Up next in 10
Tamron 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 VC VXD for Nikon Z | Review + Optical Deep Dive
6K views
Sep 18, 2024
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of the Tamron 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 VC VXD lens in a Nikon Z mount. Worth choosing over the Nikkor? | This episode is sponsored by Fantom Tracker. Visit store.fantomwallet.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off. | Read the Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/50-400Zreview | Visit the Image Gallery: https://tinyurl.com/50-400Zpics | Purchase the Tamron 50-400mm VXD at B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3MN8UyN | Adorama https://howl.link/59v5a4566abbd | Amazon https://amzn.to/47nwlrT | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4odyp | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/4gmAMqZ | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/4ehY9Rj | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/4emXHk3 Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.me/cjU0LKdp3LN Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Cloting: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
I am Dustin Abbott and I'm here today to give you my review of the Nikon Z mount version
0:15
of Tamron's 50-400mm 4.5-6.3 DI3, meaning it's for mirrorless VC, meaning it has their
0:25
vibration compensation or in-lens optical stabilization and it's a VXD, which is their
0:32
high-end focus motor system. Now, this lens was interesting to me when I reviewed it on Sony because it takes the
0:38
typical 100-400mm formula and it expands it by 50mm from 50-400mm and that addition on
0:46
the wide end really ups the versatility for a lens like this
0:52
All of a sudden you have an 8x zoom ratio and you can go, for example, from as tight
0:57
as this shot and then pan out as wide as this, making it an extremely versatile lens for
1:03
a variety of situations. Now of course, here on Nikon, there's only one real primary competitor and that is Nikon's
1:11
own Nikkor 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S line lens. That lens retails for $2,500 on sale right now, whereas the Tamron has an MSRP of $1,299
1:27
So it is basically half the price of the Nikkor lens and that makes it obviously a very, very
1:33
interesting and appealing value here. So how does a very good lens handle the transition to Z-mount
1:39
That's what we're here to explore right after a word from our sponsor, Phantom Tracker
1:43
Today's episode is sponsored by the Phantom Tracker. Are you someone prone to misplacing your wallet or bag
1:49
If so, the Phantom Tracker card is definitely for you. This credit card-sized tracker fits perfectly in any wallet or bag and functions like an
1:56
Apple AirTag. It can be locally tracked via a 95 decibel beeping noise that can be heard up to 300
2:03
feet away, but also on a global level via Apple's Find My network and its map
2:08
Unlike many other trackers, the Phantom Tracker card has a built-in rechargeable battery that
2:12
can be easily charged via any wireless charger and a single charge will last up to six months
2:18
The low price of the Phantom Tracker makes it a perfect gift and you can save even more
2:23
by visiting store.phantomwallet.com and using code Dustin20 at checkout. That's store.phantomwallet.com and use code Dustin20 for 20% off
2:34
So let's start by taking a look at the various features and the build quality here
2:38
This is a lens that is slightly bigger as has been all of the transitions to Nikon Z-mount
2:44
It's very, very slightly larger and that is to accommodate what is a significantly larger
2:48
diameter mount and different flange distance here on Z-mount as compared to Sony E-mount
2:54
It is still an extremely compact lens for this class of lens
2:58
It is 88.5 millimeters in diameter or 3.48 inches and it is 185.8 millimeters, so still
3:06
well under 200 millimeters, which is significant. That's 7.3 inches. The overall weight is a moderate 1180 grams or 41.6 ounces
3:18
So that means that compared to E-mount, it is 2.8 millimeters longer, same diameter
3:23
but a little bit longer and it is 25 grams heavier. But to put that in perspective, a Nikkor 100-400 S lens is 34 millimeters longer and it weighs
3:33
245 grams more. So significantly larger, significantly heavier. It's also larger in diameter than this lens
3:41
So the Tamron lens comes across as being still really compact compared to the competition
3:47
Also intriguing here is that it retains a 67 millimeter front filter thread, which allows
3:51
you to share filters across a wide variety of Tamron's mirrorless lenses and of course
3:56
a whole lot of other lenses as well. This is a lens that actually has a fair amount of features
4:03
I wouldn't say it's quite as feature-rich as the Nikkor, but really not dissimilar
4:07
We do have a function button on the side that can be programmed either from in-camera function
4:12
or from the lens utility software. More on that in just a moment. We have an AF-MF switch here
4:17
We have a three-position custom switch. And by using the weather-sealed USB-C port on the side, you can actually access Tamron's
4:26
lens utility software on either a computer or via an Android-based app
