TamronSP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Update. I am giving a great review to this. It is in fantastic shape, working order and has taken some great shots. No literature and the lens hood had a 4 cm cut in it (still works fine).It has not magically prodiced Short Eared Owls or exquisitely posed Eagles for me to photograph yet. That may not be the fault of the lens or more of the temperature... but I hope it conjures them soon.I now have several hundred shots on it. Since they are mine, about 20% of them good. There is a trick to selecting the ISO and Fstop I have still not quite mastered yet, it is a slight difference than the 80 mm and 70-300 mm lenses I had been practicing on previously.

Full disclosure, I returned the lens. Now for the review.This is a really good lens, I was impressed with the focusing, the sharpness at 600mm, and the quality of the pictures I took. It’s well balanced, optical stabilization is good.So, why did I return it? It was too much lens for me. It was too heavy. I bought the lens in preparation for a trip to Africa next year. I decided on this lens because of the features. I figured at nearly 4.5 pounds that it shouldn’t be an issue. I brought it down with me to Florida for a weekend, and lugging it around a wetlands down there told me it was a major issue. I like to handhold, this lens was very difficult to do so. Also found it difficult to pan with a moving object.In reality, you need a monopole to steady it. All in all, it was not the lens for me. But, for those looking for a lens in this range, I highly recommend it. It is a quality lens that does it job extremely well. That is why I give it five stars despite my experience with it.

This is a great lens. It may be a limitation of the lower levels of light to the sensor, the length of the lens or the addition of the adapter. Focusing is just not as good as the native lenses.

I purchased the Canon version and a Sigma adapter to connect this lens to my Sony A7 mirrorless full frame. I love it! I can hand hold it at 600mm, but it's not my favorite thing to do....I bet have of the pictures are too blurry to call decent. So anything over 400mm I tripod. The way my setup is, auto focus is worthless. The Sony has a great manual focus feature and I've gotten pretty fast at it. Not sure if I am bird in flight fast, but when my kids are running track and field I can get them running by with a couple of attempts. So-so results indoor. I've tried it at swim meets, and it's OK.Make no mistake, it is a beast to lug around. It's heavy and large enough to be cumbersome. Add in that I like to have it on a tripod it quickly becomes too much to hike long distances with. I'd totally still buy it though! I like up close photography, and that 600mm really allows you to get close at a moderate distance.Added thing to be aware of...people see it and my kids sporting events and assume I am a newspaper photographer or something. You'll get so many comments, you'd better think up a few snappy replies. My favorite has been "Yeah I know, I am just overcompensating" lol

I bought my first Tamron lense just over six years ago (which turns out to be important). I loved it so much I bought two more including this one. In the last year or so, for the first one I bought, the camera (Rebel Eos) wouldn't shutter in autofocus mode. When I finally called Tamron I was told it was most likely the autofocus motor. The first one I bought went out of warranty 4/22/20, it's now 10/20 and the repair would be approx $150, a third of what I paid for it. The others are still under warranty but I had known of this issue I would have NEVER purchased them. I've set up a warranty claim for the second one. Have to ship it myself and they decide if there's a problem and I have to pay shipping if THEY decide the problem doesn't require warranty repair. I thought I would try to save a few bucks with Tamron, BIG MISTAKE.THESE THINGS ARE JUNK AND TAMRON TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THEY ARE NOTHING. THE ONLY WAY I WOULD GET ANYTHING TAMRON IS IF IT WAS GIVEN TO ME

For what this lens offered at the price point, I was a little skeptical. This is a whole lot of feature to package into one product without sacrificing something major. I have shot exclusively with Canon L lenses in the past and really expect that sort of performance in my gear. I typically use a 400 f/2.8L or 600 f/4L for telephoto work, but I could not take these lenses on my recent Tanzania safari due to size and weight. That being said, I am extremely satisfied with the performance of this lens! The small aperature (f5-6.3) does take a while to get use to, but as long as you keep your shutter speed up, tack sharp images are achievable at long focal lengths. I shot pretty much wide open at 600mm the whole time. I even stacked my 2x Teleconverter on and manual focused in some situations with decent results. The images are a tad fuzzy, but perfectly suitable given the conditions. Photographing wildlife in the plains of the Serengeti from an open top Landcruiser requires some practice. There are endless obstacles (Serengeti means "sea of endless grass" for a reason) to disrupt the AF and constant breezes to shake the lens causing micro blurring. After some practice and set-up changes, the results just blew me away. Tack sharp images from close range to about 50-75 yards were easily obtained. Though you can get pretty close to some wildlife, the expanse of the African plains do keep many things out of range. The small aperature made quick AF on moving subjects difficult, but with more practice this may be achievable. Catching birds in flight is a challenge for slow lenses. That is about the only downside to this lens. Stable platform at 600mm is a must. I would love Tamron to make a straight f/4 or f/5.6 version of this lens at a higher price point.