Tamron 150-500mm f/5.0-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens (Model A057)

      Photo Review 9.0

      In summary

      The Tamron 150-500mm f/5.0-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens is ideal for sports and wildlife shooters – particularly birders. It’s also good for shooting close-ups and has the necessary focus limiter settings that are easy to switch in and out.

      Fast, near silent autofocusing will be useful for close-up work with live subjects, where the longer focal lengths add the advantage of good working distances. Quiet autofocusing will also be an advantage for videographers and stills shooters who need to work as silently as possible.

      Full review

      Tamron’s 150-500mm f/5.0-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens (Model A057) was initially released with a Sony E-mount back in April 2021 but it has been followed up with the release of a Fujifilm X-mount in late September 2022, bringing even greater ‘super-telephoto’ capabilities to Fujifilm’s cropped-sensor cameras. The local distributor supplied us with an X-mount model, which encompasses a focal length range equivalent to 225-750mm on a full-frame camera.


      Angled view of the 150-500mm f/5.0-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens (Model A057) with the tripod mount fitted. (Source: Tamron.)

      The optical configuration of this lens is the same for both X and E mounts, with 25 elements in 16 groups, as shown in the diagram below. It includes one XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) element, five LD (Low Dispersion) elements and two Hybrid Aspherical lens elements to control common aberrations. BBAR-G2 (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection Generation 2) Coating optimises image clarity and contrast, while a fluorine coating is applied to the front element to repel moisture, grease and dust.

      This diagram shows the positions of the exotic elements in the optical design of the150-500mm f/5.0-6.7 Di III VC VXD lens. (Source: Tamron.)

      Autofocusing is driven by a VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor mechanism, which is fast and precise. The linear motor also suppresses drive noise and vibrations during focusing, making it ideal for shooting both still photos and video in environments that demand quietness. Tracking performance is also very good.

      Vibration Control (VC) stabilisation minimises blurring caused by camera shake and the lens provides a selection switch with three settings (Mode 1: Standard, Mode 2: Exclusively for Panning, and Mode 3: Framing Priority) to match shooting conditions.  No claims are made for the degree of shake correction, which is sensible since this relates to the user’s shooting technique and prevailing conditions.


      This diagram shows the locations of the dust- and moisture-resistant seals in the lens barrel. (Source: Tamron.)

      Leak-resistant seals have been installed at key positions throughout the lens barrel to keep out moisture and dust. This is good news for outdoor photographers as the lens can be used hassle-free for sports and wildlife shooting, including in light rain and mist.

      The minimum focus is 60 cm at 150mm and 1.8 metres at 500mm, each providing roughly one-thirds life size magnification for ‘tele-macro’ shooting, a feature that is not normally possible with conventional ultra-telephoto zoom lenses. This enables the lens to be used to photograph small flowers and plants as well as for tabletop photography.

      A special MF SPEED switch, which is only found on the Fujifilm X-mount version, allows users to choose between two focusing speeds during manual focus shooting. Mode 1 is used for normal manual focusing, while Mode 2 can be selected for fine manual focusing adjustment.

      The lens is supplied with the usual front and end caps plus a cylindrical lens hood. It also comes with a removable Arca-Swiss compatible tripod mount that adds 155 grams to the overall weight of the lens.

      Who’s it For?
      This lens could never be seen as a ‘take everywhere’ choice for even optimistic birders; it’s simply too heavy. That said, it’s relatively compact and eminently capable of being used hand-held, so if you’re up to handling roughly 2.25 kg of camera plus lens it will enable you to cover a variety of interesting subject types.

      The obvious target market is photographers who want to photograph distant subjects and its long zoom range is ideal for sports and wildlife shooters – particularly birders. But it’s also good for shooting close-ups and provides the necessary focus limiter settings that are easy to switch in and out.

      Fast, near silent autofocusing will be useful for close-up work with live subjects, where the longer focal lengths add the advantage of good working distances.  Quiet autofocusing will also be an advantage for videographers and stills shooters who need to work as silently as possible.

      The Tamron lens is a lower-priced alternative to Fujifilm’s Fujinon XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR lens. The table below compares the main specifications of the two lenses.

      Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD Fujifilm XF150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR
      Picture angle 10.59 degrees to 3.18 degrees 10.8 degrees to 2.7 degrees
      Minimum aperture f/22-f/32 f/22
      Lens construction 25 elements in 16 groups 24 elements in 17 groups
      Exotic elements 5 LD, 1 XLD and 2 hybrid aspherical elements 3 ED and 4 super ED elements
      Diaphragm Blades 7 (rounded aperture) 9 (rounded aperture)
      Focus drive VXD linear motor
      Minimum focus 60 cm at 150mm; 1.8 m at 500mm 2.4 m
      Maximum magnification 0.32x at 150mm; 0.27  at 500mm 0.24x
      Weather resistance Sealed in 7 places against moisture and dust Yes, moisture & dust resistant with inner zoom construction
      Stabilisation Built-in VC stabilisation with 3 modes Built-in OIS with 5 EV shake correction
      Filter size 82 mm 82 mm
      Tripod Collar Removable and rotating; Arca-Swiss compatible Removable and rotating
      Compatible with teleconverters No Yes, with XF1.4X TC WR and XF2X TC WR 
      Dimensions (Diameter x L) 93 x 209.9 mm 99 x 314.5 mm
      Weight 1,710 grams without tripod mount 1,605 grams
      RRP (AU$) $2499 $3549

      The ability to remove the tripod foot makes it suitable for hand-held use, where the built-in stabilisation will come in handy. These features, along with the weather-resistant construction, will also make it useful for photographers who work in outdoor locations.

      Build and Ergonomics
      Tamron doesn’t specify the materials used in the construction of the Model A057 lens but we have reason to believe it’s a combination of lightweight magnesium alloy and industrial polycarbonate. Build quality is up to Tamron’s usual high standard.

      Unfortunately, even with the tripod collar and foot removed we found it quite heavy on the X-T3 camera we used for our test shots, although its balance was reasonably good for shooting hand-held with the camera.

      The E-mount version would probably be a slightly better match for one of Sony’s full-frame cameras and its shorter barrel would be more manoeuvrable. (It’s worth noting there’s no real equivalent to this lens in Sony’s or Sigma’s Line-up).

      The inner barrel of the Tamron 150-500mm lens extends when zooming from 150mm to 500mm, adding approximately 75 mm to bring the overall length of the lens to approximately 285 mm at 500mm. The front section of the inner barrel is 8 mm deep, with rubber padding around the filter ring to protect the lens against impact shock.

      The front element has a diameter of approximately 70 mm and the inner barrel flares out to end in a roughly 20 mm deep band that carries the bayonet fitting for the supplied cylindrical lens hood (which also has rubber padding around its front). The hood has internal ribbing to minimise reflections but lacks a locking button.

      The zoom ring is roughly 70 mm long and located at the front of the outer barrel with the front 55mm clad in fine rubber ribbing. Aft of the ribbing is a 15mm wide unribbed section stamped with focal length settings for 150, 200, 250, 300, 400 and 500mm focal lengths, which line up against a short white line on the fixed section of the outer barrel behind the zoom ring.

      This section is 35 mm wide and carries most of the physical controls, most of them located on a raised area around the left hand side of the barrel. It’s approximately 75 mm long and just over 20 mm wide.

      Here you’ll find (working from right to left) the focus limiter switch with three positions: FULL, MOD-10 m and 10 m – ∞. Next in line is the MF speed limiter with two positions, followed by the VS (stabilisation) on/off switch and, finally, the VC mode selector, which has three positions: Mode 1: Standard, Mode 2: Exclusively for Panning, and Mode 3: Framing Priority.

      A zoom lock slider switch is located around the right hand side of this section of the barrel, which also carries the name of the lens and ‘TAMRON’ brand stamped in white. On the base of this section is a prominent ‘Designed in Japan’ label plus a much more subdued label stating the lens is made in Vietnam.

      The narrow (11 mm wide) focusing ring is located just behind this section of the barrel. It’s totally covered in rubberised ribbing and turns through 360 degrees when power is not supplied because focusing is driven from the camera.

      The tripod collar sits on a moulded 25 mm wide section of the barrel just behind the focusing ring. It’s easy to mount and remove and can be rotated for vertical shooting by simply loosening the large locking clamp. Behind the tripod mounting is a 5 mm wide section with index marks at 90-degree intervals for orientating the lens on a tripod.