4:31
So you connect the cable and you can change a variety of functions, customize them
4:36
And as you can see here, there's a pretty long list of different values that can be assigned including a focus limiter
4:42
You can set it up to where the focus ring in a certain position can behave as an aperture
4:47
ring instead. You can preset an A and B focus point, et cetera, et cetera
4:53
The list goes on. And so you have a lot of functionality when it comes to the custom switches there
4:58
And then also when you get to the focus ring behavior, not only can it be both a focus
5:02
or an aperture ring, but you can also control for focus whether it's going to be linear
5:07
how long you want the focus throw to be. It adds a whole lot of versatility into it through that
5:13
That lens utility software is free and it's quite easy to use
5:17
So we also have obviously the zoom ring. This is not an internally zooming lens
5:22
It is externally zooming. It will grow about 75 millimeters when zoomed out to 400 millimeters
5:28
Zoom action is very smooth. The inner barrel is very stable. There's no wobble to it
5:34
This is a nicely executed package. In fact, it also has a thorough weather sealing, nine different seal points, flooring coating
5:41
on the front element, gasket at the rear. And so it helps it to be more professional grade, really a true competitor in many ways
5:47
to the Nikkor lens. Now one thing that we are missing in the actual package right out of the box is the actual
5:53
tripod collar. Now it is designed, if you want to use a tripod collar, it is available
5:59
It's about $125 to $130 additional dollars, though I will note that there are third party
6:04
alternatives you can buy instead that are considerably cheaper. But if you're wanting to use a tripod collar, obviously that's going to be a separate purchase
6:12
In many ways you can get away without it because the lens weight still stays fairly moderate
6:18
Maybe a bigger issue for some potential buyers is that it is not compatible with teleconverters
6:24
That really comes back to originally being designed on Sony, where Sony has a limitation
6:28
that no third party lenses can use teleconverters. So as a byproduct, this lens is really just not even physically designed with the idea
6:35
of using teleconverters at 70 millimeters, or excuse me, 50 millimeters, I should say
6:42
The final rear element is way too close for a teleconverter to fit
6:46
And so that is a limitation. That's one reason to consider Nikkor if you really want to expand focal range via teleconverters
6:53
Now one killer feature here is the ability to get as close as 25 centimeters at 50 millimeters
6:59
and you get an incredibly high 1 to 2 times magnification level
7:03
That is what many lenses that label themselves macro lenses can only achieve, a similar level
7:10
of magnification. At 400 millimeters you have a lower 0.25 times or a 1 to 4 magnification
7:18
Still very useful and obviously scales in between there. But obviously that close focus capabilities is just one other area that adds to the incredible
7:26
versatility of this lens. It does have Tamron's vibration compensation. And on Sony, I wasn't blown away by the stability
7:34
I don't think that Tamron's VC in these mirrorless lenses has been top notch, but it is helped
7:40
out mightily by the fact that I find that Nikon's VR, their in-camera stabilization
7:47
actually works better than what Sony's does, particularly at telephoto focal lengths
7:51
And so as a byproduct, I actually found I had no issue here. It was pretty stable overall and I was able to get solid results
7:59
And no, you can't really differentiate between what the camera's doing and what the lens
8:03
is doing. It's either all on or all off. You can't separate it out one for the other
8:08
Overall, however, we have got a nice package. We've got a very decent lens hood included here
8:14
It's a very nice lens that is, it feels very quality to me
8:18
This does not feel like a cheap lens and I suspect you'll be very happy with the overall
8:21
build and performance there. So let's talk autofocus. Tamron has given the 50-400mm their VXD, which is their top-end autofocus system
8:31
That stands for voice coil extreme torque drive, essentially a high-speed linear focus motor
8:37
And a reminder here, you can also set a focus limiter to help with focus speed
8:42
I didn't really find that I needed it for the various applications that I used
8:47
I would say if anything, I like autofocus performance a little bit better here than
8:51
what I did on Sony in many ways. And the primary reason for that is that there isn't any kind of artificial limitation on
8:59
Nikon's body with third-party lenses as opposed to Sony. So here with my Z8, I could shoot a full 30 frames per second
9:06
And as you can see through some of these birding sequences, I had zero issues in terms of tracking
9:13
I felt like I had good tracking performance, good tracking speed, and then very good consistency
9:18
Not a hundred percent, a few misses here and there, but I would say for most people in
9:23
most situations, very, very adequate tracking capabilities, even at high-speed burst rates
9:29
And that was true not just with the gulls, but also with some smaller seabirds that I
