Tamron 100-400mm Lens Test

I have primarily used the Nikon 200-500mm lens when photographing wildlife and birds.  I found it to be a more than adequate lens especially considering the price.  There is a regional park close to where I live.  This park has quite a diverse bird population throughout the year so I go there often to not only practice bird photography but also to study their behaviors.  I don't usually take a tripod but usually have a monopod attached.  This gives me more freedom of movement which I like.  The problem with this set up is that the lens and camera together are quite a bit of weight to carry while walking around the park.  I noticed my images weren't as sharp as they should be because I wasn't able to keep everything as steady as needed.  I needed to try something else.  After a lot of research and realizing what my budget limitations were, I decided on the new Tamron 100-400mm lens.  The price was about half the price of the Nikon 80-400mm and the comparison was favorable.

For the past few days I have been putting the lens through a workout.  I wanted to see if I could improve my shots as well as not feel as though I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I was very pleasantly surprised by how much less weight I was carrying around.  I was also pleasantly surprise by how easy it was to handhold without the shaking.  The percentage of my shots in focus improved dramatically.  I still need to improve on my in flight bird pictures but with time, I believe that will come.

Below are a few of the photos made with this lens.

Loggerhead Shrike

Red-tailed Hawk

Juvenile Green Heron 

Mallard Drake in Non-Breeding Plumage

The Lensbaby Velvet 56

I have been taking some online photography classes and the Lensbaby Velvet 56 kept coming up.  I liked the images I was seeing and thought it could be an interesting addition to my bag.   Before doing that though, I did some additional research, looked at 100s of images and ultimately decided it was something I wanted to try out.  The lens is known for its unique bokeh effects and selective focusing.   The first thing you’ll notice about the Velvet 56 is the weight and feel.  The mount is very snug on the camera but is not overly tight. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get the hang of it but so far I am enjoying the process of learning it.  Focusing the lens takes a bit of practice.  I have heard that the best results are had by using live view while zoomed in to get the focus sharp.  I have not tried that yet.  The Velvet 56 creates a soft focus effect. The more you open up the aperture the more of a dreamy look you will achieve. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 5” allowing you to get up close and personal with your subject.  One downside I found was because there is no chip in the lens, the camera has no clue what the aperture is to store in your meta data. The only macro lens I currently have is the Sigma 105mm.  I think this lens will be great as a dual purpose lens for macro and walking around lens.  I can't wait to really put it through the ringer.  

If you like the soft focus type of images, you can now get much better results than smearing your equipment with petroleum jelly or covering it with nylons.  :-)

Below are a few of the test shots I have taken.