Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS Review

Dustin Abbott

June 18th, 2020

A lot of people will be very excited upon the announcement of this newest Sigma lens – the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS for Sony FE (full frame mirrorless). The 100-400mm zoom range is one of the most popular for those who want some serious reach for birding, wildlife, or sports, but who aren’t interested in the massive trade-offs that come with larger lenses like the Sony FE 200-600mm F5-6.3G OSS (my review here). While the Sony FE 100-400mm G Master lens is an excellent lens (my review here), it is also very expensive and thus out of the range of many photographers. The Sigma 100-400 DN (as we’ll call it for brevity) comes to market at nearly a third of the price (though you’ll have to buy the tripod collar separately if you want one) while providing most of the features and performance of the more expensive lens.

Several years ago (2017) I reviewed the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 OS for Canon DSLR. I gave the lens high marks for its optical performance while being less impressed with the speed of its focus and ability to effectively track action. I also critiqued the fact that it wasn’t designed with a natural place to mount a tripod collar…something that many wildlife or birding photographers consider a must. Fortunately Sigma has learned some lessons along the way, and the 100-400 DN builds on the strengths of the DSLR lens while vastly improving its weaknesses, leaving us with a very competitive lens that has plenty of speed for tracking action like birds in flight.

What’s equally important is that the Sigma has retained the beautiful image quality of the previous lens and is particularly strong at arguably the most important place in the focal range…400mm.

My hope is that this review will help you get a clear picture as to whether or not the Sigma 100-400 DN is the telephoto addition you’ve been looking for. If you prefer to watch your reviews, I’ve got both a standard length and definitive (long format) video review available. Just click the appropriate thumbnail below.

Thanks to Sigma Japan and Sigma Canada for providing me with a pre-production loaner of the lens for evaluation. Their willingness to trust me with an early copy of the lens means that you get a thorough review right out of the box. I’ve been assured that performance is representative of retail copy performance. I’ve reviewed the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS on my Sony a7RIII and Sony a9 bodies.

Sigma 100-400 DN Build and Handling

Part of what makes a 100-400mm lens popular is that they tend to be relatively compact when compared to a 150-600mm or 200-600mm type lens. It’s not usual for these type of lenses to weigh over 2kg, but the 100-400DN compares in at a relatively svelte 1135g (40oz), close to half that. This is without the tripod collar, obviously, which will add another 123g. The direct competitor here is the Sony 100-400 GM lens, and it weighs in at about 1400g. Unlike the Sigma, however, only the tripod foot is removable on the Sony, so there’s definitively more potential to travel light with the 100-400 DN. I didn’t have the Sony GM on hand to compare physically with, but I do own the Canon 100-400L II (a lens that is actually 12mm shorter than the Sony and equal in diameter), and you can get a sense of the physical differences here.

You can see that the Sigma looks more svelte, and that comes from being a bit shorter (197 vs 205mm on the Sony) and is slimmer in diameter (86 vs 94mm). The other obvious physical difference is that the Sigma has a black finish while the Canon/Sony options are finished in a shade of white. Some people don’t really care one way or the other, but I have heard that many prefer the black finish so as to draw less attention to their gear.

The 100-400 DN is a very nicely made lens, using a mixture of premium materials, including a brass lens mount, magnesium alloy in the first section of the lens, and then engineered plastics over a metal frame. My impression was that while the lens isn’t quite as well made as the GM, it is definitely a cut above the more plasticky feel of the Sigma or Tamron 100-400mm lenses for DSLRs. It’s a good looking lens that feels very sturdy and well made.

As noted already, the lens does not ship with a tripod collar (many people do not use one on a lens like this). It comes with a rubber sleeve that covers the screws where the tripod collar attaches. It has 100-400 stamped on there and makes for a cleaner finish when no tripod collar is attached.

The optional tripod collar is the TS-11, which was actually already on the market for the Sigma 105mm F1.4 ART as a replacement part (the 105mm ships with the collar included). The upside here is that if you happen to own the 105mm you can actually share the collar between the two lenses. The tripod foot is nicely made, and, unlike the Sony tripod foot, it is ARCA compatible (meaning you can attach it right onto most tripods without the need for a quick release plate. You can freely rotate and lock it in any position.

Using the tripod collar and foot makes a significant difference when using the lens on a tripod. While the lens is on the lighter side of its class, it is still too heavy to easy balance on a tripod.

The 100-400 DN does come with a full set of features. There are four switches and buttons on the side, including an AF/MF switch, a 3 position focus limiter (FULL | 6M to Infinity | Minimum to 5M), a Focus Hold button that can be programmed with a variety of functions, and a three position switch for the OS (Mode 1 [Standard] | Mode 2 [Panning] | OFF). The only difference from the GM lens is that the Sony has the focus hold button in three cardinal positions so that one falls easily to hand in different orientations.

Another difference is that the Sigma has a typical zoom lock switch which locks only at the 100mm position, while the Sony utilizes the tension ring like the Canon 100-400LII lens that can be used to lock the lens at any position.

Another minor difference is with the lens hood. The GM lens features a little window in the hood to allow one to rotate a circular polarizer without reaching down into the hood. The Sigma lacks this features, though it does have a relatively small 67mm front filter thread and a nice flare in the lens hood at that point which allows one to reach in to rotate a C-PL fairly easily. The lens hood also has a textured portion near the front for one to grasp as the 100-400 DN is designed to function as either a typical “twist” zoom or a “push-pull” design where one simply grasps the front of the lens hood and pushes or pulls the lens to the desired focal length. This is good news, as it will satisfy both crowds.

We have got a surprisingly thick rubber gasket at the lens mount; definitely more robust than the typical Sony offering. Sigma’s language does not specify other seal points in the lens itself, so that is likely another area where the GM lens is a little more robust.

There’s another interesting observation at the rear of the lens, and that is that there is definitely room for a teleconverter to be mounted.

In fact, Sigma is in the process of releasing both a 1.4x (TC-1411) and 2.0x (TC-2011) teleconverter…but there’s a catch. These are only being released for Leica L-mount at the moment, so there is no mention of a Sony counterpart. While I don’t have a Sony 1.4x TC on hand, one of my contacts in the industry has promised to test this combination and I will update the review if it does in fact work. At the least, I do think there is room for Sigma to release TCs for Sony, and I’m almost certain the lens will be compatible with TCs when they arrive.

The 100-400 DN sports a useful magnification figure at 400mm of 1:4.1 (0.24x), though this falls well short of the GM’s impressive 0.35x magnification. Minimum focus distance is 1.6m (5.25ft). Here’s what that looks like:

So, while this lens isn’t as effective as a “long range macro” as the GM lens, there’s an argument to be made in favor of the Sigma – it actually has better image quality at 400mm, which means that close-up performance is really quite good. One could add an extension tube (and, potentially, a teleconverter) in the future to allow for closer focus and higher magnification. One thing is clear: at minimum focus distance your backgrounds will completely blur out beautifully. Here’s some examples:

One area that Sigma has frequently been at the rear of the pack is when it comes to maximum aperture in their variable aperture zooms. The lenses don’t hold the larger maximum apertures in the zoom range very long…and that remains true here. I complained about the Sony GM lens in my review, “the Sony is already reaches its smallest maximum aperture of F5.6 very quickly. The Sony goes from F4.5 to F5 by 115mm, and reaches the smallest maximum aperture of F5.6 by a paltry 162mm. The Canon, by contrast, doesn’t hit F5.6 until 312mm!!” The 100-400 DN is worse still, as, while it starts at F5 at 100mm, it reaches F5.6 by 113mm! It fortunately holds F5.6 much longer and doesn’t hit the smallest maximum aperture of F6.3 until 235mm. F6.3 is only one-third stop darker than F5.6, but either way lenses like these are a bit less useful in poor lighting conditions as you will really have to crank your ISO. Getting faster maximum apertures at longer focal lengths often means spending a LOT more money and having a MUCH larger, heavier lens. By the way, this follows the pattern established by the 2017 DSLR version of this lens almost exactly.

The lens barrel will extend out a fair bit when zoomed to the telephoto end of the zoom range…which is typical for such a lens. You’ll note from my second photo why having a tripod collar is valuable when putting the lens on a tripod and zooming it out – there’s some sag even on my high end Robus RC-8860 tripod.

The 100-400 DN does come with Sigma’s OS (Optical Stabilizer), so it does not have to rely on Sony’s IBIS to stabilize the image. The OS in the lens is rated at 4 stops of assistance, and it seems to be effective for stabilizing in either stills or video applications. As always, it is worth pointing out that no stabilizing system stops the movement of subjects, so if you are photographing living things, it is always wise to keep your shutter speed up. If you have a very still subject, however, it is possible to get well-stabilized images at lower shutter speeds. Here’s a real world shot at 1/40th second and 400mm (about 3 1/3rds stop of assistance):

Here’s another real world shot at 100mm and 1/10th second shutter speed (I see no signs of motion blur here).

I show you real world results because these are actual instances while shooting in AV mode where the shutter speed dropped lower than what I would prefer and the stabilization saved the image. That’s the true value of a stabilizer for stills.

There is a Mode 2 for panning, and, when tracking action, I work to keep the shutter speed up. The stabilizer did its job by staying out the way on one axis and allowing me to smoothly track the action while providing me some stability at capture…helping me get this brilliant shot.

A closer look shows great detail and frozen action…just what we want with a lens like this.

Finally, Sigma has used their “Contemporary” designation with this lens like the DSLR version before it. I’ve said and will continue to say that the term “Contemporary” is the most useless descriptor out there, as it is essentially meaningless. Every new lens is “contemporary”, and there will come a point after time passes that none of these lenses are “contemporary”. The word can also apply to design, but the design language is basically the exact same as “ART” and even “SPORT”. What Sigma really means is “consumer grade” or “not premium”. but neither of those market very well. In this case, however, the build and design of the lens is pretty much just right. It’s reasonably compact and light while feeling fairly tough, handles nicely, and will present a tremendous value to many photographers on both Sony and Leica that want a reasonably priced, high performing telephoto lens. It is perhaps the nicest made “C” lens that I’ve used from Sigma thus far.

Sigma 100-400mm DN Autofocus Performance

When I reviewed the DSLR version of this lens back in 2017, I drew this conclusion at the end of my examination of the autofocus performance, “Bottom line is that the combination of a relatively slow maximum aperture and an autofocus system that isn’t top shelf (at least in terms of speed) is perhaps the only place where the budget origins of this lens are betrayed and could be a limiting factor for someone who is serious about moving wildlife or sports.” This was the area that I hoped most for improvement on this new lens, as Sigma’s autofocus motors on mirrorless have largely been very good.

Sigma has utilized a stepping motor on this lens for smooth, fast, and quiet operation. The focus motor is extremely quiet and is only audible with your ear pressed against the barrel. It is quiet enough that the on-board mic does not pick up any focus sounds during video focus or when doing focus pulls. Good news there.

The focus motor is also nicely smooth when doing focus pulls.

Focus speed in AF-C mode is nice and fast, with typical focus changes being near instant. One can get even better speed by utilizing the focus limiter where appropriate. I was very pleased to be able to effectively track a robin taking off and in flight against a fairly busy background and even when some foreground objects interfered with the flight path.

