Tropical Wetlands Birds with the new 150-600mm lens

Thought I'd share some of my first weekend shots with the new big lens, the Tamron 150-600mm - previously I had only snapped a few shots in the backyard to make sure the lens was aligned and focus was accurate. This time, I got two days to check out my local two wetlands spots with the new lens and see how it does. My first observations - SHARP! Even 600mm wide open is very crisp and sharp with nice detail - daresay better than the Tamron 200-500mm was at 500mm F6.3. Stop down at all and it's very crisp and croppable throughout the focal range. I'm very pleased with this lens. And even better, it's 600mm and hand-holdable...perfect!


A yellow-crowned night heron:


Tricolor heron, shaking off on the rail:


Ovenbird hiding in the shade:


Red-shouldered hawk on a stump, very far away (this is 600mm and mega-cropped):


Osprey flying over...not sure what he was looking at up above:


Green heron sitting pretty:


Red-bellied woodpecker deep in the shady forest:


Yellow-throated warbler - migration is starting to kick in well down here:


A hidden green heron hunting in the reeds - just a tiny slot for me to shoot through, but loved his feather colors:

 

Thanks guys. That has been the best surprise of this lens...I had hoped it would be at least AS good as the 200-500mm Tamron was at 500mm...anything more would be icing. As it happens, there's a lot of icing, because I'm finding it superior in sharpness at 600mm F6.3 than the Tamron was at 500mm F6.3. Stopped down at all, or pulled back into the 350-500mm focal range, and it's superbly sharp, matching what I see from some pretty high-end primes. Having that nice big zoom range and that huge reach and still getting prime-level sharpness through the middle ranges is wonderful. Build quality is definitely a few steps up over the older Tamron 200-500 as well, and nice additions like the MF/AF switch, focus limiter switch, and decently fast and quiet drive motor. For $1000, this thing is a bargain.

 

Thank you Howie! I'm very much hoping to get some more time out with this lens - so far, I've had it 3 weeks, and only gotten to shoot it for one weekend - and that was in mixed stormy weather, with off and on rain and clouds with bits of sun. This weekend is forecast as the same - 60% chance of rain both days - so it looks like I'll be fighting more of the same - how I can't wait for a nice Florida winter day - blue skies, cooler weather in the 70s, and no chance of rain!