Dale Matson
Click On Photographs To Enlarge
Sony A7R2 With Tamron 150-600 lens
I am primarily a mountain landscape photographer. This
generally does not require a super telephoto lens but I also have been
attempting to photograph the endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep for a few
years and have gone from the Sony G 70-200mm lens to the Canon 100-400mm lens
and to the Sony G SAL 70-400mm lens. I have even carried the Canon lens over
Baxter Pass (elevation 12,300’) on the chance that I might see the sheep.
This spring I had an opportunity to go on a field trip co-sponsored
by the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation and the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife. The leaders were able to put us directly below the sheep but
they were high above us and could only be seen with binoculars or spotting
scopes. Needless to say, even a cropped photograph with my Sony lens was too
small and unsatisfactory. After two more attempts it became obvious to me that
I needed a lens with more reach.
I went with the Canon-Tamron lens adapted to my Sony A7R2
with the Viltrox EF-NEXII adapter. I have taken this lens on day hikes but
weighing 5.5 lbs. inside a protective case this lens will never be a part of my
backpacking experiences. It weighs more than my tent and sleeping bag combined!
I want to discuss my experiences with the lens on the Sony
Camera. The adapter does allow for autofocus and it can be crisp or it can be slow
to focus. I set the focus menu to “Phase Detection”. Sometimes, for no reason
it will not autofocus and the focus peaking will come on as if the lens was in
manual focus mode. I have learned to shut the camera off and turn it on again
and this will usually reacquire the autofocus.
I have used it hand held, on a monopod and on a tripod. If
you plan on using a tripod, buy one that is sturdy because I found it difficult
to lock the camera/lens on what I wanted to photograph. It wanted to drop down
some after I had tightened it.
Most of my shots have been hand held or resting on
something. The more a shot is magnified, the harder it is to get a sharp shot.
For example most 150mm shots tend to be sharp when viewed “actual size”. Such
is not the case at 600mm even with a tripod. The auto focus also works better
at lower magnification. Some of the problems I blame on bad air. When I am
photographing a mountain that is 20 miles away, I am shooting through lots of
polluted air. This time of year, there are only occasional afternoon showers in
the mountains.
Another quirk is when the lens is mounted on the camera; the
camera recognizes it as a cropped lens and shoots photographs that are half the
42 MP file size. I had to turn off the auto crop feature in the menu. Of course
if you want more reach than 600mm, you can always crop the photograph in
Photoshop. I also set the camera to “auto” mode. Most of the shots are 1/500 second,
which is a little slow for 600mm.
I like the lens because of the reach and occasionally get
sharp photographs even at 600mm hand held. One individual on a photography blog
said that the bokeh was terrible. I am hardly concerned about that when the
photograph was perhaps the closest ever taken of a Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep
in the wild.
For someone who is a Zeiss fan boy, I must say however that
colors don’t exactly “pop” with the Tamron lens. The adapted Canon and Sony Sal
lenses had as many problems and the Canon was even worse in terms of sharpness.
I think the retail price of about $1,000.00 made this lens my best choice until
a native e-mount long-range telephoto lens becomes available. I won’t hold my
breath however.
If you are familiar with this lens/camera combination and have
tips, I’d be glad to hear from you. If you are considering this combination, I
hope this was useful.
Osprey 500mm
150mm
150mm
329mm
600mm
600mm
600mm
600mm Sierra Nevada Bighorn Ram
300mm Banner Peak
150mm Edison Lake
600mm Osprey With Stick For Nest Repair
165mm
600mm Sierra Nevada Bighorn Ewe
483mm
150mm Sierra Nevada From College Rock (Elevation 9,100')
500mm
283mm