When I tested the original Sigma 100-400mm, I was disappointed in its tracking abilities on either my Canon 5D Mark IV or 80D cameras. I tried to follow the path of a dog chasing a ball and running towards the camera and had very low success even though my Canon 100-400L II was able to perform the same task in the same conditions with near perfect results. I was delighted to see much better results when pairing the new 100-400 DN with my Sony a9 camera.

First of all, let’s comment on framerate with the Sigma attached. I got around 15 FPS on my a9, which is about average for my real world results. In theory one can get up to 20 FPS on the a9, but the fastest I’ve actually seen even with a Sony lens attached is 17FPS, so I’m not really seeing a significant real world difference. More important to me is that I got nearly 15FPS in the way I actually want to use my a9 – shooting both uncompressed RAWs and Very Fine JPEGs.

Secondly, I want to offer a few caveats about the real world shooting environment for my tracking tests. The nature of tracking tests is that they aren’t strictly scientific, as there are a lot of uncontrolled variables in real world conditions. In this case, the biggest difference is that I tested the Sony 100-400 GM and 200-600G in winter conditions with the dogs running through snow. The reflection of light from underneath (snow) more evenly illuminates their faces, and the fact that in this case the dogs were running through water and swimming at times means that their fur was wet and darker, resulting in less contrast between their fur and eyes for the tracking system to detect. In my opinion this makes the environment a little more challenging than when I tested the Sony lenses, so I do want to keep that in mind. I want to thank JenGar Goldens for bringing me out with some of their beautiful dogs to track the action.

Despite these factors, however, I was generally pleased with the tracking ability of the 100-400 DN even if I didn’t feel like rate of perfectly focused results wasn’t quite as high. In one burst of around 40 images tracking high speed action heading mostly right towards the camera, I had about 28-30 perfectly focused results, 5-7 acceptably focused results (the line between these two groups can be a little hazy), and five that weren’t well focused. The latter group were typically due to a few “swings” where the focus either backfocused or front focused for one reason or another. The upside is that through my many series (you can see these bursts in the video reviews) the focus would always correct back in the series rather than getting stuck out of focus somewhere. This sequence was fairly representative of what I saw overall.

I suspect the Sony lenses would have had a few more keepers in this scenario despite the conditions, but at the same time there’s no question that the Sigma 100-400 DN is far more competitive this time around. It was capable of getting me many well focused action shots.

If you are doing professional, critical work, you might want to spring for the GM lens, but I think that most photographers will be very pleased with the focus speed and precision of the 100-400 DN and will be very happy with the results they get from it.

There’s also the reality that your performance will depend on the quality of your camera body…and that $1500 difference between the two lenses could go towards a camera upgrade!

Sigma has also shown in times past that they will work to continue to refine autofocus performance via firmware upgrade (which in the case of Sony will come by running updates through the camera body like you would with a Sony lens), so there’s a possibility that we might see even better performance down the road. There’s plenty of focus speed on tap, so I think the ingredients are there for even better results. Overall, however, I’m pleased with the autofocus performance. It supports all the various Sony focus modes, including Eye AF for people and animals. This is great progress!

Sigma 100-400 DN Image Quality

The Sigma 100-400 DN has a moderately complex optical formula with 22 elements in 16 groups. This includes one FLD element (a low dispersion glass) and four SLD (special low dispersion element) to help with aberrations and distortion. But what kind of performance do those fancy elements give us?

A pretty nice one, as it turns out.

The Sigma follows a familiar pattern for vignette and distortion for a telephoto zoom. The distortion is all of the pincushion variety, and both it and the vignette steadily increase (though in moderate amounts) throughout the zoom range. Both the distortion and vignette is strongest at 400mm, as you see below (corrected/uncorrected results at 100mm, 200mm, and 400mm shown).

In all cases the distortion and vignette presents in a linear fashion that isn’t difficult to correct. At the extreme (400mm) the distortion pattern required a -6 value to correct and the vignette was a +51 with the midpoint slid all the way to the left. The Sigma does have full support of Sony’s in camera correction profiles for JPEG and Video, and I suspect a correction profile for RAW files will soon be available in your favorite editing software soon. Nothing ugly or unexpected here, though the Sony GM definitely wins on both these counts.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled, and you can see from my LoCA test that there is little evidence of green and purple fringing and that contrast is good.

This proved true with real world results as well, where I saw little evidence of any kind of fringing in my various shots.

So let’s take a look at the resolution results.

*A note on testing: testing lenses with longer focal lengths is a challenge, as it is best to run them indoors where you can control the lighting, but you need a LOT of room to run them. I plan to make up a second smaller test chart that will help with this for the future. In the meantime, however, my two sets of results from the Sony GM lens and the newer Sigma lens are not in identical lighting conditions. Fortunately this has minimal impact on the actual results and we can still draw some quality conclusions.

First of all, it is worth noting that when compared to the Canon 100-400L II, there’s a pretty significant difference in framing due to the fact that the Canon suffers from focus breathing that causes it to behave like less than its stated focal length at close distances.

The GM doesn’t breathe like that, so I suspect it and the Sigma will frame similarly at equal distances.

At 100mm the Canon and the Sigma are very close, with a mild advantage in the center and midframe going to the Canon and a slightly stronger advantage in the corners.

When compared to the GM, the general observations are about the same. The Sony has a small advantage across most of the frame and is probably the best of the three in the corner.

Stopping the 100-400 DN down to F5.6 makes little difference, and there is only a mild difference at F8. The Sigma is the least sharp at 100mm of the three, but not by a wide margin. It is competitive there.

At 200mm the Canon continues with a mild edge everywhere but midframe, where the Sigma is about equal. The competition with the Sony GM is closer, however, and I would be hard pressed to call a winner between the two lenses across the frame. I’ll let you judge for yourself.

Stopping down to F6.3 and F8 produces some mild improvements in contrast and resolution, so there’s more room for improvement at 200mm when stopping down than what was available at 100mm.

Moving on to 300mm we see an interesting trend starting to emerge. First of all, the Canon continues to be the most consistent lens of the bench (it remains the benchmark in this focal range optically), but the position of the Sigma vs the GM lens starts to reverse. Many of the more inexpensive telephoto lenses start to fade at the long end of their range, but the Sigma is actually optimized to deliver stronger performance towards the latter portion of the range. Even against the Canon (shown on the right), the difference midrame and corners is close, and the Sigma is a bit stronger than the GM.

At 400mm something amazing happens. The Sigma shows a very strong performance here that rivals and even bests the more expensive options. Let’s start with the Sony. There’s a slight advantage for Sigma in the middle of the frame, a strong advantage mid-frame, and a win for Sony in the corners.

Compared to the Canon the Sigma has the advantage in the center of the frame while the Canon has a slight win in the mid-frame and edge.

This is a strong performance from the Sigma when you consider that it costs less than half as much as these two rivals. In real world use, the differences between the GM and the Sigma are going to be minimal, with some give and take across the zoom range. The 100-400 DN will give you a lot of images that you will love.

When coming out of the woods from a hike, I heard some mouthy crows losing their minds at each other. I could barely make them out up in the tree, but I was pretty impressed by how crisp my result was when I took the photo. This is 400mm F6.3:

Here’s another taken at 300mm, F6.3:

I don’t think image quality should be a limiting principle for any potential buyer. If you want better image quality at 400mm, you probably need to invest in a very expensive prime lens.

I’ve also been fairly impressed with the bokeh quality. None of these zooms can compete with the best prime lenses for the quality of their blur, but I’ve yet to see an image where the bokeh looked distasteful to me. Here’s a sampling of different focus distances.

Obviously I prefer the images with greater compression, as the creamy backgrounds look great. But even in this image where the background is only mildly defocused, I still think the nature of the blur isn’t bad.

How about flare resistance? As I’ve often noted, it is typically less of an issue with a lens like this, as the angle of view is so narrow (particularly on the long end), that you rarely point it at the sun. Still, however, the results aren’t bad here. There are six tests shown below. The first series (of four) is of the lens at 100mm where the sun is most likely to be in the frame. We’ve the sun centered in the frame wide open, then in the upper right corner, then with those results repeated at F11. There’s a mild flare pattern that doesn’t worsen when the lens is stopped down. Pretty good.

The final two images show the lens at 400mm with the lens wide open and then stopped down to F11. There’s a little most veiling and loss of contrast here, though this will probably rarely be a real-world factor.

As I noted previously, the strength of the Sigma 100-400mm has always been its optical performance relative to its price, and I feel like Sigma has improved the performance at the long end of the zoom range and managed to make a truly competitive lens that gets better as you zoom it out. If you’d like to see more photo samples, I would recommend that you visit the image gallery here.

Conclusion

The 100-400mm focal range is popular for a reason. By designing a variable aperture lens, lens makers are able to fit a fairly high performing long telephoto lens into a body roughly the size of a typical 70-200mm F2.8 zoom. The end result is a marvelously flexible tool, with the ability to serve as everything from a long distance landscape option…

…to a long range “macro” option…

…to, of course, an excellent tool for capturing wildlife and sports in reasonable lighting.

Useful indeed, though often the price tag (typically north of $2000 USD) makes such a purchase an intimidating one for many photographers. And that’s what makes a lens like the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS Contemporary lens so important to a camera system. It makes that versatility and performance accessible to the average photographer that doesn’t have deep pockets or who does photography for pleasure rather than profit. Sigma has managed to take what was good about the original 100-400 Contemporary and improve on nearly all its weaknesses, and the end result is a well-rounded third party alternative to the much more expensive G Master lens. I’ve heard many of you complain about the lack of a lens like the 100-400 DN on Sony. You can now leap for joy like this golden, because the lens you’ve been looking for is here!

Pros:

Nice build quality including some weather sealing and premium materials
Slimmer and lighter than competing lenses
Designed with a tripod collar in mind this time!
Autofocus system is quiet, fast, and accurate
Good tracking results for birding or fast action
Excellent image quality…particularly at the very important 400mm position
Nicer bokeh than many variable aperture zooms
Excellent chromatic aberration control
Effective image stabilizer
Good magnification and close focus results.
Fantastic price

Cons:

Tripod collar a separate purchase
Variable aperture zoom reaches smaller apertures very quickly
No TC options available on Sony at present (only on Leica)

Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

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Sony a9 Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay
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Peak Design Slide Lite: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
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BenQ SW271 4K Photo Editing Monitor – B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK
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Keywords: Sony, Sigma, withmytamron, Sigma 100-400 DN, Sigma 100-400mm, Sigma 100-400, F5-6.3, OS DG, DN, Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS, Sigma 100-400 Review, Sigma 100-400mm Review, Sigma 100-400 DN Review, Review, Dustin Abbott, Autofocus, Sample Images, Video, Video Test, review, Video review, Real World, Tracking, Burst Rate, Sony a7RIII, Sony a7RIV, Portrait, Sharpness, Resolution, Bokeh, 100-400 GM, Canon 100-400L II

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Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

June 18th, 2020

A lot of people will be very excited upon the announcement of this newest Sigma lens – the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS for Sony FE (full frame mirrorless). While the Sony FE 100-400mm G Master lens is an excellent lens (my review here), it is also very expensive and thus out of the range of many photographers. The Sigma comes to market at nearly a third of the price (though you’ll have to buy the tripod collar separately if you want one) while providing most of the features and performance of the more expensive lens. My review will help determine whether or not the Sigma is enough for your needs…and mabe I’ll be reviewing the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS on my Sony a7RIII and Sony a9 bodies, and you can see photos from both cameras below. Stay tuned for my ongoing coverage.

