New Tamron 150-600 G2

Today I had the chance to photograph two common sandpipers during their mating ceremony. I took the chance.

I rented one of these from LR (great experience from them stuff is always on time and well packed).

The lens appeared to be brand new.

Unfortunately the focus on it is extremely inconsistent. Fast but all over the place. Micro adjust on a target (at an appropriate distance) suggested 0 on both a 6d and a 5d3. I was very disappointed. I did get some good shots and i will post some when i get home.

Unlike the sigma 50-500 is that i had that just needed MA and it was dead on this would front focus then back focus then hit and so on. In bright daylight. Spot af on 5d3 didn't help. Oh well.

In a good note the lens is very sharp. I'd say 600mm on it at f8 is about the same as the 100 to 400 version 1 at 400mm 5.6 , IE pretty darn good.

Here's one:

IMAGE LINK: http://amanathia.zenfo​lio.com …12/v181/p234679​5550-5.jpg

woos wrote in post #18365118
I rented one of these from LR (great experience from them stuff is always on time and well packed).

The lens appeared to be brand new.

Unfortunately the focus on it is extremely inconsistent. Fast but all over the place. Micro adjust on a target (at an appropriate distance) suggested 0 on both a 6d and a 5d3. I was very disappointed. I did get some good shots and i will post some when i get home.

Unlike the sigma 50-500 is that i had that just needed MA and it was dead on this would front focus then back focus then hit and so on. In bright daylight. Spot af on 5d3 didn't help. Oh well.

In a good note the lens is very sharp. I'd say 600mm on it at f8 is about the same as the 100 to 400 version 1 at 400mm 5.6 , IE pretty darn good.

Focus inconsistency has not been reported as a problem in any reviews I have read. Sounds likely that you got a bad egg, rather than a problem with the lens in general. I certainly have not experienced this problem.

pknight wrote in post #18366222
Focus inconsistency has not been reported as a problem in any reviews I have read. Sounds likely that you got a bad egg, rather than a problem with the lens in general. I certainly have not experienced this problem.

Yeah I know. Odd lol. I have read lots of reviews and people didn't complain about this. The most I saw was complaints about tracking or something. Many of my problems were on subjects standing still.

Above I posted a shot which is decently sharp (not as good as the 50-500 OS at 500mm f/8..maybe I had an exceptional copy of that, I never should have sold it but I needed money, but about as good as the 100-400mm L V1 @ 400mm 5.6). But unfortunately for me that was the exception.

I did calibrate it. On both bodies. Tried C and S AF. Tried using the spot AF on the 5d3. Etc, etc. I had problems with the Sigma 50-500 back focusing a little bit on the 5d3 but once I did the simple ML dot tune AF script (I think it gave me -8 ? I can't remember now I sold the lens when I needed money to pay off my student loans finally, they are all gone yay) it was always right on all the time. This one...well....It was all over the place. The 6d doesn't usually ever need MA the center point seems magical (the other points suck but yeah). Not on this thing. All over the place. Close up on a non-moving bird with a braced lens (sometimes sitting on a rolled down window with the car off, sometimes hand held though) with a high shutter speed? Miss miss miss miss miss hit miss miss miss miss miss miss miss....very odd. It was all over the place. I've never seen AF so awful. It reminded me of say, the worst copy of the 50mm 1.8 you could have found on craigslist back in the day! What was extra frustrating was the AF was also very very fast! If only it would have been accurate!

So, I hope that all the copies aren't like mine was I did get some good shots but it was a very very frustrating experience. I will try the Sigma S next time I think.

Edit: this thing reminded me of when I tried the Sigma 150-500mm OS back in the day. (not to be confused with the excellent 50-500). Oh man.

One more:

IMAGE LINK: http://amanathia.zenfo​lio.com/img/s4/v9/p234​6931018-6.jpg

Well, I guess that was my point. It is likely that specific sample of the lens that is the problem. Nothing to suggest anything different. Tamron's service is great, and they would have certainly provided a replacement. I have been using mine for months now, and it's focus performance is on par with my old 100-400 mk I.

Edit: I recall now that you rented this. Hopefully you informed LR about the problem, so they can examine the lens and remove it from circulation.

Selling my TamG2. It's listed at FredMiranda.
PM if any are curious. I'm packaging it with the 1.4TC.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18372876
Selling my TamG2. It's listed at FredMiranda.
PM if any are curious. I'm packaging it with the 1.4TC.

Why I thought that you loved it? (As I am based in the UK not interested in buying it).

I do, and the first gen in a-mount as well.
I'm just saturated with lenses and truth is when I need that focal length
I grab the 500ISii with a TC.
A sadder reality is coming upon me too, I'm aging and quickly. I just need
to start downsizing.
More truth, the G2 has never left my yard/screen porch.
In the end I'll be an mFT shooter probably transitioning downward via Sony...whatever
it takes to decrease the weight.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18372876
Selling my TamG2. It's listed at FredMiranda.
PM if any are curious. I'm packaging it with the 1.4TC.

Wow great price! I really REALLY wish I had the funds for that right now. Boss says I can't buy any new toys until fall wedding season.

ma11rats wrote in post #18373158
Wow great price! I really REALLY wish I had the funds for that right now. Boss says I can't buy any new toys until fall wedding season.

Well so far no interest. Might still be around when wedding season is over.
I forgot to mention the dock will be packed in the box as well.

So G2 lens, dock and 1.4x extender? Argh. Great deal. Well I might be added onto a new venue's preferred list this month and it should mean a bunch of extra weddings. But I can't imagine it'd last that long.

Well, I finally decided to move forward on getting one of these. Should be here next week.

Last weekend. Hämeenlinna, Finland.