Tamron AF 200-500mm f/5.0-6.3 Di LD SP FEC (IF) Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

by Tamron

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 6.1 x 5.8 inches ; 2.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00021EED6
• Item model number: AF08C-700
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 15, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

A powerful zoom for capturing close, detailed views of faraway subjects, this high-magnification beauty is the perfect choice for nature and sports shooters. Remarkably light and compact, it compresses the apparent distance between objects within the frame, giving stunning pictorial effects.

Ultra telephoto shots further than the eye can see

This is a zoom lens from Tamron that lets you bring your far away subjects up close while compressing the distance between the main subject and the background for professional-looking results. Even while covering up to a 500mm that enables you to take ultra telephoto shots of subjects further than the eye can see, its design is extremely lightweight and compact. When mounted on an APS-C size digital SLR camera, it provides a focal length equivalent to a 760mm for super ultra telephoto imaging.

SP AF 200-500mm F/5-6.3 Di Highlights

Enhance the ease of your polarizing filter use

Filter Effect Control (FEC)to Enhance the Operational Ease of your Polarizing Filter Use
The Filter Effect Control is designed to rotate the filter to the desired position while the hood is attached. This is accomplished by turning the FEC ring that in turn rotates the portion of the filter mount where the filter is mounted.

Digitally Integrated (DI) Lenses for Top Imaging Performance
Di (Digitally Integrated Design) is a Tamron designation that applies to lenses that have been optimized for digital capture using advanced multi-coating techniques and optical designs that assure excellent image quality across the entire picture field. Because of these characteristics, Di lenses provide outstanding performance on cameras with full-frame and APS-C format sensors as well as on 35mm film.

Super Performance (SP) for Discriminating Shooters
Tamron SP (Super Performance) series is a line of ultra-high-performance lenses designed and manufactured to the exacting specifications demanded by professionals and others who require the highest possible image quality. In creating SP lenses Tamron’s optical designers put their foremost priority on achieving superior performance parameters—they are all designed to a higher standard with little regard for cost constraints. As a result, Tamron lenses bearing the SP designation feature impressive and innovative designs that have established an enviable reputation for excellence among those knowledgeable photographers that demand the very best.

Internal Focusing (IF) System
Internal focusing provides numerous practical benefits to photographers including a non-rotating front filter ring that facilitates the positioning of polarizing and graduated filters, and more predictable handling because the lens length does not change during focusing. Even more important, Tamron’s Internal Focusing (IF) system provides a much closer minimum focusing distance (MFD) throughout its entire focusing range. In addition, IF improves optical performance by minimizing illumination loss at the corners of the image field, and helps to suppress other aberrations that become more troublesome at different focusing positions.

Low Dispersion (LD) glass reduces chromatic aberration

Low Dispersion (LD) Glass for Greater Lens Sharpness
Low dispersion (LD) glass elements in a lens help reduce chromatic aberration; the tendency of light of different colors to come to different points of focus at the image plane. Chromatic aberration reduces the sharpness of an image, but glass with an extremely lowdispersion index, has less of a tendency to separate (defract) a ray of light into a rainbow of colors. This characteristic allows the lens designer to effectively compensate for chromatic aberration at the center of the field (on axis), a particular problem at long focal lengths (the telephoto end of the zoom range), and for lateral chromatic aberration (towards the edges of the field) that often occurs at short focal lengths (the wide-angle end of the zoom range.)

