First week with this combo and I gotta say, I’m impressed.

Impressed with how sharp this lens is.

While I have had to crop into most of these photos (1. Because you can’t really handhold this lens easily and 2. Because there is not enough range, even on a6400) I have been impressed with how much cropping I’ve been able to do.

Some of these photos are cropped 100-2000% which on an apsc sensor is impressive.

I’m not saying these are Sony a7RVI quality photos but they are still good for the price.

And another thing that similar Sony lenses don’t have is macro mode (Yes I’m talking about the 200-600).

I’ve been able to get really flipping close to insects, birds and basically anything tiny. It’s genuinely crazy how at 150mm you can focus at 60cm.

First impressions (Good)

1. The stabilisation is absolutely insane (especially on a non-ibis body).
2. The sharpness is much better than I thought and much superior to previous Tamron lenses I’ve had.
3. The range is also really really good (with 1.5x crop sensor)
4. Much better autofocus compared to other Tamron lenses
5. Crazy good macro specs.
6. Bokeh on the lens was much better than I was expecting (especially on a apsc sensor, so less DoF)
7. Very satisfied with the handling (Ive tried the Sony 200-600 f5.6-6.3 and I couldn’t even hold it for 2 minutes)

First impressions (Bad)

1. The main one: The slight whirring sound that can be heard on VC 1 & 2 is so annoying, I can hear it in my head even after I’ve turned the camera off.
2. Sometimes hard to turn zoom ring and i can’t get it to fully turn all the way (might be a me issue)
3. Kinda slow on the telephoto end but that’s to be expected for an ultra-compact super telephoto lens.
4. Would’ve liked a teeny tiny bit more range on the long end, but that can be fixed with digital crop.

Overall I think this lens definitely exceeded my expectations as my first telephoto zoom lens, but there are things that annoy me in the slightest.

I’m making these impressions mainly by comparing this lens to my previous lens: Tamron 17-70 f2.8, as I’ve never owned a telephoto lens before.

For wildlife:
This lens is mainly for wildlife in my opinion, as the handling is great if you need to move quickly, a faster aperture is not needed as many things in wildlife are pretty slow, and the range is great for a lens that is the same size as a Sony 100-400 f4.5-5.6.

For aviation:

I feel like this lens could shine in aviation. It’s honestly very very sharp, especially at 500mm, which allows you to capture some pretty clean contrails of planes. At the airport, I feel like 150mm is a big tight to begin with so I would maybe choose a 70-200.

For sports:

Only use this lens for sports that are outside, and use a big pitch. Like I said, the 150mm starting point is so tight already, and the slower aperture doesn’t help. I think for football on a sunny day would be absolutely perfect, paired with that nice bokeh to get some good shots of the players.

I’ve only had this lens for two days, but from what I’ve experienced so far, I think it could be a very wise purchase especially for the the price (I bought it for £697).

Are there any other tips and tricks that I should know about this lens that helped you achieve better photos/more consistency?

I have a Sony 6400 + Tamron 17-70 f2.8. However, whenever I see my dad’s camera with a 2000mm zoom lens (Nikon p950), I see how many things I could take photos with if I had a lens with more zoom.

So, I first decided to get a Sony 70-350 f4.5-6.3 because it’s APS-C, has image stabilisation and mostly because it’s Sony. However, out of nowhere, the Tamron 150-500 f5-6.7 came up and I’ve been quite impressed. They’re both similar price (~£700) and I think more zoom would be better (525mm vs 750mm).

Also, because the Tamron is a Full-Frame lens, it’ll be sharper and better performing than the APS-C Sony.

I want to shoot small birds and planes and I think the longer range would be good.

Let me know if the Tamron 150-500 is a better choice for my APS-C camera.