      The outer barrel then curves inwards to end in a narrow silver ring and the robust metal lens mount. There’s a rubber flange around the mount to keep out moisture and dust, while inside the mount are the normal 10 contact points for passing data between the lens and the camera body.

      The supplied cylindrical lens hood is easy to fit and can be reversed over the lens barrel for transport and storage. It clicks firmly into the bayonet mounting at the front of the lens.

      Performance
      We were unable to measure resolution performance using our Imatest system due to a lack of space in our testing area so all assessments are based on subjective judgments plus our usual tests for vignetting and distortions. We’ve aimed to cover the range of subjects most potential users would buy this lens for in our samples shots and also carried out our usual sunstars tests across four focal lengths.

      There wasn’t much difference between centre and edge sharpness at their widest apertures in the test shots we took to assess overall resolution. However, readers should note that each frame in our Samples section shows some softening as a result of atmospheric disturbances created by the heating of the land between the photographer and the subject.

      These produced visible disturbances to what would otherwise be straight lines and they are noticeable when the images are enlarged to 100%. As a result, we’ve only used them for comparing edge and centre performance – and revealing an issue that will affect all extreme telephoto lenses. Interestingly, there wasn’t much additional softening from f/11 to the minimum aperture, where diffraction would usually take effect.

      Closer shots that were largely unaffected by the intervening air were almost always pin-sharp and, again, we couldn’t see much difference between centre and edge or corner sharpness. As a result, we think this lens is a very good performer for a variable aperture lens in the super-zoom category.

      We found no obvious chromatic aberration in any of our test shots, even when the in-camera corrections were switched off. Nor could we find any obvious coloured fringing in uncorrected raw files. There was very little rectilinear distortion in most test shots, with only slight pincushion distortion evident at 500mm.

      However, vignetting was obvious at the maximum apertures with all focal lengths in the zoom range when the in-camera corrections were disabled.  Stopping down only reduced it slightly but the in-camera corrections were effective for JPEG files and raw files were simple to correct in Adobe Camera Raw.

      Autofocusing was fast and precise as long as the correct settings were selected in both the camera and on the lens itself. When they weren’t, the lens tended to hunt for focus.

      In all other situations the lens locked on quickly and accurately and the only times we encountered problems were in flat, relatively dim lighting when we changed the focus from a close to a distant subject and when we tried to focus the lens on a tiny bird that was more than 50% hidden behind branches. Focusing was also very quiet.

      The built-in stabilisation system was a valuable aid to focusing as it also kicked in quickly when the shutter button was touched and kept the viewfinder image relatively stable. This was appreciated when we shot with the camera and lens hand-held (which was the case with almost all shots). We could reliably shoot with the 500mm focal length at shutter speeds as slow as 1/70 second and even managed one shot (shown in the Samples section) at 1/20 second with a 247mm focal length where the focused area was sharp while the rest of the subject was blurred by its motion.

      Backlit subjects were generally handled well with little in the way of veiling flare, although atmospheric haze could reduce contrast at times.  But that’s not the fault of the lens.

      Sunstars were usually sharp, with the seven-bladed iris diaphragm producing 14 spikes. However, there were lots of coloured flare artefacts around all these shots, except for the one taken at 150mm.

      As usual, bokeh in close-ups at wide aperture settings was influenced by background lighting.  Bright out-of-focus highlights tended to be recorded as soft-edged blobs but we found no signs of highlight outlining  and evenly-lit areas were generally smooth and attractive.

      It’s worth noting the extreme perspective compression that occurs at the longest focal length settings, where the effective 750mm focal length can make objects that are in reality some distance apart appear to overlap in an unnatural fashion. An example is provided in the Samples section.

      Conclusion

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      SPECS

      Picture angle: 16 degrees 25 minutes to 4 degrees 57 minutes on Sony FE mount or 10 degrees 59 minutes to 3 degrees 18 minutes on Fujifilm X-mount
      Minimum aperture: f/22-f/32
      Lens construction: 25 elements in 16 groups (including 5 LD, 1 XLD and 2 hybrid aspherical elements plus BBAR-G2 anti-reflection coating and afluorine coating on front element)
      Lens mounts: Sony FE (full frame) and Fujifilm X-mount (APS-C)
      Diaphragm Blades: 7 (rounded aperture)
      Weather resistance: Sealed in 7 places against moisture and dust
      Focus drive: VXD linear motor
      Stabilisation: VC stabilisation with 3 modes
      Minimum focus: 60 cm at 150mm; 1.8 m at 500mm
      Maximum magnification: 1:3.1 at 150mm; 1:3.7  at 500mm
      Filter size: 82 mm
      Dimensions (Diameter x L): 93 x 209.6 mm (Sony) or 209.9 mm (Fujifilm)
      Weight: 1,725 grams (Sony) or 1,710 grams (Fujifilm) without the supplied tripod mount
      Standard Accessories: Front and end caps, cylindrical lens hood with rubberised front, Arca-Swiss compatible  tripod mount (155 grams)
      Distributor: Blonde Robot, (03) 9023 9777

       

      SAMPLES

      Note: All images except the distortion shots were taken with the camera and lens hand-held. Focal lengths are as specified on the lens itself so a 1.5x crop factor should be applied to convert them to 35mm equivalents.


      Vignetting at 150mm f/5.


      Vignetting at 200mm f/5.


      Vignetting at 300mm f/5.6.


      Vignetting at 400mm f/6.3.


      Vignetting at 500mm f/6.7


      Rectilinear distortion at 150mm.


      Rectilinear distortion at 200mm.


      Rectilinear distortion at 300mm.


      Rectilinear distortion at 400mm.


      Rectilinear distortion at 500mm.


      150mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/640 second at f/8.


      200mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/450 second at f/8.


      300mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/450 second at f/8.


      400mm focal length, ISO 500, 1/500 second at f/8.


      500mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/500 second at f/8.


      300mm focal length, f/5.6, 1/950 second at ISO 200.


      Crop from the centre of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      Crop from the corner of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      300mm focal length, f/11, 1/250 second at ISO 200.


      Crop from the centre of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      Crop from the corner of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.788: 300mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/500 second at f/7.1.


      500mm focal length, f/6.7, 1/450 second at ISO 200.


      Crop from the centre of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      Crop from the corner of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      500mm focal length, f/11, 1/170 second at ISO 200.


      Crop from the centre of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      Crop from the corner of the above image, magnified to 100%, showing slight softening due to atmospheric turbulence.


      Close-up at 500mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/320 second at f/6.7.


      Close-up at 500mm focal length, ISO 500, 1/500 second at f/6.7.


      Close-up at 500mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/70 second at f/6.7.


      Close-up at 412mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/70 second at f/6.3.


      Backlit close-up at 500mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/1000 second at f/6.7.


      Stabilisation test; 247mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/20 second at f/5.6.


      Extreme perspective compression at the 500mm focal length setting. The two dinghies that appear to be colliding are in fact several metres apart, with the two smaller dinghies at least 10-12 metres further back and the shoreline more than 100 metres behind them. ISO 320, 1/640 second at f/6.7.


      Sunstars at 150mm focal length; ISO 800, 1/150 second at f/22.


      Sunstars and flare artefacts at 300mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/320 second at f/25.


      Sunstars and flare artefacts at 400mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/200 second at f/29.


      Sunstars and flare artefacts at 500mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/220 second at f/32.


      500mm focal length; ISO 320, 1/500 second at f/6.7.


      500mm focal length; ISO 320, 1/850 second at f/6.7.


      500mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/1000 second at f/7.1.


      150mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/120 second at f/8.


      500mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/240 second at f/8.


      500mm focal length, ISO 500, 1/500 second at f/6.7.


      500mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/950 second at f/6.7.


      500mm focal length; ISO 320, 1/800 second at f/6.7.


      159mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/1700 second at f/5.


      150mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/1200 second at f/5.6.


      500mm focal length; ISO 320, 1/750 second at f/6.7.


      500mm focal length; ISO 500, 1/500 second at f/6.7.

       

      Rating

      RRP: AU$2499; US$1499

      • Build: 9.0
      • Handling: 8.8
      • Image quality: 8.9
      • Autofocusing: 9.0
      • Versatility: 8.8

       

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