Images of the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS

Images taken with the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS

Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the TS-11 Tripod Collar @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

Sony a9 Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay
Sony a7RIV Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay
Sony a7R III Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK | Ebay
Peak Design Slide Lite: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
BenQ SW271 4K Photo Editing Monitor – B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X5 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchase your gear at:

B&H Photo | Amazon | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Visit my Amazon page for some of my gear of choice! Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Use Code “DUSTINHDR” to get $10 off ($15 CDN) any Skylum product: Luminar, Aurora, or AirMagic

Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DN OS @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/2MX1XfA | Amazon https://amzn.to/3fmmjej | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/30Fs5nl | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2XXSuuS | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/2Yxejk2 | Ebay https://bit.ly/100_400DN

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Keywords: Sony, Sigma, withmytamron, Sigma 100-400 DN, Sigma 100-400mm, Sigma 100-400, F5-6.3, OS DG, DN, Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS, Sigma 100-400 Review, Sigma 100-400mm Review, Sigma 100-400 DN Review, Review, Dustin Abbott, Autofocus, Sample Images, Video, Video Test, review, Video review, Real World, Tracking, Burst Rate, Sony a7RIII, Sony a7RIV, Portrait, Sharpness, Resolution, Bokeh, 100-400 GM, Canon 100-400L II

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Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC USD Review

Dustin Abbott

December 4th, 2017

Several years back Tamron started a new revolution of affordable supertelephoto zoom lenses with the SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 VC USD. The lens was an instant success and spawned a whole new class of such lenses. About this time last year Tamron launched a second generation of that lens (G2), and it showcased their new build quality and advances in autofocus and image stabilization (Tamron’s VC, or Vibration Compensation). Despite the excellence of those lenses, however, there are a large number of photographers for whom they are simply too large and heavy. They want telephoto reach, but want it in a lighter, more compact package…and don’t want to break the bank to afford it. If this happens to be you, then your prayers may just have been answered in the form of Tamron’s newest lens – the 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD (A035). Is the 100-400 VC the lens you’ve been looking for?

Prefer to watch your reviews? Check out my video review here:

Earlier this year I reviewed a similar new lens from Sigma, though that lens has a smaller maximum aperture at 100mm of f/5 rather than f/4.5. I was surprised by how comparable the image quality was to the lens I benchmarked it against – the exceptional Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II. That lens costs some 2 ½ times as much, but you wouldn’t have known it from the optical performance alone. Where the Sigma lagged was in autofocus performance where its focus motor simply couldn’t keep up with the kind of fast action that many people will want to track with this kind of lens. When I heard that Tamron was about to release a similar lens at the same price point, I was excited…mostly for the simple reason that Tamron has demonstrated the ability to wring a lot more speed and accuracy out of its most recent USD ring-type focus motors. The key is dual MPU processors, which enable the lenses equipped with them to offer focus speed and accuracy that, in my tests, can rival that of the best first party lenses.

I was excited to get my hands on a copy of the lens, and I immediately began to benchmark it against that same excellent Canon lens. The Canon’s advantage is a little more light gathering potential (it has a slight aperture advantage across most of the zoom range) and a more professional grade build, but that comes at the cost of an extra half kilo (1 pound) of weight.

Tamron 100-400 VC Build Quality

The 100-400 VC’s barrel is primarily magnesium, and the build quality feels very good, but it manages to come in as the lightest lens in the class at 40oz/1.11 kilos (about half the weight of the 150-600 G2 lens). The lens itself is fairly compact at 7.8”/199mm (the 150-600 G2 is 260mm). It’s actually a few millimeters longer than the Canon, but has a slimmer profile (about 8mm less in diameter) which results in a very common 67mm front filter thread.

Tamron’s current design language is decades more modern looking than their older lenses from 3 years ago and older, with a sleek “slightly-shinier-than-matte” finish and an understated platinum looking accent ring near the lens mount.

There is a focus distance window with markings in both feet and meters, and also a zoom lock (only locks in the 100mm position). The lens barrel does extend during zooming, but the damping/weight of the zoom action in my review copy was pretty much perfect. For those who care about such things, the lens zooms in the “Nikon” not “Canon” direction. The manual focus ring is nice and wide and moves easily, though without a lot of feel to it. You won’t mistake it for a Zeiss MF ring, but it gets the job down. The MF ring is closest to the camera, with the zoom ring further towards the end of the lens.

One area that I complained about the Sigma 100-400 Contemporary lens was that it didn’t come with a tripod collar. For many shooters this a key piece of equipment. The Tamron 100-400 VC doesn’t come with a tripod collar either, but at least it is designed to work with one, though the A035TM tripod mount is an additional cost accessory. This is clearly an area where Tamron has elected to keep the cost of the lens down. Some shooters that don’t use a tripod collar will undoubtedly appreciate not having to pay for something they won’t use.

The 100-400 VC employs two switches on the barrel, both with a high-quality feel and three rather than two switch positions. The AF/MF switch has a focus limiter in between these two positions. You will be able to tweak the focus limiter distance in the Tap In Console (an additional accessory, though you may find it a throw-in with some retailers). The second switch is for the VC (Vibration Compensation), and has two different VC modes along with the OFF position available. You will also be able to make minor customizations with the VC behavior in the Tap In.

The 100-400 VC sports a moisture resistant body, complete with a rear gasket at the lens mount, internal seals, and a fluorine coating on the front element. All in all, this is a very nicely built lens that strikes a nice compromise between build quality and weight savings. The build quality and functionality belies the relatively affordable price.

Tamron 100-400 VC Image Quality

The 100-400 VC has an optical formula of 17 elements in 11 groups, and, while I was surprised at how well the Sigma did in my earlier comparison, my expectations had grown as a result. I had high expectations for this lens. Fortunately the Tamron delivers, and in my head to head tests the image quality produced by it is just as good as that of the much more expensive Canon. The A035 delivers a very strong maximum magnification figure of nearly 0.28x, which is very handy for shooting macro-ish shots with an amazing working distance of right under 1.5 meters.

Lens	f/4.5	f/5	f/5.6	f/6.3
Tamron 100-400 VC	100-137mm	138-184mm	185-280mm	281-400mm
Sigma 100-400 C	N/A	100-113mm	114-233mm	234-400mm
Canon 100-400L II	100-134mm	135-311mm	312-400mm	N/A

Resolution

The perfect benchmark for the Tamron lens would be the Sigma 100-400mm Contemporary lens, but I didn’t have it on hand. What I did have, however, was the same lens that I benchmarked the Sigma against – my copy of the Canon 100-400L II. It’s an excellent lens, though in a completely different price bracket. Can the Tamron 100-400 VC punch above its weight like the Sigma did? The short answer is, “yes!” Check out this video segment where I break it all down in detail.

At 100mm the image quality is near identical from the lenses. They look pretty much the same across the frame. The Tamron has a very slight edge wide open on the extreme edges of the frame, but the results are more similar than different. All comparison crops below are Left, Center, Right:

When stopped down to smaller apertures like the f/8 the Canon shows a slight higher uptick in resolution, though both remain very similar.

At 200mm the Canon has a slight advantage in aperture value (f/5 vs f/5.6), though with both lenses wide open they are both extremely sharp across the frame. Stopping the Canon down to f/5.6 gives it a slight boost in center contrast compared to the Tamron, though the results remain close and the contrast results out at the edge are the same.

At 300mm the Canon has its biggest advantage in terms of aperture, as it is still at f/5 while the Tamron reaches its smallest aperture value of f/6.3 around 280mm. The Canon shows a slight bit more contrast in the center, though the lenses are equal in resolution. The Tamron shows a bit more vignette, though vignette on both is low. Sharpness on both images is consistent across the frame. 300mm seems to be the weakest point in my tests on the Tamron, but performance is still very, very high.

At 400mm the story remains essentially the same. The Tamron is sharp right out to the edge of the frame (a bit sharper in the edges than the Canon), though the Canon has less vignette.

Stopped down to f/8 the Tamron is actually the sharper of the two lenses both in center and near the edges, though there is still a bit of vignette left on the Tamron.

The copy I tested was nicely centered, with a very even performance across the frame. I also compared it to the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter (I used the Canon 1.4x III since I did not have the Tamron TC on hand). Even stopped down to similar aperture values, however, the 100-400 VC was clear sharper (particularly on the edges).

A very impressive performance in terms of resolution and contrast. Images are crisp, detailed, and the lens produces excellent contrast even with the aperture wide open. I also saw consistently strong performance across the focal range, with an excellent performance at the perhaps most important focal length of 400mm.

Like many telephoto lenses, the Tamron 100-400 VC doubles as a nice landscape lens when stopped down a bit:

Other Optical Measures

One area of exceptional strength is chromatic aberration control, which is near perfect here. Even in this shot that seems custom made for chromatic aberrations in harsh transition areas, I saw none.

Likewise this shot of reflective surfaces at varying degrees of focus shows one of the lowest amounts of CA that I’ve ever seen. As I said, exceptional!

The flare resistance is good but not exceptional. There is definitely some veiling spreading out from the epicenter of the sun, but there are few unsightly ghosting effects on the positive side.

The 9 rounded aperture blades produce excellent quality bokeh, and, unlike the Canon, the Tamron 100-400mm VC doesn’t suffer from focus breathing and delivers tighter framing at most distances short of around 60 feet/20 meters or so. As a result, the potential for creating a highly blurred background in many settings is a bit higher. At close distances (around 15 feet or so), there is marked difference in the framing with both lenses at 400mm, as you can see here.

The Tamron’s bokeh is nice, and the long focal length combined with a reasonable minimum focus distance allows you to create a lot of it!

At minimum focus distance expect backgrounds to completely disappear:

This is another area of strength for the Tamron lens. All in all there is next to nothing to criticize on the Tamron lens. It has more vignette than the Canon lens, but not significantly, and the list of optical strengths is high.

APS-C Performance

Like the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary, this is a lens that survives the transition to APS-C without issue. I used it on a Canon EOS 80D body along with a few shots to test AF on the Sony a6500 via an adapter. The lens focused well for me on APS-C (particularly the native Canon mount, obviously), and delivered very good image quality. Sharpness wasn’t quite as “acute” as on full frame, but that is to be expected. This is the lightest lens in the class, so that also helps make it a very nice fit on APS-C. Here is a small gallery of samples from on the 80D.