9:33
took photos and sequences of there as well. Focus speed is very fast, particularly if you're shooting at wider focal lengths
9:40
You can see here from the focus test that it's pretty much instantaneous, just absolutely
9:45
quick transitions one to the other, back and forth. A little tiny bit of slowdown when shooting at 400 millimeters, but it's mostly just that
9:55
kind of split-second pause while inertia builds, but then the actual major focus changes happen quickly
10:00
The truth of the matter is that most of the time, you're not shooting in the way that I was shooting here, where you're really making a big jump from a close to a distance focus subject
10:09
So under normal conditions, I never really noticed any kind of focus speed lag at all
10:13
Focus is very quiet. When I was doing my test, I basically could only hear the sound of my fingertip lifting
10:18
on and off the shutter. I could not hear any kind of actual focus noise at all
10:24
Overall accuracy was good in general purpose shooting, obviously with birds, and then also
10:29
with some shots of the animals, I got very, very good eye detect, and so no problems there
10:35
On the video front as well, overall results were good. I found that focus transitions were quick, but you can see that there is a little bit
10:43
sometimes of a stepping micro pulse in there. I don't know that I saw that on Sony, but overall focus was good, and I had no problem
10:54
in normal shots, staying stable and getting good video focus results. Focus breathing doesn't seem to be really obvious or bad
11:02
And so overall, I would say that focus, autofocus is good, and I definitely preferred it here
11:08
on Nikon as compared to Sony for the reasons that I've detailed
11:13
So how about image quality? Image quality in many ways is an easy subject to broach here because I've already tested
11:18
at a higher resolution point on Sony than what is possible on Nikon, limit here being
11:23
45 megapixels, which is what we are testing on. This is an optical design of 24 elements in 18 groups
11:29
At least seven of those are exotic elements of various kinds. As you can see from this chart here, MDF chart is really impressively good, particularly
11:37
since this is expanded the zoom ratio. The fact that we have got such good looking MDF in an eight times zoom ratio is a very
11:47
very impressive performance by Tamron. And in fact, as compared to earlier 100 to 400 millimeter lenses from Tamron, image quality
11:55
is actually improved here rather than diminished. So that is great. As far as some of the other aspects of pin cushion distortion is present throughout the
12:05
zoom range on the wide end, it's a little less pronounced. It is minus nine
12:09
It peaks somewhere in the middle of the range and then by the telephoto end, it is a minus
12:15
nine to correct for it. And I say peak, it hits a minus 10 at some point
12:19
So around 200 millimeters, there's a little bit more, but it's like a percentage
12:24
It's very, very tiny. So no major issues there. As has been the case with basically all third party lenses that I've tested on both Sony
12:31
and Nikon, there is more vignette present on Nikon. Probably has to do with that, the bigger mount diameter, different flange distance
12:39
And so as a byproduct, for example, on the wide end, I needed a plus 64 to correct for vignette
12:45
Whereas on Sony, I only needed a plus 38. The difference was even more pronounced on the telephoto end and on Sony, I had almost
12:53
no vignette. I was a plus 27. On Nikon, it's more significant
12:58
It's a plus 73. So more like a two stop difference. And so that was the most maybe extreme example that I've seen to this point
13:05
At the same time, neither is it so bad that it's not within the easy range of correction
13:10
So I don't think it's much of an issue in real world shooting. I did find that there is basically next to no fringing of either variety
13:17
I didn't see longitudinal chromatic aberration in real world shots, and I didn't see lateral
13:23
chromatic aberrations near the edge of the frame really either. So overall a good performance there
13:29
As noted, we are testing at 45 megapixels here. And if you want a deeper dive into the optics, that will come at the end of the video
13:35
I'll just give you a quick overview here. And so at 45 megapixels, what I find above all, even at a 200% magnification, is how
13:43
consistently good performance is across the frame and also how consistently good it is
13:48
throughout the whole zoom range. This is a lens that is very, very consistent in its optical performance
13:54
So while the corners aren't quite as good as the center of the frame, there's not a
13:58
huge difference. I find that in the center of the frame I saw a little bit of a boost at f5.6, stopping
14:04
down a bit and by f8 the corners are looking just razor sharp
14:10
So at 50 millimeters, kind of a landscape aperture, you're able to get great looking results
14:15
One thing that I do want to highlight is this lens is a little bit slower when it comes
14:19
to the aperture compared to the Nikkor lens. Obviously at 100 millimeters where the Nikkor lens starts, it's still at f4.5
14:27
This lens is f5.3 by that point. So it's slower, close to two thirds stop slower
