Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2022

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.

18 people found this helpful

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C. Brown

Really nice lens.....heavy but worth it!

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

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

5 people found this helpful

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Dan C

Incredible Bang for Your Buck

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I recently got into wildlife and nature photography as a hobby. I have a 10+ year old DSLR (Canon T3i) and I can take fantastic pictures with it thanks to this lense. I typically shoot without a tripod and don't find the weight to be unmanageable.

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Robert L. Baker

Very well made lens

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2020

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I had a choice between this lens from Tamron and a lens from Sigma. After the lens arrived, I took photos taking it through its paces and after downloading the images, I was well pleased with the results and found clarity of images throughout the levels of magnification.

2 people found this helpful

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Wrx bob

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

Canon r6 with viltrox adapter and Canon ef to rf - zero stars used for wildlife photography

Tamron this the worst lens I have every used. With Just the issue alone with focus problems it starts going crazy. Update don't work fixing the focus problems even using other RF to EF Adapters.

This why 2.8 Prime older lens will always be better than all this new plastic trash lenses they make.

Save your money get yourself any Canon or Nikon 400mm 2.8 prime or something else.
My old Canon 400mm 5.6 is faster and better build than this trash heap and its over 20 years old.

WITH I COULD GIVE THIS PRODUCT - STARS IT DOESN'T EVEN DESERVE ONE !

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H. Do

Extremely impressed.

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2017

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

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.

19 people found this helpful

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mrhaze

I am very pleased with its performance and image quality for birds in ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2016

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I use this to make wildlife images. I am very pleased with its performance and image quality for birds in flight as well as still subjects. The VC is excellent, fast auto focus, and sharp wide open at any focal length. I have used it in a kayak where it has survived paddle drip and some light rain without any issue. The weather protection seems to be on par with Canon L lenses. I have used/owned both the Canon 100-400 L ii, and Canon 400mm f5.6 L prime lens. This zoom is obviously more versatile than the prime, and I think it holds its own against the more expensive Canon 100-400 with 200mm more reach on the long end.

21 people found this helpful

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JVaughn

Really good lens for the money

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2019

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I really wanted to rent a Canon 600 mm lens for a bird shoot I was going on but when that proved next to impossible I changed course. While the Tamron is not as fast as the Canon lens, I could buy it for not much more than the rental would have been so I decided to go for it.

The bird shoot turned out great and having the zoom was a big benefit as I could back off the zoom when the birds got close instead of switching cameras like I would have had have done with the Canon.

I can't do a direct comparison with the Canon on sharpness but, comparing my images to those with the 600mm, I could not see a difference. Because of conditions, depth of field was pretty shallow for everyone so my edges may have been softer but you couldn't see it.

The bad news - I was using a Canon 7D MK II and in brighter conditions the focus speed was fine. However we had some overcast days with tough lighting and the lens was noticeably slow to focus. The 600mm folks indicated they didn't have a big problem with focus but I would say I did.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase but wish the low light focus was faster. For shooting critters I would recommend this lens.

5 people found this helpful

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K. Turner

Loss in image quality not worth the cost savings.

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2017

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I purchased this lens for use as a lower-cost telephoto for bird and wildlife photography. I had heard good things about the sharpness and image stabilization of this lens, although the focus speed was not said to be fantastic. I had not had great results from Tamron lenses in the past, but the word was that they had improved dramatically and that this lens was a great deal. I figured I would give it a shot.

The first lens I got, new from a reputable vendor, was simply defective. The images were very soft and there was no range in which objects were in focus; everything from close to far was blurry. I returned it to the vendor for replacement.

The replacement was not as terrible as the first, but it was still soft and had weird specular highlights, for lack of a better way to describe it. The glass elements clearly caused some distortion of the light, which became even more obvious when the images were cropped. The images were "passable" for someone who never crops and never prints large, but they were nowhere near as good as I had expected.

The image stabilization is really very good, at least on stationary objects, although it uses up battery life rapidly. When I switched it to the mode for following moving objects, it did not perform as well, but perhaps this is due more to the lens' slow autofocus. The autofocus is noisy and sounds more like an industrial machine rather than a piece of performance equipment, and it can not keep up with moving objects. It does even worse in less-than-stellar lighting.

In the end I exchanged the replacement Tamron lens for a Canon 100-400mm, and when compared side-by-side at full zoom the images from the Canon 100-400 far exceed the quality from the Tamron 150-600. Although it costs a bit more and it doesn't have as much reach, I feel that the extra reach is wasted if the images are so soft that the detail is lost. Also, the Canon lens, while still hefty, is substantially lighter, and the autofocus is much faster and quieter. It also can focus much closer, making it more useful for macro photography, and its image stabilization is excellent. Also, despite being lighter in weight, the Canon actually feels more solidly built.

The image below shows a side-by-side comparison of the moon taken with the replacement Tamron (not the defective one) and the Canon lens I finally settled on. These images were taken in the exact same circumstances a few days apart (which accounts for the change in the moon's phase appearance). More details are visible, and sharper, with the Canon lens, despite it maxing out at 400mm rather than 600mm.

146 people found this helpful

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Dana Walker

Valid warranty and good S/N with Tamron

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2021

Style: Lens OnlyVerified Purchase

I'm writing this review to address some previous concerns I've seen about this being a grey market lens and that Tamron won't recognize the warranty. I can only say that has not been the case with my purchase. My purchase through this listing was through Amazon directly and they are an authorized dealer (and be sure to check your seller on the listing and then check the seller against the Tamron approved dealers on their website). I have received verification and confirmation of the warranty from Tamron.

As far as the lens is concerned, I haven't had much chance to take it out yet but the few photos I've taken have been impressive. I shoot Canon and up until now have only used Canon lenses. The price of this lens with the focal length made it very appealing. The vibration control seems to work very well given the size and length of the lens and I was able to shoot handheld with a lower shutter than I expected. Looking forward to trying out some wildlife and astrophotography with it!

2 people found this helpful

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

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

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