Tamron 100-400 VC Focus and Tracking Quality

As previously noted, the one area where I felt the Sigma 100-400mm Contemporary lens fell short was in the area of focus speed/tracking ability. The lens focused accurately for me in stills mode, but just wasn’t able to keep up with the kinds of high speed action (sports, birds in flight, and wildlife) that such a lens will be commonly used for. It was this test that I was most keen to run with the Tamron 100-400 VC, as I can’t really recommend a lens in this class that can’t do an adequate job in this area.

Tamron has of course added the ability to really tweak the autofocus performance and accuracy through their Tap-In console, but I’ve noted that there are both some significant strengths to this approach (great AF performance) but also a glaring weakness (the calibration process is very time consuming and has a bit of a learning curve). I’ve got a whole video playlist devoted to this topic.

Tamron’s next goal is to minimize the need for extensive calibrations by trying to improve their process to where lenses are better able to focus well (accurately) right out of the box. If the copy of the 100-400 VC that I reviewed is any indication, they are making some serious progress in this area. On both the Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 80D bodies I tested the lens on, I had excellent focus accuracy right out of the box. At 400mm I could make no improvement through calibration, and on the wide end I eventually dialed in a +2 value. I was counting eyelashes from across the room right out of the box, which was a delight!

But most important was the lenses ability to track action. Does the Tamron 100-400 VC succeed here? The best way to answer that question is to watch this video here:

The most crucial test came when shooting high speed action in AF Servo mode. I used a Canon 5D Mark IV for this test, and shot the Tamron and Canon lenses back to back. I found that while the Canon delivered slightly more keepers (as expected), the Tamron was nearly as good. Good enough, in fact, that I think most “birders” and sport shooters will be satisfied with the lens focus speed. I find with any such lens that familiarity allows one to improve their keeper rate, and the fact that I was able to get some solid results on my first such outing with it was encouraging.

In a subsequent series of tests, I tried tracking an easier object. My son is a competitive runner, and I had him run full tilt towards the camera on a street with a lot of distractions behind him. The lens was easily able to lock on and track him throughout the entire runs (often with more than 40 frames per sequence).

In one instance the camera lost him for a frame but by the next frame focus was again perfect. I feel confident that this lens will be able to meet the needs of all but the most demanding photographers, most of whom would elect for the more expensive first party lenses anyway.

In stills performance I felt the focus speed was as fast as that of the Canon, which is saying something. Focus accuracy was very good. I did note some occasional pulsing with a low contrast target or when shooting in backlit conditions (the photo below was where I noticed this), but this can be minimized by employing the focus limiter switch, and when the focus settled on lock it was accurate.

I came out of these tests much happier than when renewing the Sigma, which I felt was in so many other ways an exceptionally good lens.

Tamron 100-400 VC Image Stabilizer (VC) Test

Tamron has demonstrated the ability to make some of the best image stabilization systems in the business with their Vibration Compensation (VC) systems. Recent advances in the micro-processor units in their newest lenses have allowed for even better operation. They are quieter, transition on and off smoother and faster, and are often rated at the very top of their class by CIPA. The VC is rated at four stops on the 100-400 VC lens, and so I put it to the test compared to the excellent IS system (Image Stabilization) system of the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens that I own.

A few notes on this test:

The Canon is very guilty of focus breathing at close distances to medium distances. Even at a distance of 40+ feet it still doesn’t frame as tightly as the Tamron, and at the 15 foot distance I did this test at, the framing is very, very different. The Tamron is at a disadvantage, as it is stabilizing a true 400mm, while the Canon is probably somewhere closer to 300mm.
Both systems are very quiet and effective in operation, with no viewfinder shifts when coming on and off.
The Tamron does an amazing job of holding the viewfinder image still. Slightly better than the Canon, but noticeably better than my experience with the Sigma 100-400mm Contemporary lens.

Here are the results from my tests:

Tamron Results: | Canon Results:

1/15^th Second 8 out of 11 (73%) | 1/15^th Second 7 out of 9 (78%)

1/10^th Second 6 out of 10 (60%) | 1/10^th Second 5 out of 10 (50%)

1/6^th Second 3 out of 10 (30%) | 1/6^th Second 3 out of 10 (30%)

Pretty much an identical performance, which shows that the Tamron’s VC is doing a great job particularly when one considers it is stabilizing a much longer effective focal length at this distance. No complaints here – this is a strong performance. Here’s one of the 1/10th shots at 400mm from the Tamron:

Shooting at more typical shutter speeds should produce nicely repeatable results.

In the video review I also demonstrate how it works for video. It’s very effective if you stay locked onto a subject, and it’s actually fairly amazing how well the stabilization works with such a long focal length.

Final Conclusion

All in all this is a lot of lens for the money. It is very, very close to the first party options in performance while offering up exceptional value. Many photographers cannot afford the pricey first party lenses in this class, but the Tamron 100-400 VC is much more attainable. For those wanting better reach and image quality than the “consumer grade” kit zooms, the Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD is a breath of fresh air. An added bonus is the USD focus system, which is fast, quiet, and provides tracking ability near that of the first party options. You have to accept very few compromises with this lens, and that makes it an easy lens to recommend.

Pros:

Excellent image quality that rivals that of the first party lenses
Good compromise between weight and quality in the build
Weather sealed design
USD autofocus system is accurate, quiet, and fast enough to track action
VC system works as effectively as first party systems
Good magnification value and doesn’t focus breathe
Good bokeh quality
Chromatic aberrations near non-existent
Great performance to price ratio
Tap In Console compatibility
Excellent warranty

Cons:

Tripod collar must be purchased separately
Flare resistance good but not exceptional

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Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

November 13th, 2017

Earlier this year Sigma released a relatively affordable 100-400mm lens that delivered excellent optics competitive with the much more expensive first party options from Canon, Nikon, and Sony. I was impressed by the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 OS Contemporary when I reviewed it, but noted that its autofocus system, while accurate, wasn’t quite fast enough for the most demanding sport and wildlife situations. I was interested (and not surprised), when I heard through the rumor mill that Tamron was releasing its own 100-400mm lens (the Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC USD) at an identical value price point. I saw little room for improvement optically on the Sigma (it was excellent), but my hope was that the Tamron could provide a little better autofocus tracking performance for those photographers with such a need but not the budget for the more expensive first party lenses. I will be looking closely at that during my review period. What the lens does provide is a little better light transmission; it starts at a wider f/4.5 compared to f/5 for the Sigma, and reaches the smallest maximum aperture of f/6.3 quite a bit later in the focal range. Stay tuned for my ongoing coverage of the lens. You can start with my “First Look” video and the galleries below:

Photos of the Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC USD

Photos taken with the Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC USD

Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC USD on APS-C

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. You can also make a donation here if you would like. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52018DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

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DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary Review

Dustin Abbott

June 30th, 2017

First impressions matter. My first two impressions when opening the box and pulling out Sigma’s newest lens – the 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary – were 1) the lens was smaller than I anticipated (not a lot bigger than a lens like Canon’s new 70-300 IS II and similar in profile) and 2) the build quality felt more premium than I anticipated. Both of these are good news for Sigma. On the negative side I also observed that this was the first Sigma lens that I’ve personally unboxed that did not have an included lens case. All in all, however, the positive first impressions for the 100-400 C easily outweighed the negative. I had fairly low expectations for this lens, in part because the lenses in this focal length have always carried a much higher price tag, and I already own the best of the bunch – the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II. I was a little skeptical that Sigma could make a truly competitive lens at such a relatively low price point. I’m happy to report, however, like my first impressions, the Sigma 100-400 C is a lens that exceeded my expectations on nearly all fronts. Interested? Read on…

Prefer to watch your reviews? I’ve got you covered. Check out my full video review here:

Design, Build, and Handling

Sigma did something a little different with their lens announcements for the year in 2017. They simultaneously announced four lenses: the 24-70mm f/2.8 OS, 14mm f/1.8, and 135mm f/1.8 lenses in their “Art” lineup, with the 100-400mm f/5-6.3 OS as the lone entry in the “Contemporary” line. (And no, I still don’t really know what Sigma was going for with the “Contemporary” branding. It makes no more sense now than it did four years ago.). The 100-400 C announcement was somewhat overshadowed by the more exotic ART series announcements, but the 100-400C has the potential to be most important lens in this lineup for many shooters (though few lenses are more indispensable than a 24-70 f/2.8 lens).

Why do I say this? There are three reasons I think the 100-400 C is going to be an important lens for Sigma.

The first is price. The main first party players (Canon, Nikon, and Sony) each have a 100-400mm lens (80-400mm in the case of Nikon), and each of these lenses sell for in excess of $2000 in the US market. The Sony sells for $2500 USD. The 100-400 C? It comes to the market at $799 USD. That’s less than a third the price of the Sony! The reality is that most photographers deal with some amount of financial restraints, so the incredible price of this new Sigma is going to make it very attractive to a number of photographers. I can speak as a person with a kit full of fabulous lenses and attest to the fact that I only occasionally shoot with focal lengths longer than 200mm, so I might be tempted by a lens like this (if it were competent) for the simple reason that I could then spend that difference in price on equipment I might use more regularly. I offer that anecdote as evidence that a competent, reasonably priced alternative to the more expensive first party lenses might appeal to a broader range than just those on a budget.

–For the record, I already own Canon’s exceptional EF 100-400L II, which I will use as a benchmark as it is, to my knowledge, the best lens available that covers this focal range.–

Secondly, I believe this lens could prove highly successful because of its focal length. The first lens I thought of when I first looked at the 100-400 C in person was that new Canon 70-300 IS II, and it struck me that this could be a credible alternative to the 70-300 variants because it isn’t vastly bigger (7.18”/182mm vs 5.7”/145mm in length, 2.55lb/1160g vs 1.56lb/708g in weight) or vastly more expensive ($250 USD more). Both of these are close enough to allow for some cross-shopping, and I think there will be a number of people tempted by the extra “reach” afforded by the 400mm telephoto end. The 100-400 C also offers some weather sealing, which, to my knowledge, isn’t included on most of the 70-300mm options this lens might compete against.

Finally, I think this lens could prove to be an attractive alternative to the significantly larger and heavier 150-600mm variants. No, it doesn’t have as much reach, but not everyone needs 600mm of reach, and the 100-400 C is much easier to tote around. This lens is about 2.5lb, the 150-600 C is 4.3lb, and the Sport version weights 6.3lb! That makes the 150-600 lenses close to 2x and 3x as heavy. One of the reasons I switched from the Tamron 150-600 VC to the Canon 100-400L II (+1.4x TC) was the portability factor. It just fit into my various bags and backpacks better. I can fit the 100-400 C mounted on a 5D Mark IV in something as small as my Lowepro Toploader 55 AW, something you could never say of one of the 150-600mm lenses.

Add to this the fact that the lens looks better than its price tag and promises to punch above its weight optically and you have a [potential] recipe for success. Take a look at this video where I break down the build and design:

Sigma’s current design language is excellent. Their lenses are sleek and modern, and, while they are essentially all black, I feel like Sigma does an excellent job of utilizing texture variation to make the lenses seem far from monochromatic. I particularly like the sections that utilize a very fine ribbing that adds both visual flair and added grip. The finish definitely feels a cut above the 150-600mm Contemporary lens, which feels a little cheaper by comparison. The materials are the standard engineered plastics (‘thermal composite’ in Sigma speak) over a metal core and brass bayonet mount, but the feel/finish of the materials feels more premium to me than the 150-600 C.