14:34
And at 200 millimeters, it's actually the most dramatic in that it is at the smallest
14:39
aperture of f6.3 while the Nikkor lens I believe is still at f5 at that point
14:45
And so, you know, two thirds, good solid two thirds and a little bit more stops in between there
14:51
So just one thing that you might want to note that the Nikon lens is the brighter of the two
14:56
In terms of the optics at 100 millimeters, it is very good at f5.3, surprising a little
15:01
bit better at f5.6, that mild bit of stop down. And then from at 200 millimeters, 300 millimeters and 400 millimeters, I'm just surprised really
15:09
at how consistently the results are. They look largely the same to me, even at 200 percent magnification, which tells me
15:16
that in real world shooting, you're probably really not going to see a difference
15:20
So it really holds on to a consistently good sharpness throughout the range
15:25
Light quality is actually still very surprisingly good for being such a sharp lens
15:29
That was something that was impressive to me. I saw a really good end result there
15:33
Obviously, with this high magnification and the ability to get really close, you can completely
15:38
obliterate backgrounds. But even at the less favorable ratios of distance from the camera to the subject to the background
15:46
it does get a little bit busier, but at no point does it look ugly. And so good results there
15:51
Flare resistance is fine. It's pretty rare with these lenses that you're going to have typical flare type scenarios
15:58
but they can be present. In this case, I feel like Tamron's B-bar Mark II coatings are doing a good job
16:04
So in conclusion, this lens really has stood out to me for its versatility
16:10
It has that extra 50 millimeters on the wide end, which allows you just to include so many
16:15
different types of photography as a part of it. Plus, you have the ability to shoot those close focus, near macro, one to two level
16:23
macro shots. And that also opens up a lot of additional versatility
16:27
So there's just a lot of things that you can do. And the advantage of this, unlike some telephoto lenses, is that you're probably not going
16:34
to run into a situation where you're stuck, where you don't get a shot because the subject
16:39
is too close. In this case, you're going to be able to handle that. So I love the versatility
16:44
I feel like on a performance level, just looking at reviews and MTF charts, I haven't actually
16:50
tested the Nikkor 100-400. It seems, however, like the Tamron is pretty much matching the optical performance at half
16:57
the price, giving you extra 50 millimeters. So obviously it's got a lot going on for it
17:04
The biggest reasons I would say to choose the Nikkor lens are twofold. If you want a little bit brighter lens, you're going to work in dimmer situations and you
17:10
want as much light gathering as possible. The Nikkor is the brighter of the two lenses
17:15
Secondly, if you want to be able to use teleconverters, that's only going to happen on the Nikkor
17:19
side of things. It does not happen with this Tamron. Outside of those two aspects, however, if those aren't priorities to you, I would say
17:26
choose the Tamron. It's a fantastic lens. If you want more information, you can check out my full text review that's linked in the
17:33
description down below. There's also linkage there to an image gallery and some buying links
17:38
Beyond that, if you want a deeper look at the optical performance, stay tuned right now
17:42
Okay, we'll start by taking a look at vignette and distortion here on the wide end
17:46
You can see that little bit of pincushion distortion that's there. You can also see that even with the manual correction because it's linear, not hard to
17:52
correct for. Vignette, however, you can see is a little bit stronger in the corners
17:58
The amount of distortion was a minus six to correct and the amount of vignette is a plus 64
18:03
So definitely as noted, heavier than what I saw on Sony. The pincushion distortion is a little bit more pronounced as you go deeper into the
18:11
zoom range. Again, it remains linear. Vignette, as you can see, is creeping in over a pretty good part of the frame here and so
18:19
definitely needs some correction. I used a minus eight to correct for distortion here and then a plus 73 to correct for the vignette
18:27
Now you can see that fringing is really well controlled. Here we've got all of these shiny reflective surfaces, but you can see that there is really
18:35
no real fringing to see sticking out here. So that's a nice performance there
18:40
Likewise, when it comes to lateral style chromatic aberrations, you can see here near the edge
18:44
of the frame, I'm not really seeing any fringing that's being introduced here in these transitions
18:49
from black to white. So how about sharpness and contrast? Again, this is a 45 megapixel Z8 sensor
18:54
I'm going to show you results at 200% magnification. So starting in the center of the frame, you can see really fantastic performance at 50
19:03
millimeters, even at 4.5. You can see we're able to resolve details really well
19:08
A little bit of a moire pattern there, kind of false color showing up, but even the 2024
