Tamron 150-600 G2 Issue

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Name
Liam
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Hey,
So I've had my Tamron 150-600 G2 for around 8 months now and I've never really been impressed with any of the shots I have taken from it,
They all seem out of focus and blurry at 600mm,
I shot a robin today at 600mm 1/1250 F8 and it looks ridiculous,
is out of focus and not sharp,
ive always had results from my 300mm etc,
I've tried a friends Sigma 150-600 C and its entirely different, super sharp and crisp at 600mm,
Different lens I know, but am I doing something wrong or is it a possibility that I have a faulty lens,
its on my Nikon D7500,
Purchased the lens from e-infinity so I'm unsure on warranty,
would any micro adjustmets work to fix this or possibly spend £79 on the tap in console to try and rectify it ?
any advice is appreciated as its unusable and ruining my shots,
Thanks in advance
 
Cheers Robert,
Yeah I tried on my tripod with and without the VR,
its just not having any of it im afraid,
its driving me crazy,
my settings are correct and the focus points ive tried single and group and im still getting nowhere,
I'm really not sure how I can upload the image to here so that it can be viewed
 
Cheers Robert,
Yeah I tried on my tripod with and without the VR,
its just not having any of it im afraid,
its driving me crazy,
my settings are correct and the focus points ive tried single and group and im still getting nowhere,
I'm really not sure how I can upload the image to here so that it can be viewed
Sounds like it might be a duffer.
I had similar with my old 150-600mm and it was my unsteady hands that caused it.
On a tripod it was very sharp.
 
e-infinity appear to offer a 12 month warranty so you could see what they say ... I have no experience of their after sales service.
Does the D7500 have an AF-Micro Adjust facility? If so you could try adjusting it to see if that helps/
 
Wow thanks for the speedy replies,
I'll have another fiddle on the tripod to see if I can nail it,
Yeah the D7500 has micro adjustment but im not really clued up on it if im honest,
I have looked on youtube but videos are very vague,
I have an adjustment apparatus that you point and focus on,
But not used it as I dont know how to effectively,
thanks again for the replies
 
Wow thanks for the speedy replies,
I'll have another fiddle on the tripod to see if I can nail it,
Yeah the D7500 has micro adjustment but im not really clued up on it if im honest,
I have looked on youtube but videos are very vague,
I have an adjustment apparatus that you point and focus on,
But not used it as I dont know how to effectively,
thanks again for the replies


Wouldn't bother trying to micro adjust a lens like that. It would be very difficult to sort out and would likely end up back focusing and front focusing at different focal lengths.

You could potentially send it to Tamron, but they would likely want you to send the body as well and any calibration work they do would be moot if you ever changed bodies.

I would just get rid.
 
I haven’t tried manual focus,
I will indeed give that a try,
I’ll go now and give it a go,
As for getting rid of it I really don’t want to do that as it took me a while to save for it,
I don’t want to lose out if not needed,
Thanks
 
Try a tripod shot using live view if it gives a sharp result that way it most likely does need fine tuning, i have had a few long zooms and found if you just adjust at 600mm it can make the difference.
 
Try a tripod shot using live view if it gives a sharp result that way it most likely does need fine tuning, i have had a few long zooms and found if you just adjust at 600mm it can make the difference.
This.
I had to adjust my 150-600 sigma on my D7000, but only needed to adjust at 600mm.
Was great after that, but my shaky hands were still an issue.
I used a tripod for most of my wildlife shots.
 
Just tried my tripod and at 600mm its still soft and not sharp,
I think micro adjustment is in order should I know how to do it,
I have created a Flickr account to upload the samples,
Hope ive done it correctly,
These are direct from the camera,
No processing at all....

DOB_7765 by Liam Dobinson, on Flickr

DOB_7747 by Liam Dobinson, on Flickr
 
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Cheers,
its saying I need a cpu lens,
is mine a cpu lens or is that original Nikon lenses ?

Ignore that and ignore that it's for a D4S ... it gives you the procedure to follow to do the adjustments.
The standard AF-adjust in the 'spanner' menu shuld work fine with your Tamron, you just need to do the tests to see how far it is out and experiment with different numbers (+/-) to find where focus is.
 
The robin shot looks like either missed focus or back focussing.
Have you tried it in good light?
These lenses perform best in good light.
When I has my sigma 150-600 I used f5.6 most of the time, shutter speed above 1/800th and iso no higher than 1600 for best results.
 
I have it set to af-c and I just keep pumping the back button focusing so that it keeps focus on the subject
That was with group af too,
Maybe I’m expecting too much
 
The grass behind the Robin looks sharper so if your focus point was definitely on the bird, as above, the lens is back-focusing, so in AF micro-adjust you would be looking to dial in a minus rather than a positive number e.g. -10
 
I'll try again.

