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So after comparing my options, and even considering ditching getting a new telephoto in favor of a new prime (85mm f/1.8 to be exact), I went out and bought the Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD Thursday morning. It was my late night at work, and so instead of driving home, then turning around and driving back to Dallas later in the day once I woke up, I just decided to stop in Downtown and shoot some photos with the old telephoto, the Canon 75-300mm, one last time. I figured I could waste two hours shooting photos until the store opened.

I got to the store a bit after they opened, and played around with the Tamron and the Canon 85mm. I must say I was nearly swayed into buying the new prime, since I would have also been able to get my hands on the Black Rapid strap I am after. But I went ahead and got the Tamron.



There is the box, and the first look at the lens. Granted I had it out and tried it in the store before this, but I still felt like doing the traditional unboxing photos. Instead of being smart, going home and passing out (considering I did work from 10pm to 6am, then took photos till 9am), I went straight to the Arboretum to try out the new lens. It was horridly overcast, with some storms starting to roll into the area, but I knew I had an hour at least till the rain hit and the dark low contrast conditions would be great to test out the lens in a more stressful manor.

Walking around with it, I could tell just how much heavier this thing was; without a strap carrying it by hand was a serious workout for said hand. The zoom action on this thing is quite stiff but buttery smooth, something I imagine that will loosen up over time. The focus though is just as smooth as could be, with a decent pull from macro to infinity. Full time manual focus is now a must for me, I just love being able to what I guess you could call prime the focus, quickly shifting from near to far, or vice versa, to get a quicker lock in on subjects. I move my finger faster than then the camera and lens can, allowing me to get focus so much quicker. I do need to get used to not moving it while shooting the photos though, as about 2 or 3 photos were put out of focus due to me accidentally twisting the ring without trying too. By the end of the day I got my hand position down where I could quick adjust the focus, but never seemed to accidentally knock it out.

While I can't of course compare it to really high end glass, I can compare it to what my old telephoto lens could do, and it just blows it out of the water. With Tamron's VC (their version of image stabilization, vibration compensation), I was able to get just so many useable shots, far more than ever before. The sharpness and clarity of the photos, even at the higher ISOs I was shooting at all day is just astounding, I dare say even better than my 50mm 1.8 stopped down to f/2.8. And of course it gets even better when you stop the Tamron down to around f/8.0, with the whole focal range getting quite sharp at that aperture. The contrast and saturation are also far and away better than the old 75-300mm, and I can't wait to see its performance in good lighting.

All in all, this lens has impressed me today; its a great mix of features and quality, for a nice mid range price. I know many have said the Canon 70-300mm is better, and has better sharpness throughout its zoom range, but the Tamron is now slouch, especially for those of use coming from the realm of kit and super cheap lenses, this thing is just an absolute beast.

Click the link below to go to a Sta.sh folder where you can see 10 test shots from the Tarmon. They show the lens at 70, 100, 135, 200, and 300mm focal length, first at the widest aperture for each, then of each of them at f/8.0. The images are at varying shutter and ISO settings, as I was shooting in Aperture Priority, so some will have a bit of noise.
[link]

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Latest News

So ladies and gents, I am at a rather tough crossroads, which friggin lens to buy. I never thought I would be making a decision like this, and dear lord do I need some help.

First off, a bit of a forward, feel free to skip to "The Lenses" section, if you don't feel like reading. My most used lens has been my telephoto lens, hands down. I love doing work in nature, and with flowers/plants, and that thing is just so handy for getting close without actually getting close. The bad part is, it is a serious hunk-o-junk. Its the Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6, and is absolute garbage. The build quality is laughable, the sharpness is non-existent, chromatic aberration and color fringing out the ass, and tons of distortion and vignetting. Ok that might be a rage based review of the thing, but it has seriously ruined so many once in a lifetime shots, that I can't stand to use the damn thing anymore. I just recently got to get some photos of two turkey vultures devouring a dead squirrel, and the photos were utter crap, and 2 out of 200 were decent enough to salvage. I love the focal range, but need something better; in comes the two contenders.

The Lenses

The Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM was always my first choice; I knew for a while I had wanted that, even before I got my T4i. The lens is a decent price, going for between $350 and $500 on sites like Amazon, brand new. Its got good build quality, some nice features including IS, and of course its a Canon lens. For the longest time I vowed never to put any glass but Canon glass in front of my cameras. I was even willing to go with old FD lenses, but no third-party junk. This lens has great quality below 150mm, and still thoroughly trumps the 75-300mm up to the maximum focal length. It is a great midrange telephoto lens, only lacking in popularity I feel because of the very closely priced Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L, I mean its quite hard to compete with an L lens that is just a bit over $100 more expensive. But I shake a bit, and shoot far too often at full 300mm, so that lens was never really a choice. I will eventually get an telephoto L lens, but it will probably be the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens.

The Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 SP Di VC USD XLD came out of left field, and I only gave its Amazon page a look over because of boredom really. But what I found got me thinking twice about discounting third-party lenses. The thing seemed to be very close to the Canon offering in terms of sharpness, aberration, and fringing, losing out just a bit in the low end, and a bit more in the upper zoom range. But it was the Tamron VC that really caught my attention. Video after video I saw people amazed at the sheer awesomesauce that is this things image stabilization. Even shooting as low as 1/10th of a second shutter speed, people were getting good clean shots, even at 300mm. That just blew me away, I have used IS on 3 Canon lenses, and one of those was an L lens I got to play with. I can honestly say those never impressed me much. They helped, and as long as I stayed fairly steady (once again, I shake quite a bit) it would help get me below 1/100th of a second on some lenses. Yes I shake that badly. Today I got to play with it at my local camera store, and even at 1/20th of a second, I was capturing perfectly sharp clear photos, even at 300mm!! That blew me away, and the build of the lens felt solid, and almost as good as the Canon. Add in a window showing current focus length, and full time manual focus, and this things trumps the Canon in features.

So there lies my problem; both are great replacements for that piece of s**t 75-300mm, and while the Canon is of course going to be a great and great looking lens, with 2 mode IS, the Tamron has far more features, and right now sits at $350 with a mail in rebate. But the Canon has also been swinging pretty low on Amazon the past few days, getting really close to that price point as well. I keep going back and forth, and I was hoping to get everyones help in this. Check the link below for the poll for this journal. Also, check below that for some test images I got to do in the very very short amount of time I had at the camera store.

CLICK THIS LINK: [link]

Test Images

I got a few moments with the two lenses today at my local camera store. I didn't have long, so no time to head outside and setup a good tripod based test, but this really shows the power of the Tamron's VC (Vibration Compensation). Also, while the Canon couldn't stay sharp due to shake, when it did the Tamron seemed to have better contrast, color and even sharpness. These shots are un-edited, with no noise reduction or added sharpness, just what the lenses do themselves.


First up, are both lenses shot at 70mm, the shortest focal length. I was focusing on the box in the center for this shot.