In summary
This ultra-telephoto zoom lens will suit owners of Nikon’s Z-mount full-frame (FX) cameras who want single lens with a reach that extends from the ‘standard’ 50mm focal length to a long telephoto range. Most potential buyers will want to photograph sports and wildlife with the camera hand-held. Autofocus is fast, quiet and accurate.
It could also be used on Nikon’s DX cropped sensor cameras, where the 1.5x crop factor would extend the effective focal length to an equivalent of 600mm at maximum zoom extension. The length of the lens, especially when zoomed right in, and overall weight of 1.18 kg could make it unwieldy on smaller camera bodies.
Full review
Scheduled to arrive in stores on 19 September, the latest iteration of Tamron’s 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD (Model A067) ultra-telephoto zoom lens will be available with a Nikon Z mount in addition to the existing Sony E mount version, which we reviewed in August 2022. Going by the model number, the Nikon version is essentially the same as the Sony version we reviewed, although it’s a little longer and heavier because of the different mounts.
Side view of Tamron’s Z-mount 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD lens without its end caps or the supplied lens hood. (Source: Tamron.)
The optical design of this lens is unchanged from the previous model, with 24 elements in 18 groups. Among them are two XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) elements, along with three LD (Low Dispersion) elements and two aspherical elements, one Glass Moulded aspherical and the other Hybrid aspherical. Nine diaphragm blades produce a circular aperture for attractive bokeh and 18-pointed sunstars. Proprietary, second-generation Broad-Band Anti-Reflection (BBAR-G2) coating is applied to suppress internal reflections and fluorine coating on the front element repels moisture and grease, making the lens easy to keep clean.
Autofocusing is driven by a Tamron-designed VXD linear motor focus mechanism, which uses voice-coil motors. It’s fast and quiet and Tamron claims it maintains positional accuracy down to 0.005mm. Given our experience of the E-mount lens, there’s no reason to doubt that.
VC (Vibration Compensation) is largely unchanged and Tamron makes no claims for its degree of shake correction, which is influenced by the user’s shooting technique and conditions. The same standard and panning modes are provided and AI processing allows the camera and lens to set appropriate compensation characteristics for videography at focal lengths of 100mm or less.
Focusing is the same as with the E-mount lens and the maximum and minimum apertures change at the same focal lengths. The lens supports Direct Manual Focus (DMF) in AF mode and is compatible with Sony-specific in-camera functions and lens corrections.
As before, the lens comes with a petal-shaped lens hood and front and rear caps but the Model A035TM tripod mount is an optional accessory that sells for roughly AU$200.
Who’s it For?
This lens will suit owners of Nikon’s Z-mount full-frame (FX) cameras who want single lens with a reach that extends from the ‘standard’ 50mm focal length to a long telephoto range. Most potential buyers will want to photograph sports and wildlife with the camera hand-held.
It could also be used on Nikon’s DX cropped sensor cameras, where the 1.5x crop factor would extend the effective focal length to an equivalent of 600mm at maximum zoom extension. However, the length of the lens, especially when zoomed right in, and overall weight of 1.18 kg could make it unwieldy on the smaller camera bodies.
Aside from those constraints, it will be suitable for the same types of photography as we listed in our review of the E-mount lens.
Build and Ergonomics
Little has changed in the physical qualities of the new lens, which mainly differs from the E-mount lens in its mounting plate. The build quality of both lenses is solid and up to Tamron’s usual high standard.
This illustration compares the two versions Tamron’s 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD lens, with the Z-mount lens at the top and the E-mount lens below it. The main difference between them is the mounting plate. (Source: Tamron.)
The front section of the inner barrel is 17 mm deep, with a filter ring that accepts the same 67 mm filters as a lot of other Tamron lenses, shown in the graphic above. The bayonet mounting for the supplied HA067 lens hood is on the outside of this section of the barrel, which curves outwards then runs flat for about 8 mm before stepping in and then remaining straight for the rest of the inner barrel.
