With the good weather earlier this month, my 70-200 got another airing. It’s a fine lens, which adapts well to close-up work when used with extension tubes or a teleconverter. Great for those times when I just can’t get close enough with the macro lens.
One of the first things I noticed about the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di VC USD was the positioning of the focus and zoom rings. Amongst my complete selection of zoom lenses (two of which are Nikon, and the Tamron 18-270 I tested on this blog last year), the 70-200mm is unique in that the zoom ring is placed nearest to the front element. Up until now, I’ve been undecided on how I feel about this. However, an afternoon trying to photograph hawker dragonflies in flight allowed me to cement my decision on which configuration I prefer. Feel free to disagree, it’s just my opinion…
Photographing dragonflies in flight is hard. Because you have to be quite close to them, the depth of field becomes very shallow. I’ve yet to meet an autofocus system that can keep up with a hawker in flight in the middle of the day, so I always use manual focus for this sort of task. I know of a local pond that is frequented by hawkers, and is of a small enough size to maintain a close distance. Last year, I had lots of practice and came away with many “keepers”. In spite of this, I’ve not had a lot of success this time around.
Full frame image of best result from Tamron
Crop showing level of detail and background seperation
I really like the gear ratio of the manual focus ring of the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di VC USD. It doesn’t seem to take as much adjustment to do a full circuit of the range as it does with its Nikon counterpart. This means it is not quite as precise, but has the advantage of being very quick to use manually. In theory, this should make it better for this sort of work. So what’s the issue?
The fact is, it’s much easier to pan when you can hold the outermost point on the lens. And when you’re panning, I generally don’t need to zoom. On the Tamron lens, the zoom lens takes this position, with the focus ring nearer the middle. The result is that I can’t pan effectively and adjust the focus at the same time. Unfortunately, to get good images of a dragonfly in flight, it’s best to catch them as they come closest to you, which means you have to pan very quickly, at a constantly changing distance. I’ve not got anything like last year’s results yet, although I will keep trying.
Given that this lens is aimed more at the pro-end of the market, I can’t see the need for rapid re-composition with the zoom lens. In short, for me, the zoom and focus rings on this lens are definitely the wrong way round.
The official end of the project is today (but we’re not done yet), and this my rate as one of my favourite shots from the Tamron. These characters aren’t the easiest to catch on camera, but the rapidity of using the manual focus wheel, combined with the small maximum aperture (not often you’ll find that listed as an advantage) of the lens allowed me to track this dragonfly with ease. This perfectly illustrates the versatility that you can achieve when you really examine all of your equipment in the way that this project has allowed me to, and is just one reason why this lens will be sticking with me long past the close of my challenge.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 250mm; ISO 400; F/10; 1/320s. VC on
A couple of damselflies feeling frisky at the reserve this morning.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 270mm; ISO 400; F/9; 1/320s. VC on
This chap posed very proudly for several minutes. This is a great example of ho good the 18-270 PZD can be when everything comes together in just the right way, with good distance between the subject and the background.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 270mm; ISO 400; F/9; 1/125s. VC on
This delightful little gem was flitting about this morning while I was out at the nature reserve.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 270mm; ISO 500; F/9; 1/500s. VC on
I’ve not quite got parallel to this chap, so the focus is falling off a little on the tail, but I liked the graphic impact of this shot.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 110mm; ISO 400; F/9; 1/320s. VC on
My partner is leaving the school she has taught at for the last nine years this week, and the gifts are starting to appear. On a typical year, we tend to become very well stocked on flowers from the kids, but this year I get the feeling that we’re going to feel like an interflora franchise store 🙂
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 130mm; ISO 320; F/13; 1/60s. VC on
It occurred to me today that a surface is only solid relative to size of the things walking on it, since most of the space in an atom is empty anyway. This random thought is the sort of mental gymnastics I go through when faced with a simple task like buttering bread, and end up with something reminiscent of the the Himalayas. Maybe I need to cut down on my caffeine intake.
These handsome insects are voracious predators, although they are never more dangerous than when they are larvae. However, they are also a favourite meal of banded demoiselle damselflies, which means that the two tend to go hand in hand.
Nikon D300; Tamron 18-270mm PZD @ 185mm; ISO 250; F/10; 1/200s. VC on
the days zoom past 