Photography News Issue 43

Photography News | Issue 43 | absolutephoto.com

AwardWinner - First tests

TamronSP90mmf/2.8Di VCUSD £579 Tamron has produced several top- drawer 90mm macro lenses over the years – the latest is no exception, so it was good to see it claim a PN Award this year. Having reviewed it last spring, a year hasn’t lessened the lens’s appeal. at 1sec or beyond, if you’re down- sampling (losing pixels will make minor blurring disappear). Really incredible stuff. The VC mechanism does burble away a bit though.

Specs

Format Full-frame and APS-C Mount Nikon, Canon and Sony Minimum focus 30cm Focus limiter Yes Maximummagnification 1:1 Image stabiliser Yes Weather-sealed Yes, moisture and dust Dimensions (lxd) 117.1x79mm Weight 600g Contact intro2020.co.uk

As it’s a macro lens, my preference was to focus manually, but if you want to use the AF, for portrait subjects or telephoto landscapes etc, it’s very snappy, thanks to the lens’s Ultra Silent Drive (USD). Manually focusing, the ring’s action remains excellent. As there’s no zoom ring to take up space it’s deep and easy to find while composing, and turns with a good level of resistance, making focus accurate (this is helped by the length of travel from near to far). Optically it was as good as I remembered with very little fringing or vignetting. At the closest focusing distance of 30cm, where the effective aperture is f/5.6-f/6.4, sharpness hit its peak between f/11 and f/16, but it was no slouch wide open either. When focusing further off, quality was matched, so it’s a very usable portrait option, too. KS

Part of Tamron’s SP range, the lens has a sleek metal barrel and handles well. It’s not light, but is well balanced with larger SLR bodies, and the large focus ring falls easily to hand, as do the low-profile switches (AF/MF, Vibration Compensation (VC), and a focus limiter (Full, 0.5m to infinity, and 0.3-0.5m). The body is also moisture proofed and dust resistant, which gives you some reassurance when shooting out in the elements. The front element features a Fluorine coating to repel water and oils, too. Thanks to an internal focusing design, the front element doesn’t rack out so there’s no danger of striking parts of the subject or scaring off the creepy crawlies you’re shooting. I set about shooting some suitable spring apple blossoms, both handheld and locked off to reacquaint myself with the lens, and was immediately reminded of the striking effect of the 5-axis VC system. Once VC is engaged it’s like an invisible hand is steadying the lens, so much so that you need to drag yourself away from the subject; some might not like it, but there’s no denying the results. I was getting critically sharp shots down to around 1/5sec, and it’s possible to handhold

Verdict

A year on, this is still a first-class performer, and well worth its price, with an excellent mix of features, build and performance. For macro enthusiasts, it’s compelling. Pros Build, image quality, focusing and stabilisation Cons A little heavy when mounted on smaller DSLRs

Once VC is engaged it’s like an invisible hand is steadying the lens

Above Shooting with the SP 90mm f/2.8 is a real pleasure, and the power of the Vibration Compensation adds impressive clarity to handheld pics.

TamronSP 150- 600mmf/5-6.3Di VC USDG2 £1340

There was stiff competition in the Telephoto Zoom category of this year’s PN Awards, with Tamron’s formidable SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 claiming the top spot. The Telezoom category shortlist was dominated by super-telephoto zooms, with 100-400mm and 200-500mm options featuring strongly. What’s it all mean? Long focal lengths are falling into a more affordable range, and the SP 150-600mm proves they can give great results. I shot with the SP 150-600mm at a nature reserve and like any reasonable human rushed straight for the 600mm end. The reach is very impressive: compose on a full- frame camera and you’re looking at filling the frame with an 8cm subject from about three metres away. Immediately you’re struck by the wildlife possibilities. Talking of being struck, you’ll want to avoid swinging the lens around too much; at 2010g and 450mm long when fully extended with the hood on, it’s easy to brain someone. Fortunately, the sturdy lens hood protected the glass. Yes, it’s heavy, but not unreasonably so, and shooting with it and a Nikon D810 wasn’t bad. Shooting handheld is aided by the excellent Vibration Compensation (VC). Traditionally you’d want a shutter of at least 1/640sec to safely handholdat 600mm, but Iwas getting a decent return at 1/60sec, with around four out of five shots sharp. Slower than that, the rate dropped off, but it’s really in the intermediate speeds that you’ll feel the benefit.

Via the barrel, a switch sets VC1 (full) or VC3 mode (off until shooting). Somewildlife shooters say you should let stabilisation kick in and settle before shooting, but I didn’t notice any difference. VC2 is for panning. The SP 150-600mm G2 handles well, too, with a smoothness to the zoom and focus rings, though the former could have a shorter throw, for me. It takes three turns to go from near to far, but if you’re sticking close to a single focal length this’ll be less of a concern. The lens also has two zoom locks: a switch to catch it at 150mm, and another set by sliding the zoom ring to lock at any focal length. Nice. Optically, performance was high, particularly at the wider apertures, where most will use it. Sharpness was retained until the higher f/numbers, where the crispness quickly fell away due to diffraction. Vignetting was pretty obvious wide open, when shooting a test surface, but in reality you won’t notice it much. KS

Specs

Format Full-frame and APS-C Mount Canon, Nikon and Sony Minimum focus 2.2m Focus limiter Yes Maximummagnification 1:3.9 Tripod collar Yes Weather sealed Yes, moisture resistant Dimensions (dxl) 108.4x260.2mm Weight 2010g Contact intro2020.co.uk

Verdict

Immediately you’re struck by the wildlife possibilities

The SP 150-600mm G2 will leave a sizable hole in your pocket, but when you start using focal lengths like these you’ll wonder how you did without them. Top quality.

Pros Image quality wide open, stabilisation, handling Cons Sharpness drops off at higher f/numbers

Above Wide open and at the long end of the zoom, the SP 150- 600mmG2 gives some top results.