Product Description

L9) 200-500MM F5-6.3 DI F/CANON

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful new lens from Tamron, March 16, 2005

By 

netscorer - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tamron AF 200-500mm f/5.0-6.3 Di LD SP FEC (IF) Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

This new lens, part of the Di (designed for digital) initiative from Tamron is very well built - light and balances well in hand.
It compares nicely with much more costlier Canon 100-400 L IS and compliments perfectly 70-200 type of lenses to extend telephoto reach to incredible 800mm on 1.6x crop camera.
Very sharp even wide-open from 200mm to 400mm it starts to slightly lose its edge at 500mm but still is very respectable. AF is quick and not very noisy. The lens can be hand-hold in broad daylight but is best used either with monopod or a good tripod (especially if you shoot in dusk conditions). Attaching optional 1.4x extender would allow to bring subjects up to 24 times closer compared to bare eyesight and still get a very high quality shot.
From the drawbacks there is slight lack of contrast comparing to 'L' (professional) lenses from Canon and slow F/6.3 apperture at the tele-end, making AF sometimes difficult with cameras that are not designed for AF after F/5.6 (such as 20D or Digital Rebel). Putting extender or/and Polarizer filter on lens would cut light that reaches the camera another 2-3 times, making this lens very slow and forcing Manual Focusing. So if you need the speed at such extreme reach, better consider prime (non-zoom) lenses.
The filter size is 86mm making finding an affordable quality filter for this lens a practical impossibility. But if you do manage to get a decent polarizer filter, using it would be much simplier then with any other large lenses due to included filter attachment ring. With any other lens the hood would be blocking access to the filter but thanks to this simple gadget, Tamron 200-500 can be used successfully with both filter and hood on.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your get more than what you pay for, September 11, 2007

By 

Q. Chang (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tamron AF 200-500mm f/5.0-6.3 Di LD SP FEC (IF) Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

I could give it a 4 stars, but I decide to add one more to offset another reviewer's 1 star, which I think is not fair. I've used this lens for several months and very happy about its performance -- Well-taken bird pictures are good enough for at least 11X14 prints.

I'm providing some technical tips here for long end (500mm) use --

* Use a (light) monopod, which could save some treasure at 1/100 sec. On the other hand, even at 1/1000 sec, monopod still could help sharpness sometimes;

* If light is ok, use f8, which is significantly better than wide open at 500mm and may reach the top of this lens;

* Make good use of the light weight and 2.5m focus distance, approach the objects -- it's the key to get great bird pictures, although 500mm is also important;

* Don't use teleconvert -- I found even 1.4X Kenko Pro 300 makes the image soft. Croping is better for this lens.

You pay $800 for this 500mm. If you use it correctly, you will get more than what you pay for.

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light weight, good price, sharp at F/7.1, slow autofocus, slow max aperture, June 16, 2008

By 

Grant Brummett (Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tamron AF 200-500mm f/5.0-6.3 Di LD SP FEC (IF) Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

See Nov 2008 Updates below for comparison between this lens and my new Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS

Pros:

Relatively light
Great bang for the buck
Pretty sharp at F/7.1 @ 500mm
Small size when zoomed to 200mm
Nice tripod mount that allows you to rotate the camera and lens

Cons:

Slow autofocus
No Image Stabilization
Cheap plastic build and feel
Slow max aperture especially at 500mm
Works best at long zoom settings on a tripod
Not as sharp as my Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS Zoom lens

I wanted more reach to photograph birds and the moon using my Canon 40D so I borrowed this lens for a few weeks from a friend while he borrows my Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L.

The first things you notice are it's pretty light and long especially when extended to 500mm with an even longer hood attached out past that. The hood seemed a little flimsy but attached firmly and stayed in place throughout shooting so I have no complaints about it.

My first shots were of the moon at 500mm hand held on manual mode at ISO 400 1/800th second at F/7.1. I was very pleased with how sharp and what great contrast this lens produced when I got back inside and downloaded to my Mac.

When attached to my monopod or tripod I liked the built in lens tripod mount as it easily allows you to rotate the camera and lens together easily without having to change settings on your tripod. I used this lens mainly on a monopod while shooting birds and this worked really well. I mainly used the lens at 500mm where it seemed really sharp at F/7.1 but pretty sharp wide open as well. Will try some more shots at shorter ranges and post later.

Conclusion:

If you are in the market for a 500mm lens especially one that's a zoom and in this price range and you don't need the speed of a faster lens then this may be the lens for you. I recently purchased a new Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS Zoom lens and find it much more useful especially since I am not tied to a tripod because of the freedom of the Image Stablizier. If you can afford it get the Canon 100-400 if you are on a budget and you don't mind using a tripod and having images that are softer then get the Tamron.