19:13
you can see nicely there in the mid frame. As we go over there, you can see good sharpness and contrast
19:20
I mean, this looks really, really fantastic. And then if we go down towards the far corner, you can see also that the corner looks really
19:29
really good. I mean, good, just all the way out to the very edge
19:33
Nothing to complain about there. Likewise, if we take a look comparing the bottom left corner, which you can see here
19:41
and then the upper right corner as well, we can see that both of them look very comparable
19:47
and thus we're getting a really nice centering performance here as well
19:51
Now if we stop down a bit to F5.6, you can see that contrast has improved largely in
19:56
the brighter areas looking brighter, so more of a difference between the dark and the light
20:02
Moving down to the corner, the corners look really not all that different, but if you
20:07
stop on down to F8, you can see that the corner performance looks better still
20:12
So it looks really bright, really nice detail there. This is really quite a nice lens for landscape use
20:18
So here at F6.3, you can see right to the very edge of the frame, very good detail
20:23
obviously beautiful colors that are captured here. It's a nice pretty scene, so that helps
20:29
The one here, and you can see that in the foreground, the detail looks really good
20:34
And then also if we look towards the distance, it's doing a very nice job of drawing into
20:39
the distance and off here towards the side, you can see that detail is holding up really
20:44
nice all the way out there. Now because this is a variable aperture zoom, the actual minimum aperture is going to change
20:51
as well from F22 to F32 on the telephoto end. You can see the effect of diffraction here at F22 while F11 continues to look very nice
21:00
and sharp. F22 is somewhat softened by diffraction effect. Now if we move on to 100 millimeters, you can see maximum aperture is F5.3, even stopping
21:10
down a little bit to F5.6. Again you can see just a little bit of improved contrast overall, but as you can see, this
21:16
looks really impressively good and also it continues to be good right into the corners
21:22
Likewise at 200 and then 300 millimeters, here's 300 millimeters here. Again our consistency and the performance is really, really good
21:31
Mid-frame is looking better than ever and right down into the corners, we're continuing
21:36
to have really, really sharp corners. You can see that this holds up even going on to 400 millimeters as well
21:42
So 300 millimeters on the left, 400 on the right. If anything, I think that 400 millimeters actually looks a hair better and even into
21:51
the corners once again, just consistent performance. So I would say that at 400 millimeters, it looked better in the center of the frame
21:57
300 millimeters looked better in the corners, but still overall it's a really great looking
22:02
performance, just nice and strong throughout. And so I'm very impressed with that overall level of performance here for such a big zoom range
22:11
So even when you're shooting towards the end of the zoom range, wide open, you can see
22:16
here this is really, really nice and crisp, even at a hundred percent magnification
22:22
And here even in movement, you can see that we've captured the eye
22:26
Focus is good. Detail is good. Even in very fast movement. Again here a little bit closer and you can see that focus is excellent around the eye
22:36
Detail is very nice and crisp in the feathers there. Now at that minimum focus distance and that very high magnification of 0.50, you can see
22:45
it's not a perfectly flat plane of focus here. And so it's sharp on this eye, but obviously this is a two dimensional object
22:53
So it's not like that other eye is more out of focus. It's just we have a very, very narrow depth of field and the plane of focus is not flat
23:02
Whereas at 400 millimeters, it's obviously not as high of magnification, but if you're
23:07
wanting a flatter plane of focus, it's obviously much flatter here to where you can see right
23:12
off to the edges. It's still looking very good, but all of this adds up to the ability to get really nicely
23:17
blurred out backgrounds, obviously because you can just defocus the background so strongly
23:22
So overall I feel like images look really quite nice and you can see here we've got
23:27
good detail that's there, particularly down in this zone where I think focus actually is
23:33
You can see the background is really strongly defocused. Here is set up at that 0.50 or one to two level of magnification
23:42
And you could see my focus there on the stamen of these little tiny flowers
23:47
Looks just really fantastic. This is just on a hydrangea. And so each one of these blossoms is really small because it's all part of a larger cluster
23:56
And so we're getting a really high level of magnification and really pretty decent detail there
24:01
So in general, there's a whole lot to praise here and not a lot to criticize
24:05
So hopefully that optical breakdown helped you out to get a better understanding of the
24:09
performance of this lens. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in
#Camera & Photo Equipment
#Online Video