The front element of the lens is roughly 65 mm in diameter and coated with a fluorine compound that repels moisture, dust and grease and helps to keep the lens free from contaminants and fingerprints. The petal-shaped lens hood is 57 mm deep with fine ridging on its inner surface to suppress internal reflections.
The zoom ring is located at the front of the outer barrel. It’s 50 mm wide, with most of its surface clad in rubberised ridging. A 6 mm wide unridged band around the trailing edge carries engraved markings for the 50mm, 70mm,100mm, 135mm, 200mm, 300mm and 400mm focal length settings, which line up against a white line on the fixed section of the lens barrel behind the zoom ring.
The zoom ring turns smoothly through a small arc of 75 degrees between the 50mm and the 400mm positions, extending the inner barrel by almost 75 mm. This being a variable-aperture lens, the maximum aperture closes as focal length is increased with a swap to f/5 at 69mm, then again to f/5.6 at 106mm ending up at f/6.3 from 149mm to 400mm.
Behind the zoom ring is a fixed 29 mm long section of the outer barrel that carries the focus set button, AF/MF mode switch and custom switch controls. Unlike the Sony E-mount lens, there’s no stabilisation switch since this is controlled by the camera.
The focus set button and custom switch are customisable, via the Tamron Lens Utility application and the focus set button can be programmed for one of the following modes:
– A-B focus set, which allows you to select two positions an make the focus shift automatically between them;
– pre-set a focus distance and move the focus to the recorded point with a single button press;
– switch between AF and MF modes;
– restrict the focus range (new to the 50-400mm lens)
– switch focus ring adjustment to aperture adjustment;
– assign one of the functions available from the camera menu to the Focus Set Button;
– clear custom settings.
The lens name is also located to the right of these controls, with the zoom lock switch further around the barrel. We didn’t need to lock the lens as the inner barrel showed no signs of sliding down when the lens was carried pointing downwards.
The focusing ring is located just behind this section of the barrel. It’s 18 mm wide and entirely covered by fine rubber ridges. Since focusing is driven from the camera, this ring turns through 360 degrees when power is not supplied.
Behind the focusing ring is a 12 mm wide flat section of the barrel, which then that dips inwards before flattening out for about18 mm to provide space for attaching the optional tripod foot. A 7 mm wide band behind it carries a white index mark for aligning the tripod collar.
The barrel slopes in for a further 7 mm wide band then flattens out to provide space for a waterproofed USB Type C socket for connecting the lens to a computer. This enables users to customise the lens and upgrade its firmware directly through the Tamron Lens Utility app, which is available as a free download.
The barrel runs straight for approximately 20 mm to a 2 mm wide silver band at the edge of the metal lens mount. A white index mark at the edge of the silver band provides an alignment guide.
Performance
We had similar issues with testing the review lens to those we encountered when testing the E-mount version of the lens; lack of space in our testing area prevents us from measuring results from lenses longer than about 200mm. However, we were able to obtain test results from five focal lengths: 50mm, 70mm, 100mm, 135mm and 200mm.
The best test results were obtained at 50mm with an aperture of f/5.6. As with the E-mount lens, the Z-mount lens delivered similar centre-of-frame resolutions at all focal lengths tested – and also showed similar edge softening. The graph of our Imatest results is shown below.
Diffraction kicked in between f/11 and f/16, although resolution remained relatively high at all focal lengths right up to f/22, which indicates excellent performance for a variable aperture zoom lens. Lateral chromatic aberration was generally within the negligible band, including with uncorrected raw files. In the graph of our test results below, the red line marks the border between ‘negligible’ and ‘low’ CA.
With all internal corrections disabled in the camera we found visible vignetting at the maximum apertures across the entire zoom range. It was greatest at longer focal lengths and lowest as 100mm but also very visible at 50mm, which is to be expected.