Try manual focussing using live view.
This!

Or even use af in live view as it focuses on the sensor not the PDAF system found in DSLRs.

If you get a sharp result then worry about af adjust. The tap in console is a great tool and one that imo really makes Tamron and Sigma stand out from the oem’s who simply don’t offer this level of tuning on their lenses.
 
I've just taken a test shot on my calibration card,
F6.3 1/160 at 600mm, Lens is showing 13ft distance,
Not sure what I'm looking for on the micro adjustments bit,
im in the menu but what does this look like before I proceed with the calibration,
Standard lens no calibration,
I'm Focused on the QR code in the centre.....

DOB_7839 by Liam Dobinson, on Flickr
 
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I've just taken a test shot on my calibration card,
F6.3 1/160 at 600mm, Lens is showing 13ft distance,
Not sure what I'm looking for on the micro adjustments bit,
im in the menu but what does this look like before I proceed with the calibration,
Standard lens no calibration,
I'm Focused on the QR code in the centre.....

DOB_7839 by Liam Dobinson, on Flickr
Did you use live view?
 
Liam, Af calibration is irrelevant for live view but it will tell you if the Lens is capable of focusing sharply in the first place.

A PDAF af system uses a separate sensor to focus and isn’t always a ‘match’ for the ‘actual’ correct focus. Look at PDAF as an unfortunate af system employed by dslr cameras until evil mirrorless takes over the world and solves the problem of af inaccuracies..... If you like ;)

Redo your test today, outside in good light, at a camera to subject distance that you most commonly use so for example if birding it might be 15m away?

Post up the 100% live view crop and the 100% PDAF crop
 
Cheers,
I’ll get the crops up later
But I’ve tried again whilst i had a spare minute
And it’s starting to bug me very much
Even in good light it’s still soft and blurry
I’m watching the indicator in the viewfinder and it seems like it’s constantly skipping focus from front to back then the circle to say it’s focused
 
Cheers,
I’ll get the crops up later
But I’ve tried again whilst i had a spare minute
And it’s starting to bug me very much
Even in good light it’s still soft and blurry
I’m watching the indicator in the viewfinder and it seems like it’s constantly skipping focus from front to back then the circle to say it’s focused
Try s-af rather than c-af
 
Cheers,
I’ll get the crops up later
But I’ve tried again whilst i had a spare minute
And it’s starting to bug me very much
Even in good light it’s still soft and blurry
I’m watching the indicator in the viewfinder and it seems like it’s constantly skipping focus from front to back then the circle to say it’s focused
Just manually focus then! Come on let’s see them crops ;)
 
Hi Liam, we don’t seem to be getting anywhere fast I’m afraid!

You need to shoot a still object, ideally a test chart. Two shots one using the cameras regular af system and one using live view either live view af or manually focus it. Post up 100% crops of both for a comparison.
 
Liam whereabouts are you based , if your in the north west I could do it for you .. or if not this is the proper way . Camera/lens on tripod locked down fairly stiffly , set camera to single focus point , one shot , lens wide open , turn off v.c . Use target at normal shooting range at 600mm .i reckon about 25-30 feet for small birds ,Take test shots adjust accordingly . . What we are not seeing is how your actually doing it , and if your tripod and head is steady enough to do it without movement
 
Cheers again all for taking the time to reply
I always use single point focus but was reading the manual yesterday and it states use group for erratic subjects
So thought I’d have few test shots with group af but still seems the same,
I have used my test chart at 15ft using live view and the viewfinder
I shot a bird with single point exactly on the eye and it wasn’t any better
I’m in the north east so not very local
I am going to try that battery focus test later see how I get on,
Thank you again all for the time taken to help
 
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line your batteries up at a slight angle

/


like that about half a inch apart is best . at 15ft your probably to close .do the battery test but at about 30ft .aiming point centre battery

group focus points with the nikons tend to be more for b.i.f than anything else on the D7200 I find 9 points is around the best results with b.i.f .
for birds on branches or grounded single point a.f at all times ..

just looked at your robin and goldfinch shots on flickr . sorry matey its user error both are wide open that lens will need stopping down to around f8 to get the best from it .. the goldfinch is fine if processed properly with the bird layered and N/R applied to background then bird sharpened it would be great .
the robin shot is on the grass i.e messy back/fore ground and f6.3 equates to a soft image with little d.o.f .. I would suggest switching on auto i.s.o and upping your shutter speed and increase the aperture to f8 .. using a long lens like these is a long learning curve we ALL make mistakes with our settings myself included you only tend to see the best shots from people on the inter web thingy not the few hundred per session discards

p.s nowt wrong with your lens either the passenger plane is sharp as a razor
 
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