A definite area of improvement is in the manual focus ring, which feels and moves much better on the 100-400 C. It still feels like a MF ring on an autofocus lens, but the action is quality. The feel of the ribbed ring itself is also good. Its location may not be a favorite for some shooters, as the MF ring is closer to the mount end and the zoom ring is further out. Most photographers prefer the opposite order, but unfortunately there isn’t really a standard for this ring order. The Canon 100-400L II has the zoom ring first, but the Canon 70-300L has the MF ring first.

I wasn’t initially crazy about the shape/profile of the lens hood, which has a fairly pronounced “scoop” near the base. A conversation with a friend within the Sigma organization revealed a very practical reason for the design, and that was for it to be utilized as a push/pull type lens. You essentially can choose to either use the traditional “twist” zoom action or employ the push/pull zoom action if that is your preference. Finding out that the somewhat irregular hood shape had a functional purpose quickly changed my perspective of it, and I can attest that the shape is well suited to quickly gripping and extending the zoom.

The front element features a surprisingly small 67mm front filter thread. That’s a positive in that 67mm filters are both common and inexpensive, but it is also a reflection of the fact that at no point does this lens let in a lot of light. The 150-600mm variants from Sigma have a 95mm front filter (Contemporary) and 105mm front filter (Sport).

The lens features a traditional zoom lock switch near the “C” logo almost directly in the middle of the lens. It has all of the traditional limitations, too, namely the inability to lock at any position save the fully retracted (100mm) position. It also essentially guarantees that the major omission here cannot even be rectified with an aftermarket solution.

That omission is any kind of tripod collar/foot. This is typically considered essential for a lens like this, but Sigma has clearly bet on the assumption that most photographers will use this lens exclusively handheld. While I didn’t often miss the collar for most of my day to day shooting, I REALLY missed it when trying to shoot standardized results and comparisons from a tripod. Without that collar expect the lens to feel very front heavy on a tripod. It is difficult to set an exact framing, as you will mostly have to adjust the tripod with the lens aiming above the target level and then let gravity bring it back down to the desired level. This is far from precise, however, and was a bit of a frustration. Fortunately I am rarely in this kind of situation with this kind of lens in the real world, though I can see this being an issue when trying to use the lens for landscapes.

Some of you could care less about the omission of a tripod collar as it adds up to a lighter lens, but for some this will be a deal breaker. The nature of the lens design also means there isn’t really any room for an aftermarket tripod collar, and the zoom lock being in the one area without anything else prohibits attaching one there as well.

There are four switches located about two inches into the lens. The first gives you options for the autofocus, including the standard AF, then a MO (manual override) which will allow you to manually override the focus result at any point (my standard choice), and then the straight MF (manual focus) option, which will turn off the autofocus motor.

The second switch is the focus limiter, something always welcome on a telephoto lens. I find that the lens is just slightly slow to rack the full range of focus, so employing this selectively/appropriately will make a difference. Once again there are three choices: Full, 6m to Infinity, and 1.6m-6m.

The third switch enables control over the OS (optical stabilizer), and includes OFF| Position 1 | Position 2 choices. Position 1 is the standard balanced performance, while Position 2 disables one axis of stabilization for enhanced panning action.

The final switch allows you to access two previously programmed “Custom” functions. You enter these through the Sigma USB dock and the Sigma Optimization Pro software. This includes the ability to customize the AF performance (Fast AF, Standard AF (balance between speed and smoothness), and Smooth AF (optimized for video). You can also set a custom focus limiter setting in a second menu. The final option to program to a custom mode is the OS performance. Three options are present: Dynamic View (prioritizes smooth viewfinder), Standard (balance between the two extremes), and Moderate View (prioritizes applying stabilization to the image capture and focuses less on steadying the image in the viewfinder). I can’t say that I saw any major difference when applying these customization changes, but you might. I consider the custom modes to be a nice feature at this price point, however.

All in all there is only one thing to complain about, and that is the lack of a tripod collar, and, in particular, the inability to add one as an optional accessory. Sigma clearly made a decision to eliminate that from the design, but that will alienate at least a percentage of the market. Beyond that, however, there is little else to complain about. Everything else about the lens felt better than its price point suggests.

100-400 C Optical Performance

Let’s get the weak point dealt with first: this lens is definitely on the “slow” end in terms of aperture. It adopts the same variable aperture of the bigger 150-600mm lenses, except that maximum aperture of f/5 only lasts for a heartbeat. By 114mm the maximum aperture closes to f/5.6, and further closes to f/6.3 from 234mm on. Like the 150-600 variants, this is a lens that needs a good amount of light to thrive. This is one area where it really suffers in comparison to the Canon 100-400L II, which, while also variable aperture, lets in quite a bit more light at any focal length.

Lens	f/4.5	f/5	f/5.6	f/6.3
Sigma 100-400 C	N/A	100-113mm	114-233mm	234-400mm
Tamron 100-400 VC	100-137mm	138-184mm	185-280mm	281-400mm
Canon 100-400L II	100-134mm	135-311mm	312-400mm	N/A

As this chart shows, you are going to need quite a bit more light with the Sigma than with the Canon, which actually doesn’t reach it’s smallest maximum aperture until fairly late in the focal range. The rival lens from Tamron also does a bit better in this area, with a wider maximum aperture on the long end and the ability to hold onto the larger aperture values a little longer.

One thing that stood out to me is the nice level of saturation on the images I shot from the lens, even at maximum aperture values. It doesn’t need to be stopped down to provide saturation and contrast; you can get great results right from wide open. This helps to offset the slow maximum aperture values somewhat; there is no real need to stop the lens down to get maximum performance from it. Images look great right out of the box from the lens.

I did a direct comparison with the Canon 100-400L II lens, and, frankly, I expected the Canon to dominate the Sigma. It costs more than 2 ½ times as much and is the best lens in the class. What I found surprised me. To fully appreciate this I recommend that you watch this video:

At 100mm and a comparison shot with mirror lockup, on a tripod, and Live View 10x focused the Sigma unquestionably had the optical advantage across the frame. I tried it with both lenses wide open (f/4.5 for the Canon, f/5 for the Sigma), and then stopped them down to equivalent apertures. The Canon caught up in the middle at about f/5.6, but the Sigma was demonstrably sharper near the edges of the frame at all tested apertures. It also showed less chromatic aberration and better contrast. Wow! Each of the comparisons to come are pixel level crops from the far left, center, and then far right corners.

Comparison with both lenses wide open at 100mm:

With both lenses stopped down to f/5.6:

At 200mm the advantage shifted to the Canon, though it was marginal and the Sigma produced very close image quality stopped down. The difference between the lenses was only apparent at pixel level, and barely visible there.

At the most crucial 400mm position the Canon’s maximum aperture is f/5.6 while the Sigma’s is f/6.3. With both lenses wide open I was shocked to find a [very] slight advantage for the Sigma! When I stopped the Canon down to f/6.3, I felt it was ever-so-slightly better, but with both stopped down to f/8 the slight advantage shifted back to the Sigma. I was blown away by this result, as often budget telephotos fall apart on the long end.

The reality is that there is very little optically to distinguish these two lenses. The Sigma vignettes much more heavily compared to the Canon, and the 100-400L II also has an aperture advantage at every focal length, but the Sigma shows similar and even superior sharpness and contrast at various points. The 100-400 C also showed less CA in my testing. All in all I found this an extremely surprising result and have to really commend Sigma for putting together such a high performing lens at such a great price.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the bokeh quality from the lens, which seemed every bit as nice as that from the Canon.

Optically there are only two real weaknesses – a very slow maximum aperture and some vignette, but if you can live with these (and one other issue to come), you will find a lot of lens for your money. I would recommend visiting the Image Gallery to see a many more images and get a sense for yourself!

APS-C Performance

I realize that many APS-C (crop sensor) shooters will be interested in this lens, so I spent some time with it mounted on my Canon 80D camera body. Not every lenses translates well to an APS-C body, but the 100-400 C did great in this application. On a Canon body (1.6x crop factor) the lens has a full frame equivalent focal length of 160-640mm, so it offers a truly impressive amount of reach in this application. I was very pleased with the image quality from the lens on APS-C, and so no new optical flaws introduced that I could tell. Details continue to be good, no new chromatic aberrations appeared, and vignette is of course reduced by the crop factor.

Here are a few samples from 400mm, f/6.3, with near pixel level crops:

I see no reason why APS-C shooters should not strongly consider this lens. In many ways I think it makes more sense here than the 150-600mm lenses in many situations as the wide end remains more useful and the 600+mm equivalent long end is plenty in most situations. I also think the image quality (for me) held up better in the transition to crop than what I’ve seen from most of the 150-600 variants. This lens is much, much easier to pack around, too. I feel like it will balance much better than the larger first party 100-400mm lenses on any camera body save, perhaps, a 7D Mark II or equivalently sized body.

I’ve got an APS-C Image Gallery here:

I’ll comment further on the autofocus performance in general in a moment, but I will add here that I found autofocus performance roughly similar on the 80D to the 5D Mark IV. Accuracy was very good on the 80D, and speed was adequate for most things.

Autofocus Performance

The first thing to note is that while this lens has been on the market for less than a month, there has already been a firmware update specifically addressing some autofocus improvements. This is somewhat of a two-edged sword, as on one hand it indicates that Sigma is being proactive about supporting the lens. That’s a good thing. On the other hand I’m a little concerned by the message that is sent by this: it feels a bit like the lens might have been rushed to market before some of the final refinements were made. This isn’t a problem for owners of the Sigma USB dock, but leaves those without either having to purchase one or feeling the need to send their brand-new lens back to Sigma for the update.

Those reservations aside, I was encouraged during my calibration process to see nicely repeatable results and a linear pattern of adjustment. I used the USB Dock to input calibration at different focal lengths and focus distances, and saw the kind of pattern that I like to see (one that makes sense). The lens definitely required some adjustment, but didn’t show any of the random misfocus results that plagued some of the earlier Sigma lenses (18-35 ART, 35mm f/1.4 ART, 50mm f/1.4 ART) that I’ve reviewed. I would encourage you to check out my video series on how to properly do lens calibration if you are unfamiliar with the process here. There images show the difference in results after calibration along with the [lens specific] values that I plugged in. Note that these values won’t work with your lens/body combination but are simply shown to illustrate my process.

In the field I was further assured. I saw good, accurate results there as well, with images nicely focused in both One Shot and AF Servo modes. I’ve actually had pretty good success with Sigma’s telephoto lenses in this area. Autofocus accuracy is a strength rather than weakness for this lens.

There is only one area that I have a bit of concern, particularly for those who want to shoot sports or other higher speed targets, and that is the focus speed. I found the lens tracked acceptably in AF Servo with moderately speed subjects once I had focus locked, but I did have an issue with the lens picking up an object already in motion. This was using a Canon 5D Mark IV, which has an exceptional autofocus system.