Rectilinear distortion was also present across the focal length range but only when the in-camera distortion correction was disabled and in uncorrected raw files, as we’d found in our tests of the E-mount lens. It ranged from barely visible pincushion distortion at 50mm through to obvious pincushioning at 300mm and 400mm.
Autofocusing was as fast and precise as we found with the E-mount lens – with the same proviso as to selecting optimal AF settings. It was also very quiet, a major advantage for bird photographers.
Backlit subjects were mostly handled well and sunstars were usually sharp, with the nine-bladed iris diaphragm producing 18 spikes. We found a few flare artefacts in a couple of strongly backlit shots where the light source was just outside the image frame. There were no significant flare-related issues in shots taken with the light source outside the frame.
As we found with the E-mount lens, bokeh in close-ups at wide aperture settings was influenced by background lighting. We found some hard edges around bright out-of-focus highlights in backlit situations, although not with evenly-lit scenes.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle: 46 degrees 48 minutes to 6 degrees 11 minutes
Minimum aperture: f/22-f/32
Lens construction: 24 elements in 18 groups (including 2 XLD, 3 LD, one GM (Glass Moulded Aspherical) and one Hybrid Aspherical elements plus BBAR-G2 and fluorine coatings)
Lens mounts: Nikon Z
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)
Weather resistance: Moisture-resistant with 9 rubber gaskets
Focus drive: VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor mechanism
Stabilisation: Yes (details not specified); Standard and Panning modes available
Minimum focus: 25 cm at 50mm; 1.5 m at 400mm
Maximum magnification: 1:2 at 50mm; 1:4 at 400mm
Filter size: 67 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 88.5 x 185.8 mm
Weight: 1,180 grams
Standard Accessories: Front and rear caps, petal-shaped lens hood
Distributor: Blonde Robot
TESTS
Based upon JPEG files taken with the Nikon Z6 II camera.
Based on NEF.RAW files recorded simultaneously and converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at 50mm f/4.5.
Vignetting at 70mm f/5.
Vignetting at 100mm f/5.6.
Vignetting at 135mm f/5.6.
Vignetting at 200mm f/6.3.
Vignetting at 300mm f/6.3.
Vignetting at 400mm f/6.3.
Rectilinear distortion at 50mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 70mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 100mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 135mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 200mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 300mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 400mm.
50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/80 second at f/14.
400mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/100 second at f/7.1.
50mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/80 second at f/16.
The same scene photographed with the 400mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/400 second at f/16. Note the perspective compression.
Close-up at 50mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/800 second at f/4.5.
Close-up at 100mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/5.3.
Close-up at 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/6.3.
Close-up at 400mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
Choppy bokeh at maximum aperture, 345mm focal length, ISO 560, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
Smooth bokeh at 400mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/500 second at f/6.3.
400mm focal length, ISO 1100, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
400mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/500 second at f/6.3.
Action shot; 400mm focal length, ISO 450, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
259mm focal length, ISO160, 1/400 second at f/8.
200mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/320 second at f/7.1.
135mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/320 second at f/7.1.
235mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/250 second at f/6.3.
400mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/400 second at f/8.
400mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/400 second at f/7.1.
314mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/400 second at f/8.
400mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/320 second at f/8.
400mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/6.3.
400mm focal length, ISO 160, 1/400 second at f/7.1.
390mm focal length, ISO 5600, 1/320 second at f/6.3.
371mm focal length, ISO 5600, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
Sunstars at 50mm, ISO 200, 1/60 second at f/22.
Sunstar at 100mm, ISO 200, 1/80 second at f/29.
Sunstar at 200mm, ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/32.
Sunstars at 400mm, ISO 200, 1/320 second at f/32.
Flare artefacts with strong backlighting; 200mm focal length, ISO 2000, 1/200 second at f/32.
50mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/80 second at f/6.3.
400mm focal length, ISO 1250, 1/400 second at f/6.3.
Rating
RRP: AU$2499
- Build: 8.9
- Handling: 8.9
- Image quality: 9.0
- Autofocusing: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.5
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