Sigma 50-500mm or Tamron 150-600mm on a77ii?

[Valley Quail]

Hi Folks,

I strayed from Sony for a couple of years, trying Pentax DSLR and Panasonic m43 systems. They're good systems and fun to use, but I'm coming back to Sony, with an a77ii arriving Wednesday w/18-135mm and 55-300mm lenses.

What I need help on is advice and input from users on the super long lenses. After lots of study, I've pretty well settled on the Tamron 150-600mm. However, I'm also tempted by the flexibility of the Sigma 50-500mm.

Any opinions or actual user experience with either lens would be appreciated.

Thanks,....Jack

[wanaclick]

If you do choose Tamron please make sure to go for its latest second generation lens.Sigma has two offerings in 150-600 range as well, also comes with dock.

Sigma 50-500 may be chaper though.

[Valley Quail]

Thanks for the caution on the Tamron lens.

I'm still sorting through the several other options,....but, when I remind myself why I want a long lens to begin with,......max zoom,.....I keep coming back to the Tamron 150-600mm.

Although I am considering lenses on the used market, the Tamron is almost the same price new as a good used lens. And, if I recall correctly, it comes with a 4 or, maybe 6?, year warranty.

Jack

[wanaclick]

If you are into birding,wild life photography you may want 150-600mm which on an APSC body will become 225-900mm.It will get best results between 300-400mm and not so good results at the wider and the tele ends.
A 400mm prime with a 1.4 or X2 converter would give good results as well.

A bridge camera like Nikon P900 will give you a whopping 2000mm but will be useless in low light and a small sensor in it will not yield huge pronts nor allow much cropping.
One inchsensor cameras like Panasonic FZ1000 will give you best of both the worlds.
Ponder beforeyou committ.

[Valley Quail]

I know what you mean. I had the FZ1000 for a couple of years and it is s really great camera. I'm probably going to go with the Tamron 150-600. It seems to get good comments from users.

Jack

[TCav]

Originally Posted by wanaclick

... Sigma has two offerings in 150-600 range as well, also comes with dock. ...

Sigma's 150-600 isn't available for Sony.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by wanaclick

If you do choose Tamron please make sure to go for its latest second generation lens. ...

DxOMark published Lens test results seem to indicate that the G2 (second generation) isn't quite as good as the original.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by wanaclick

... A 400mm prime with a 1.4 or X2 converter would give good results as well. ...

Generic 2X teleconverters are pretty bad. In addition, even good ones add two stops to the maximum aperture, which will prevent autofocus.

[NHL]

I own an use both Sigma 50-500 and 150-600 Contemporary and can assure everyone that the newer 150-600 is both sharper and faster in AF...

The 150-500 also sports a 3 positions distance limit switch which further helps the camera in narrowing its AF range. The 50-500 further more can not accept a 1.4x teleconverter which works really well on the 150-600.

You can also program (or update firmware) on the 150-600 to your liking which is not available on the 50-500!

[NHL]

I don't know how accurate the Dxo test is but I have several friends who has upgraded their 150-600 to the G2 and love it much better than their original version.
The G2 will also accept the 1.4x teleconverter and docking station (like Sigma) which the original Tamron can not!