 200, 1/320, f/18.0Lenses – The lens has dust inside that may affect images. The rubber zoom/focus ring is coming away from the barrel of the lens. Niki’s tripod foot is nice and long giving plenty of room to grip it – 3.5 of my finger’s worth. Sadly it has no lip on the end or finger knurls like the Sigma or Tamron, therefore it doesn’t feel all that secure carrying the camera/lens by the foot. Nikon, please get a clue and add a lip or better yet a lip plus the grippy rubber found on your supertele primes. While you’re at it, how about casting in some Arca-Swiss grooves. With the ability to update the lens' firmware and adjust focus parameters, the G2 version allows for more flexibility and peace of mind for its users. At infinity Tami was tops of the three. NIKON D750 + Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 @ 250mm, ISO 800, 1/640, f/8.0 A funny way to think of it is to think of cars. If you need 400mm, then just like carrying 4 people, you want the Mercedes S-Klasse just as you want the Nikon or Canon lens. If you really need 600mm, just as if you need to carry 6 people, then a Dodge Caravan, like this Tamron, does it better for a fraction of the price.