I ran a number of tracking tests that I consider to be a “torture test” – a small dog charging towards the camera at full tilt. The Canon 100-400L II has an excellent focus system, and yet it doesn’t always pass this test. But it definitely showed its superiority here, where I was sometimes able to track a whole sequence across many frames in AF Servo mode (one sequence had 17 frames over a period of less than three seconds, all well focused). The Sigma, however, often only achieved a few frames in focus in similar conditions. At times it would lose focus and I wouldn’t be able to achieve a fresh lock, so pressing the shutter did nothing. Focus would also lag sometimes behind the subject, as if the focus motor wasn’t quite keeping up.

I would definitely recommend utilizing the focus limiter when possible, as while the lens is quick to make small to medium adjustments, it takes a while for it to rack the full range of focus. I would guess that the HSM motor doesn’t have as much torque as what the Canon 100-400L II that I own does.

Bottom line is that the focus system of the 100-400 C didn’t work nearly as well for higher speed subjects, and if you want to shoot sports, bird in flight, or fast moving wildlife I’m afraid you will be better served spending more money for the first party options.

For most of the subjects that I typically shoot, the lens works great, but I did have a few situations where I was left wishing for a little more focus speed in one shot mode. I also encountered a few isolated situations where (much like the 150-600 C) the 100-400 C didn’t want to lock focus at all. I do a lot of hiking (a great way for me to mix business and pleasure!), and so often will shoot scenes on trails where the lighting is mixed. The photo below particularly stands out, because I stood in what seemed to be plenty of light and tried to find a high contrast edge to lock onto on the foreground leaves with the defocused trail beyond. I was first using a grid with about 10 focus points active, and it simply wouldn’t lock focus. I switched to the finest point on my 5D Mark IV – just the single center point active and tried to put it right on leaf edges or something with higher contrast. No luck. I had to play around with it for probably 20-30 seconds with a little manual override before I finally got it to lock focus, though I had to switch to another point to focus on to make it work. The final result is focused just fine, but the process showed the lens hesitation in that kind of setting.

Bottom line is that the combination of a relatively slow maximum aperture and an autofocus system that isn’t top shelf (at least in terms of speed) is perhaps the only place where the budget origins of this lens are betrayed and could be a limiting factor for someone who is serious about moving wildlife or sports.

Sigma 100-400 C Lens Stabilization

Any lens with a focal length reaching out to 400mm is going to need a good image stabilization system, and that is particularly true of lenses with small maximum apertures. Sigma has outfitted the 100-400 C with its Optical Stabilizer (OS).

Sigma 100-400 C, handheld using careful technique.

At 400mm, 1/25^th of a second. All six shots (one extra) were acceptably sharp with about half of them perfectly sharp.
At 400mm, 1/15^th of a second. All shots were acceptably sharp with about half of them perfectly sharp (no change).
At 400mm, 1/10^th of a second. 1 shot blurry, 3 shots acceptably sharp, and 2 perfectly sharp.
At 400mm, 1/6^th of a second. 2 shots extremely blurry, 2 moderately blurry, 1 shot acceptably sharp, 1 shot perfectly sharp.

The Sigma OS is less effective at stabilizing the viewfinder image, but, much like Tamron’s “Capture Priority” VC setting seems to do a good job stabilizing the actual capture. Here’s one of the “keepers” I got at 1/6th second.

Canon 100-400L II, same process.

At 400mm, 1/25th of a second. 1 shot acceptably sharp and 5 shots perfectly sharp.
At 400mm, 1/15th of a second. 1 shot slightly blurry and 5 shots perfectly sharp.
At 400mm, 1/10th of a second. 1 shot blurry, 3 shots acceptably sharp, and 2 perfectly sharp.
At 400mm, 1/6th of a second. 3 shots extremely blurry, 3 shots acceptably sharp.

The two stabilizer systems operate slightly differently, but produce results more similar than different. I slightly favor the way the Canon image stabilizer works, but the end result isn’t all that different.

Conclusion

I really do feel like Sigma knocked this one out of the park…for many shooters. There are really only two things that should give you pause to consider: 1) do you need a tripod collar? 2) do you need to track fast moving action (particularly subjects that quickly move towards you)? If you are primarily a handheld shooter, then the reasonable weight of this lens is going to make it a favorite for you. If you will shoot occasional action and don’t need high end tracking, then the accurate AF system should meet your needs. I feel like the only thing that holds this lens back from being absolutely exceptional (and a very serious competitor to far more expensive first party lenses) is the unexceptional tracking performance. Still, I had good accuracy in One-Shot AF mode for everyday shots, and there is no question the lens has fantastic image quality that is on par with the top tier first party lenses. If you are on a budget and don’t need the absolute best AF system, I think the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary should jump to the top of your list.

Pros:

Fantastic price to performance ratio
Excellent image quality across the focal range
Good color and contrast
Nice build quality for the class, including some moisture resistance
Accurate autofocus in One Shot mode
Reasonable size and weight
Effective image stabilization system

Cons:

AF system doesn’t track fast motion well
No tripod collar included; no room to add one
Particularly small maximum aperture across focal range
AF can hunt in dim light

Gear Used:
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (5D4): B&H Photo | Amazon.com | Amazon Canada
Canon EOS 80D: B&H Photo | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca |
Purchase the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 OS HSM: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X2 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

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Tamron 150-600mm G2 Second Look | APS-C, TCs, and More

Dustin Abbott

April 7th, 2017

I’ve already done a full review of the new Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 VC USD G2 lens in the late fall of 2016, but at that time the lens was just coming to market and my review time was constrained by the high demand for the lens (and for review copies). As a result, there were three major things I wanted to accomplish that I didn’t get a chance to (and they were things that many of you really wanted to see.). They were, 1) to test the lens’ performance on APS-C 2) to compare the lens against the excellent Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II which does so well with the 1.4x extender attached and 3) to test the lenses with Tamron’s new line of 1.4x and 2.0x extenders that are compatible with the lens. When I did my previous review, the extenders were not yet available and the time constraints meant that I reserved my review equipment to the full frame that the lens was designed for and against the previous generation 150-600 VC that the lens was replacing. Fortunately I have the opportunity to rectify all of that this time, so join me as a I take a second look at the 150-600 G2.

I’m attaching my breakdown on the build, design, and upgrades here, but if you read my initial review here (Tamron 15-600 G2 Review) you may want to skip over the new few sections to the 150-600 G2 on APS-C section. If you want to watch my conclusions on APS-C, performance with Teleconverters, and comparisons to the Canon 100-400L II, just click on the video below.

Serious Upgrades?

I reviewed the original Tamron 150-600 VC here, and it proved such a popular review that (at the time) it pretty much broke my website and made me invest some serious money to build a more robust site ready to handle the traffic. It was ample evidence that people were extremely interested in the “affordable reach” market. The original demand outstripped supply, and that lens has ended up in a lot of photographer’s kits. It beat Sigma to the market by a fair margin and thus enjoyed a lot of the early sales.

That lens has optically and functionally held its own even with a number of new releases since. While the Sigma variants (Sport and Contemporary) have both proven to be a little sharper at 600mm, the Tamron proves sharper at some other focus distances. For field use they all have very little variation. This article from LensRentals makes for an interesting read as it reinforces the point that while there are sharper options out there, they aren’t much sharper.

Tamron promised optical improvements in their press release that was sent to me, “Optical design refreshed to achieve even higher performance Three LD (Low Dispersion) lens elements completely eliminate axial and transverse chromatic aberrations. The design also features an upgraded optical construction (21 elements in 13 groups) and leverages improvements in manufacturing technology. As a result, the lens delivers high resolution, improved sharpness and overall better performance.”

In short, Tamron added one additional element to the optical formula. But there’s more to it than that, as I discovered when comparing the lenses head to head that the 150-600 G2 has a completely different rendering than the previous generation lens. This is definitely more than a minor tweak.

One weak point that Tamron has definitely addressed is the minimum focus distance, which I sometimes found a bit confining in the older version. It would focus down to about 8.9’/2.7m, but the 150-600 G2 will focus as close as 7.22’/2.2m. That is enough improve the maximum magnification ratio from 1:5 (0.20x magnification) on the old version to 1:3.9, or 0.256x magnification. That’s slightly over one quarter life size, and you are getting into the very useful range. Here’s a visual comparison at the difference in magnification.

You can shoot macro(ish) shots from over 7 feet away (now that is a nice working distance!!) and I found it easy to fill the frame with flowers or leaves. Be aware that depth of field at that minimum focus distance is a REALLY tiny 0.2”/5mm, and even stopped down to f/11 the depth of field is still under 9mm. I’d recommend a tripod and a lot of light to produce the best results. It’s not the easiest focal length to deal with for macro type shots (there’s a reason macro lenses AREN’T 600mm), but you can be rewarded with some nice results if you employ good technique.

Further helping is that the Focus Limiter switch has more (and better) options. The V1 of the lens had two positions: Full and 15m to Infinity. It had no option for close range shooting, and the 15m (nearly fifty feet) limiting position meant that you could easily miss shots where your subject moved a bit closer. The 150-600 G2 has three positions on the switch: Full, 10m to Infinity, and 2.2-10m. Furthermore, by using the Tap In Console, you can tweak all of these to your own liking. The compatibility with the Tap In Console is a big deal, as it eliminates one of the key advantages that the Sigma lenses held over this one. The 150-600 G2 is Tamron’s first zoom lens to be compatible with the Tap In. Here’s a look at the different screens as they apply to the 150-600 G2 (scroll to see more screens from the Tap In):

Build Improvements

Best to get the bad news out of the way: the 150-600 G2 has put on a little bit of weight. The A011 (First Generation lens) weighed in at 4.3lb/1950g, while the new version weighs 4.42lb/2010g. The reality is that this isn’t really enough of a weight gain for me to notice when switching from one to the other. The 150-600 G2 significantly undercuts the weight of the 6.3lb/2860g Sigma Sport. A friend who owns the A011 handled the G2 and asked if it was lighter, so that tells you that the weight gain definitely isn’t very noticeable. Handholding the 150-600 G2 is a piece of cake compared to the Sigma Sport as the Sport is a very front heavy lens that makes supporting the big front element (which ends up pretty far from your body at 600mm) quite a challenge (and I’m fit!) The bad news isn’t really so bad here. This isn’t a light lens, but it is fairly easy to handheld, and I suspect it will be used that way by a lot of photographers. I used it that way almost exclusively save some controlled tests and moon shots.

For that little bit of weight gain, however, you get a lens that is much better in every detail, from the build quality to the tactile feel of the materials. The A011 had a pretty decent build, but some of the materials here and there felt a little “plasticky”. Most notable was the lens hood. While the lens hood is still technically made of plastic, it is now a much more premium “soft-touch” feel that has a nice rubberized transition at the mount that feels a lot like the Sigma ART series. Those kinds of little touches are the kind that I’ve strongly praised, so perhaps Tamron was listening. The primary barrel material is a lightweight metal similar to the SP primes with a nice satin finish. All of the surfaces of the lens have a much nicer, premium feel to them, and while the lens doesn’t have the military grade build of the Sigma 150-600 Sport there is no question that this is a very nice lens that has moved upscale. I think many shooters will find this a nice compromise between weight and sturdiness.