6-29-2008 Update

Despite being a really sharp lens, and a versatile one, there area several other things that make a lens a pleasure to use.

1. Fast auto-focus, this lens doesn't have it. After awhile of trading my Canon L lens back and forth with this one there's just too much I miss especially birds in flight. With a Canon L it's a snap.

2. Fast aperture, F/4 maybe I could put up with but when you get above F/5.6 you are getting into really slow territory.

I thought about getting a Canon 400mm F/5.6 L but this may be just a little too slow. I think I will continue to save up for the Canon 300 F/2.8 L. I know it's in another league from this lens, but I just can't give up the even better quality, fast aperture and lightening fast auto-focus. I'll buy a 2x multiplier to get out there further.

11-5-2008 Update:

I just bought a new Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS Zoom lens and there is just no comparison, The Canon 100-400 just blows away the Tamron lens in all areas except for reach which is another 100mm on the Tamron. I compared my old tripod mounted test photos with the Canon 100-400 test photos using the same settings and the 100-400 is shaper has better contrast and most importantly has image stabilization which allows me to use a much slower shutter speed and still get great sharp photos. The auto focus on the Canon is also faster.

11-14-2008 Update:

It was a full moon the last two nights perfect for taking my best shot of the moon with my new Canon 100-400 F/4.5 - F/5.6 IS L lens. I wanted to compare the best moon shot I got with the Tamron 200-500mm with my new Canon lens. The moon was full and night clear and I took a hand held shot at 1/400s F/7.1 ISO 100 with the Canon 40D same camera I used with the Tamron test. I then downloaded and processed the Raw photo using the same settings I used for the best moon shot I ever got with the Tamron.

Results: The Canon 100-400 had enough resolving power and was sharp enough where I could actually zoom in enough on the moon shot taken with the Tamron 200-500mm at 500mm and it was slightly better. The shots at 400mm with the Tamron were a step down from the 400mm shot with the Canon 100-400.

The other thing I noticed after looking through the directory with all the daytime Tamron 200-500mm vs the Canon 100-400 was how many shots I got with the Canon 100-400 lens that would not be possible with the Tamron because the Tamron has no Image Stabilizer and the Tamron focused much more slowly. The Tamron is more of a tripod bird perched on a branch lens the Canon 100-400 I can actually do bird in flight photos!

Verdict:

If you are on a budget and don't mind shooting from a tripod at motionless or near motionless subjects the Tarmon 200-500 can do, but... if you have the money at all you need to get the Canon 100-400 you will be getting more shots and with more resolving power even though the Canon is 100mm shorter.

Lenses I currently own:

Canon EF-S 17-55 F/2.8 IS Ultra sharp, great colors, great low light, poor zoom action
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Rebel XTi Kit lens Muddy, slow, pile of junk
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L Fantastic colors, sharp zoomed 17 to 24mm, ultra smooth zoom action, light weight
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L Fantastic colors and contrast, sharp zoomed 40 to 70mm, zoom a little stiff at first, heavy, repair prone!
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Good budget portrait lens, light weight, disposable, sharp from F/2.5
Canon EF 85mm F/1.2 L II The best portrait lens for female and children clients, buttery smooth Bokeh, heavy and expensive it shares sharpness with 135mm
Canon EF 135mm F/2.0 L The best portrait lens for males and tied with Canon 85mm F 1/.2 for sharpest lens I own, buttery smooth Bokeh
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L fantastic colors, sharp for a zoom, very versatile ego boosting and attention getting and heavy! My favorite zoom lens!!!
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L great IS, super colors, sharp for a zoom, extremely versatile, variable Bokeh, even more ego boosting and attention getting when extended and 400mm reach!!
My next lens purchase I'm saving for right now: _Canon EF 300mm F/2.8 IS L the finest lens ever