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

Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD Performance

Starting at 100mm, sharpness centrally is excellent from f/4.5 to f/11, very good at f/16 and then diffraction starts to really bite. Results are still good at f/22, but f/32 is really quite soft. At the edges, f/4.5 is good, f/5.6 to f/16 very good, but thereafter f/22 and f/32 are soft.

200mm sees excellent central sharpness from f/5.6 to f/11 which remains very good at f/16. It is still good at f/22 but thereafter falls to softness progressively from f/32 to f/40. At the edges, f/5.6 is very good, f/8 and f/11 excellent, f/16 very good. From f/22 to f/40 sees soft results.

300mm shows a very similar pattern. The centre is excellent from f/6.3 to f/11, very good at f/16 and only surrenders to diffraction from f/22 to f/45, which are progressively softer as we go. The edges start off at a very good level at f/6.3, are excellent at f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16 and then follow the central pattern of increasing softness from f/22 through to f/45.

400mm is where it can so easily fall apart, and yet the longest focal length is critical to the usefulness of the lens. Pleasingly, the central sharpness is very good from f/6.3 to f/16 and only falls into softness from f/22 to f/45. The edges are soft at f/6.3, good at f/8 and f/11 and then soften from f/16 through to f/45.

In practice, this is all very usable and the edge softness at 400mm and f/45 is not a likely combination to be often sought. To enable an adequate shutter speed to stop subject motion, for example in bird photography, open aperture or f/8 is much more likely to be selected and here the lens is largely excellent throughout its focal length range.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) at the centre is extremely low at 100mm, steadily increasing as the focal length increases, but still delivering impressive figures. The edges are less well controlled, but again return impressive figures for a long zoom lens. As always, if fringing should be a problem on demanding subjects then software solutions are available.

Pincushion distortion is found throughout, returning figures of +0.66% at 100mm, +1.51% at 200mm, +1.55% at 300mm and +1.61% at 400mm. This is actually considerably better than many zoom lenses, even those with less demanding specifications. Although it is unlikely that further correction will be needed for most subjects, if necessary we can turn to readily available software.

Excellent coating and internal construction plus a generously sized lens hood mean that flare is not a problem. It is not easy to induce and even contrast is maintained well against the light.

Bokeh is the quality, or smoothness of gradation, of the out of focus areas in an image. Large areas tend to blend well, but fine detail, for example, foliage behind a small bird, can look a little fussy, even slightly ragged. Fortunately, a long lens by its nature tends to throw backgrounds well out of focus, so it is acceptable.

Finally, the VC system does its job efficiently. Looking at it closely, it does depend to a slight degree of how sharp we want sharp to be, and the demands of an online image will be somewhat different to the demands of an A3+ print. This reviewer managed a good 2 stops advantage with critical sharpness maintained, and a 4 stop advantage with smaller prints and web in mind. In any event, a useful addition to the features of the lens.  

Value For Money

The Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD lens is priced at £790, and we might add the Tripod Mount M at £109.99. The availability is restricted to Canon and Nikon mounts.

There are numerous alternatives, and similar lenses include:

• Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, £1849
• Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR, £2199
• Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR, £1299
• Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM C, £699

Putting this in perspective, other marques have their own variations:

• HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 ED DC AW, £1949
• Sony A 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM II, £1999
• Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 OSS G Master, £2499

This leaves Tamron's new lens at a very attractive price level.

For more options have a look at the Top 25 Best Telephoto zoom lenses. 

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