All of the switches are much improved. Compared side by side the G2 switches all have a much nice, more definite feel. A lot of thought has been put into the tactile responses, and it shows in the quality action of the switches.

The zoom and focus rings both have a nicer feel in both the materials and in their actions. I particularly noted the improvement to the smoothness of the zoom action. The barrel extends smoothly with very consistent damping throughout the zoom range. I found that the A011 could sometimes have sticking points in the zoom action where more effort was required. The consistent damping in the zoom ring will help a lot for those that want to use the lens for shooting video, and I also noted that it helped eliminate zoom creep when the lens is pointed down.

It is actually on the topic of zoom creep (caused by the weight of the front element pulling the lens towards maximum zoom when the lens is pointed down) where one of the most notable advances has happened. The A0011 had a traditional zoom lock switch, but it could only be engaged at the fully retracted (150mm) and 400mm positions. The 150-600 G2 version of this lens incorporates what Tamron calls a FLEX ZOOM LOCK mechanism to permit locking the zoom position at any focal length. If you have ever shot a Tokina lens that uses a clutch mechanism to switch between AF and MF mode you will have a good sense of how this works. The zoom ring can be moved forward which engages a friction mechanism that holds the lens at whatever zoom position it is at. Simply pull the clutch mechanism (zoom ring) back and it releases. In field shooting it is much quicker and more intuitive to use the new Flex Zoom lock than the traditional lock switch (which is still retained if you prefer that way of locking the lens). It was the friction ring on the Canon 100-400L II that was one of the selling points for me, and the 150-600 G2 has moved much closer to that style with the Flex Zoom Lock.

One other complaint for some shooters was that the A0011’s tripod foot wasn’t compatible with Arca-Swiss style plates. On the plus side was the fact that the tripod collar could be both rotated and removed. The 150-600 G2 has a removable rotating tripod collar that features an Arca-Swiss type compatible foot which helps with using the lens atop a tripod or monopod. One more box checked.

Both versions of the lens have a large 95mm filter thread (expensive), but the Sigma Contemporary versions shares that size and the Sport moves up to an even more massive 105mm filter thread. You can’t compete with physics. If you decide to forego the front filter you will be happy to find that an expensive fluorine coating has also been applied to the front lens element to protect against dust, dirt, and smearing. The weather sealing this time around is far more robust, with a number of internal seals at key points to prevent the intrusion of dust and moisture. This compliments a rear gasket at the lens mount and coatings on the exposed elements.

Both versions have a nine bladed aperture, though the new version emphasizes the “rounded” shape of the aperture blades. The bokeh quality is noticeably softer with less hard edges when compared to the A011, although I find that I still prefer the bokeh quality from the Canon 100-400L II. At certain distances I still see a little “busyness” in the bokeh quality, although most of the time the bokeh looks quite lovely.

An electromagnetic diaphragm is used for more precise and consistent exposure control, especially when shooting at high continuous shooting rates.

All in all, the G2 (A022) shows that Tamron has been listening to the feedback of photographers and they have addressed pretty much every complaint I’ve heard about the lens. In short, the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 is improved in basically every metric.

That’s not to say that everything is perfect. I didn’t feel that the VC mechanism on the 150-600 G2 that I was reviewing was operating within spec. It caused a little “jumping” in the viewfinder and didn’t seem to work as effectively as the A011 I had for comparison. All reports indicate that the VC should be MORE effective on the G2, not less. I’ve asked for a different copy to be sent to me for review in a few weeks, where I’ll review that portion again as well as test the lens on a crop sensor body (my review period was too short to cover everything I wanted to this time). I bring this up to say that Tamron still has a few glitches in the manufacturing process, though I’ve had a good experience with them listening to my personal concerns and working to get them fixed. Like the previous generation the lens is designed in Japan, manufactured in China (save the lens hood, which is manufactured in the Philippines), and distributed to me in Canada. Globalism indeed.

VC and USD

These have become two of Tamron’s modern acronyms. VC stands for Vibration Compensation, Tamron’s image stabilization system, while USD refers to the ring-type Ultrasonic Silent Drive autofocus motor. Both have received some love in the G2 version.

When I compared the VC of the A011 with the Canon 100-400L II, I found that I preferred the behavior of the Canon Image Stabilization. It provided the more stable viewfinder, even when I added a 1.4x teleconverter into the mix. The Tamron only had a VC ON/OFF switch, with no external switches for customizing stabilization. Tamron added a “silent” panning mode through firmware, but you had to rely on the lens to detect panning motion and turn off that axis of stabilization. The new lens seriously ups the ante by giving you much more control over the VC behavior. Along with the ON/OFF switch there is now a second switch with three difference VC modes.

Mode 1 (standard) is the normal mode for most shooters, though you have the option to tweak that mode via the Tap In Console. You can switch it to a “Viewfinder Priority” mode which emphasizes smooth transitions to the VC coming on and off and also keeps it engaged longer. The main priority in this mode is for video use, and it will give smoother footage.

The Mode 2 position is for panning, and ensures that if you are tracking movement the VC won’t interfere while still helping to stabilize on the Y axis.

Mode 3 is what Tamron calls “Shutter Release Priority” mode. The VC doesn’t really impact the viewfinder in this mode but rather activates just as the shutter is being released. This might be a good option for those tracking birds in flight or other movement where you want complete freedom in the viewfinder but stability when you actually press the shutter. This seems like a good choice for when using a monopod, too, and Tamron actually claims about 2/3rds of a stop extra stabilization in this mode (up to 4.5 stops).

I noted above that I didn’t feel the VC on my review copy was working within spec, so I couldn’t really perceive an advantage in my testing and noted the VC behavior was abnormal (I’ve tested a LOT of lenses with Tamron’s VC). I’ll add new notes to this review when I’ve been able to use a second copy of the lens.

Tamron’s USD is a full ring-type autofocus motor which allows for full-time manual focus override. The behavior of the USD motor in the 150-600 G2 is clearly more refined. Focus is smoother, faster, and surer. Tamron has a new line of extenders (1.4x and 2.0x) that are compatible with this lens, but I have not been able to test them as of yet. I felt like there was clearly more speed on the long end (the area of need), and didn’t notice much hunting. In the field I found that I didn’t really think about autofocus, and that speaks a lot to me. It means that the AF was doing what it was supposed to. It is also worth nothing that I felt like the AF Servo tracking was better, too. I’m not really an experienced bird in flight shooter (don’t have the patience!), but was pleased with the results I got during a brief period of tracking some geese.

One of the headline improvements is that the 150-600 G2 is compatible with the Tap In Console which allows you to tweak the focus at 24 different points. For example, you can plug in values for minimum focus, medium distance, and infinity at 150mm, 200mm, 300mm, etc… Six different focal lengths with three distance values for each. While this represents some time invested, I’ve seen the dividends with other compatible lenses. You can dial in focus better than what I’ve seen with any other third party lens before. This is a significant upgrade and helps to get the most out of the newly improved optics (read on).

While the manual focus ring feel is improved on the G2, manual focusing is still challenging due to having a rather small focus throw. It’s easy to go past the point you want to focus on. One more reason to dial in that autofocus!

The 150-600 G2 on APS-C

There are many photographers that use APS-C somewhat like a teleconverter/extender. Put an APS-C camera onto a lens like this and it acts in many ways like a 1.5x (Nikon) or 1.6x (Canon) extender. On a Canon body like the Canon EOS 80D that I’m using as a “test mule” for this review the focal length becomes an effective 240-960mm. That’s a LOT of reach, and so this is a lens a lot of people are interested in mounting on a crop sensor body. To answer the first question: yes, the Canon mount of this lens will mount on all Canon APS-C cameras with an EF-S lens mount (and via adapter on the EOS M line). And yes, the lens will autofocus on all them, too. Some cameras have better autofocus systems than others, obviously, but the 150-600 G2 is a very good focusing lens. It has good focus acquisition speed and produced repeatable results during my calibration process.

The 80D has a good focus system, and I used the lens to track action while following wildlife and horses.

Your greatest challenge using a lens like this on an APS-C body will be that this lens is a “slow” one in terms of the amount of light that it lets in. The largest possible aperture is f/5 on the wide end and f/6.3 on the telephoto end. Lenses like this work best where there is a lot of light available, and to compound things, lenses like this are often used to stop action (birds or wildlife), meaning that a fast shutter speed is required. In many situations you will be shooting at higher ISO settings, where APS-C cameras tend to struggle more than their full frame counterparts.

This lens holds up quite well optically on APS-C and provides good looking results. The first round of these affordable 150-600mm variants (150-600 VC, Sigma 150-600 C and S) surprised everyone with how good they actually were, and Tamron has managed to improve on the performance of the G1 lens particularly on the long end, where the lens exhibits better contrast and resolution (less haze and more crisp detail). Here’s a look at worst case scenario: wide open (f/6.3) at 600mm.

Center sharpness looks good here, though you can see a loss of contrast in the edges of the frame. Lower contrast seems to be the single biggest “loss in translation” from full frame to APS-C on the lens.

To give some perspective on this performance, however, let’s take a look at how it compares to the superlative Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens. If we compare both lenses at roughly 560mm (Canon at 400mm + 1.4x extender) we get the following results:

As you can see the results are pretty similar. The Tamron is actually a bit sharper in the center of the frame. The only place where the Canon really bests it is on the right side of the frame, where the Canon shows a better centering. That’s actually pretty impressive, as the Canon is a fantastic lens that I personally own. My takeaway from real world use is that I prefer both of these lenses on full frame, where they show the best, but they are both fairly good on crop as well.

Use with extenders and comparison with the Canon 100-400L II

One of the key selling points of the new Tamron 150-600 G2 is the reported compatibility with Tamron’s new line of extenders (1.4x and 2.0x). These multiply the focal length by 1.4x and 2x, respectively, but at a cost of light. The 1.4x increases the maximum aperture to f/9 on the long end while the 2.0x increases the maximum aperture to f/13. Cameras require a certain amount of light to achieve autofocus, and in the past that limit has often been f/5.6. Lenses with a maximum aperture of f/6.3 have always focused fine (that is only 1/3^rd stop darker), but often combinations with an extender that achieved a maximum aperture of f/8 would not autofocus. Canon and Nikon have enabled the ability to autofocus at these smaller apertures on certain bodies, but unless you have a new (two years old or less) higher end camera body (80D/7DII/D500 or 5DIV/1D series/D810/D4 or similar) you should know that you probably won’t be able to really get autofocus with an extender and any lens with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 (or 6.3).

My results come from using two of the Canon bodies best suited to this kind of combination (Canon 80D for APS-C and the 5D Mark IV for full frame, which shares the autofocus system with Canon’s flagship 1Dx II). In short, the following basically represents best case scenario for Canon shooters. I dealt with the Tamron extenders in detail in this video:

The Canon EOS 80D (APS-C) has Canon’s current best APS-C performance with f/8 autofocus with 27 of the 45 AF points available at f/8 (some other bodies that support f/8 only enable the center point). With Canon’s 1.4x III extender attached to the 150-600 G2 in my “lab” with good lighting on my focus subjects (my vintage lenses), the autofocus mostly pulsed and/or gave up. I switched to the Tamron 1.4x extender and found that while there was definitely some pulsing, the lens did accurately lock focus (though a few times it locked on an obviously defocused image). Live View fared better, for, while slow, it was steady and accurately locked focus.

With the 2.0x extender in PDAF (viewfinder) the lens just hunted. It would focus (accurately) in Live View, though with snail-like acquisition speed.

When attaching the Tamron 1.4x to the Canon 100-400L II, I noted an odd quirk. On the 80D the combination incorrectly reports as a maximum aperture of f/11 (which is what the 2.0x should register). The maximum aperture should be f/8. Because the camera detects a maximum aperture of f/11 it refuses to even attempt autofocus through PDAF. In Live View it focused slowly but surely. Here’s the quirk, though. When I mounted the 2.0x, however, it registered as f/8 and did attempt to focus through PDAF. It did a bit of pulsing, but did lock accurate focus. Live View focus was very similar to the result with the 1.4x mounted. So, for some reason the communication between the lens, TC, and body results in the aperture information being reported incorrectly. Because of this quirk the focus behavior is far preferable with the native Canon extender mounted on the Canon lens, as the Tamron extender makes for a combination that is basically useless for field use. When I tested the Canon extender + lens on the 80D I found that, other than a bit of occasional pulsing, the combination worked fairly well…particularly when choosing a single focus point rather than a group.

The story is a little little bit different on my Canon 5D Mark IV, which has a fantastic focus system with a good deal more complexity than that found on the 80D. The native Canon 100-400L II +1.4x III extender combination works with all focus points and works pretty much like that of a native lens. The same communication error is present on the 5D IV, where the Tamron 1.4x registers like a 2.0x extender and gives a maximum aperture reading of f/11. The 2.0x extender combination registers as f/8 and actually focuses fairly quickly in PDAF, though this focus was not accurate (it would need calibration). In Live View focus was slowish but very accurate.

The story is very different when using the Tamron 1.4x extender on the Tamron lens. These components were designed for each other, and the 5D Mark IV correctly registers the aperture value (f/9) and actually focused quite quickly in the controlled environment (as good the Canon combination, I would say). I had not calibrated the two components together yet, but I can tell from the results that the focus results between PDAF and Live View were close enough to just be a matter of [very minor] AFMA. I found when performing my calibration that I got basically the same values with or without the extender mounted. I swapped extenders and mounted the Canon 1.4x on the Tamron lens, and found now that the combination registered as f/6.3 maximum aperture (incorrect). When using PDAF focus I got a momentary (split second) pulse, but focus did lock. Live View focus was slower but not glacial, and it achieved perfect focus whereas the PDAF focus was a bit soft (would definitely need calibration). I would say that the Tamron combination would the better choice for field work, as focus seems to come more confidently due to correct communication between the three components. It is interesting that the Tamron extender reports correctly with a Tamron lens but not with a Canon lens (and vice versa).

Using the 2.0x Tamron combination on the 5D Mark IV (which has as good a focus system as any camera out there) resulted in unsatisfactory results. The aperture value does not register correctly (it still shows at f/6.3) perhaps to trick the camera into attempting focus (which it does, but not very successfully). The end result is a lot of pulsing and hunting before eventually a tentative lock is achieved. Live View focus is slow but possible, but the incorrect aperture value will affect metering.

When I went into the field I found using the 150-600 G2 + the 1.4x extender to be a bit of a frustrating experience. The combination doesn’t focus quickly/confidently enough to be useful if your subject is moving at all. Even with a horse walking towards me slowly I could not achieve focus lock even on the 5D Mark IV. I ended up utilizing manual focus instead, which produced more reliable results. Fortunately the MF ring on the 150-600 G2 is pretty good.

Now for the good news. Image quality is actually fairly decent with most all of these combinations (though best on full frame). The most extreme combination here is the Tamron 150-600 G2 + 2.0x on an APS-C body (effective focal length of a whopping 1920mm), but even that really looks quite good globally, though at a pixel level the images look a bit rough.

On APS-C the Canon lens + 1.4x (either one) is roughly on par with the Tamron 150-600 G2 set to roughly the same focal length (around 560mm) with perhaps the slightest edge going to the Tamron. The Tamron 2.0x delivers great optical results (if not focus results!) with the image quality with the Canon combination looking fairly similar to the results with the 1.4x. Comparing the Tamron with the 1.4x (840mm) vs. the Canon with the 2.0x (800mm) shows a fairly similar result with perhaps a slight edge to the Canon combination (note that these combinations aren’t reporting accurately in the Lightroom readout).

Here are a few real world APS-C + extender shots:

I think that this combination is pushing the limits of what I consider acceptable image quality. I personally would suggest sticking with the results from the bare lens mounted on APS-C (which already provides 960mm equivalent of reach!)

On full frame the results look even better (the 30MP full frame image is kinder than the 24MP APS-C). The 150-600 G2 actually looks pretty great even with the 2.0x extender mounted. Center performance is stronger than the edges, obviously, but even the edges look pretty good considering the 1200mm focal length (600mm x 2). The 1.4x combination looks a bit better, but I suspect that if the framing were equal the two images wouldn’t look much different.

The Canon 100-400L II + 2.0x extender image looks pretty much perfect, and looks better than the Tamron 150-600 G2 + 1.4x. The optical chops of the Tamron extenders is shown in the fact that when I compare the Canon 100-400L II images between the Tamron 1.4x and Canon 1.4x III the image with the Tamron extender looks a hair better.

To sum up: using extenders is more complicated than just looking at the end result. The image quality results are pretty good all around (exceptionally good with the Canon lens), but unless you have a camera body with an extremely robust focus system you will get extremely mixed autofocus results, and several of these combinations won’t autofocus well enough for field use. If you want autofocus, it is better to use the Canon extender with the Canon lens and the Tamron extender with the Tamron lens and skip the 2.0x extender altogether. If you need the reach but not necessarily autofocus, however, the optics in Tamron’s 2.0x teleconverter is surprisingly good and yields very good end results. I’m very impressed with the optics of these Tamron extenders, and, from what I can tell, the Tamron 1.4x yields slightly better result than the Canon version.

And now for the big comparison: when I set the Tamron bare lens to 600mm and mount the 1.4x extender on the Canon 100-400L II (560mm) I find that I [very] slightly prefer the result from the Canon combination. In the center they are virtually indistinguishable, but on the very edges there is a slight advantage for 100-400L II + 1.4x combination. If I stop the Tamron down to equal the aperture (f/8) of the Canon combination I find that the Tamron center result is sharper but the edge result still slightly favors the Canon. I doubt there is a big enough different in the result to be observable in field use.

The Canon 100-400L II is still tops for overall image quality in my mind, but it has a more limited focal range + a higher price. In real world shooting those sharpness differences are going to be pretty small, however, and if you want/need 600mm of reach (on a regular basis), I would still recommend getting the Tamron 150-600 G2 over the Canon 100-400L II + 1.4x combination despite the Canon delivering a [very] slighter better image quality result. The bare Tamron lens will autofocus (well) on all Canon/Nikon bodies, whereas the 100-400L II + 1.4x combo will only autofocus on a few, and often with limited focus points available. Using extenders requires making sure to bring it along and often means more hunting when the light dims. The Tamron has a maximum aperture of f/6.3 (only one third stop slower than f/5.6), whereas the Canon combination has a maximum aperture of f/8 (two thirds stop slower than f/6.3). It’s also worth noting that the Canon combination will cost you twice what the Tamron lens will. If you only occasionally need the reach provided by a TC combination, then the TC option is fine (that’s the category I fall into), but if you regularly need a certain focal length I always recommend going with a lens that covers that focal length natively.

In some ways I think Tamron has made a mistake in marketing the new extenders as being “compatible” with the 150-600 G2. They are physically compatible, and even optically compatible, but they actually only achieve autofocus under fairly narrow circumstances. Using TCs is somewhat complicated, and the nuances are lost on more inexperienced photographers, which is reflected in the user reviews I read here. People are claiming that they don’t work (untrue), but getting them to work relies on certain criteria being met (as we have seen). If you have a body with a higher end autofocus system you probably can use the 150-600 G2 with the Tamron 1.4x extender, but just know that you will need a lot of light for that combination. I personally feel that the lens is best used in its bare form.

Conclusion

My end feeling is pretty much unchanged after reviewing the 150-600 G2 for the second time and adding more variables into the mix. I feel like this lens offers the best overall mix of image quality, build quality, features, and usability of the various 150-600mm competitors. Canon shooters have the option of going with the Canon 100-400L II, an excellent lens, but one with a considerably higher price tag and a more limited range. It’s a lens that I really like (and own), but I rarely need a very long focal length for my shooting style and prefer the smaller size of the Canon. If you regularly need a focal length longer than 400mm, however, I think the Tamron 150-600mm G2 may be your best bet for an affordable supertelephoto option. Likewise Nikon shooters have the option of the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6, a very nice lens with slightly better image quality. In this case, however, the Nikkor is not only more expensive (and with a smaller focal range) but is also a good bit larger. The Sigma 150-600 Sport is also an excellent lens, but I found it personally a fairly difficult one to handhold due not only to the overall weight but the balance of the lens. As far as use with extenders: I really think that adding an extender to a lens with a maximum aperture of f/6.3 strains the limits of current focus systems. Just enjoy the lens without the extender…you’ll be happier!

In conclusion, then, while it is certainly not perfect, the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 VC USD G2 may be the most well rounded option in this class and should definitely be considered by those looking for a moderately priced lens that will give them a lot of reach on either full frame or APS-C.

Gear Used:
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV (5D4): B&H Photo | Amazon.com | Amazon Canada
Canon EOS 80D: B&H Photo | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca |
In Canada Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (use code AMPLIS52016DA to get 5% off)
United States and World B&H Photo | Amazon Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X2 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

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Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 Review

Dustin Abbott

October 28th, 2016

The first generation of Tamron’s affordable supertelephoto zoom took the world by storm when it was released less than three years ago. Never before had the market seen such incredible reach (up to 600mm on a full frame DSLR) in such an affordable, well executed package. The lens wasn’t without faults, but even when later competitors were released from Sigma, Nikon, and Canon it demonstrated that it could hold its own. Tamron caught my attention when they announced a G2 (2^nd Generation) version of the lens. The G2 gives the lens the beautiful new SP design language including a better build and weather sealing. It addresses a number of the handling issues of the first lens and promises on paper to improve pretty much everything about the first lens. Can the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 deliver on its spec list promise? I got my hands on both a first and second generation 150-600 VC and put them to the test. We’re going to discover whether or not the 150-600 G2 is a worthy upgrade.

Prefer to watch your reviews? Check out Parts 1 and 2 of my review below:

My Reviews of all the Players:

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II

Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD (V1)

Sigma 150-600mm f/5.-6.3 OS HSM Contemporary

Sigma 150-600mm f/5.-6.3 OS HSM Sport