I am considering a medium zoom for my Nikon D850. I can get either the Tamron or Sigma 70-200 at reasonable prices. Any views as to which you went/would go for?
I have the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 although not the current G2 version - I think its predecessor.
Very happy with it, although I don’t have anything to compare it to… it seems a little low contrast wide open, but comes up very nicely with a little bit of diffuse or sharpen.
AF seems good, smooth and quick.
I’m only 24MP fullframe though.
If it would be useful I’d be happy to share a few raw files from it.
Edit - I got mine secondhand from a pro sports photographer - apparently just serviced but I quickly discovered the mount was loose. Happily after tightning the little screws around the mount it’s been solid ever since even with some fairly rough handling.
I wanted such after I bought my Z 6, so I got the AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR to use with the adapter. It’s a really good lens for the price.
I previously has the D850 with the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 G2.
I liked this lens quite a bit and there were only two faults:
- its heavy as hell, especially mounted on the D850
- the included plastic tripod foot is not sufficient, the D850’s shutter smack gave me motion blur even at quicker shutter speeds.
A metal after market tripod foot fixed the second issue.
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Hi
was thinking along similar lines but choose the Tamron 35 - 150 f/2.8 - 4.0 VC. Super image quality & reasonably priced especially if you find one used.
I find the 35 end way more useful than 70 and 150 is plenty long enough.
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My standard lens is the 24-120mm and I also have the 200-500mm, what I was really looking for was something to fill the gap between the two, and also have a good maximum aperture.
I’m not a lens changer, willing to take the resolution hit of a super-zoom. Actually, I’d rather have the Z-mount 24-200 for that reason.
Funny, I stopped worrying a good max aperture when I figured out the combined camera IBIS and lens VR gave me the capability to hand-hold the 70-300 down to 1/10sec. I didn’t have a clue about those implications when I bought the camera, but now I wouldn’t have a camera without.
By tripod foot including the ring around the body of the lens? Surprised as on my older one this is very solid - alloy of some kind.
Yes, I guess this is also called a lens collar. The thingy so you can mount a large lens to the tripod instead of the camera body.
The weight of the tamron + D850 would push the limits of my tripod’s ball head, I’m sure.
The few times I used the lens sans tripod, my hand and arm were sore the next day
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I use my Nikkor 200-500mm on a tripod. It isn’t the weight that is the problem, but the balance, hence the collar.
If you are using a long/heavy lens on a regular basis, then you could always get a gimbal head. Neewer do one at a reasonable price.
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In the end, I bought the Tamron. It is apparently not quite as sharp as the Sigma, but it has other advantages. It is both lighter and smaller. I used to have a Sigma telephoto, which was slow to focus, the Tamron does seem better.
Here are a few examples:
EDIT: We are off to the races on Sunday. Should be a good day to try it out.
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@epeeist Colin, are you using RawTherapee or darktable
as your favourite developer?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden
I did use both RT and DT, but over time I have settled on the latter.
As an experiment, in RawTherapee, add the modules
Haze Removal, and Soft light
(without changing their default settings).
Better or not for your Tamron shots?
Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden