Lens of the Month
A Day at the Zoo with the 100-400mm
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By Armando Flores
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We kicked off this year’s Tamron Tours at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. with five trunks full of Tamron lenses. I knew that I would be walking around the zoo for at least 5 hours, so I would need a minimum focal length of 300mm, I would also be using my full frame Nikon, and I would be doing this all hand-held. Armed with this information I started looking at all my options. I could take the SP 150-600mm and be done with it but walking around with a 70.2 oz lens didn’t seem that appealing to me that day. I could use the 28-300mm at only 19 oz or the 70-300mm at only 26.9 oz but I’m a sucker for new technology. I felt that the newer 100-400mm at 39.3 oz was the best option for me and for this situation and the extra 100mm wouldn’t hurt. My two other choices were the 70-200 f/2.8 and the 70-210 f/4 with a teleconverter. The TC-X14 increases your focal length by 1.4x getting you very close to 300mm and the TC-X20 increases your focal length by 2.0x getting you closer to 400mm, but as you know in photography there’s always a compromise. With the TC-X14 you decrease your effective aperture by one f/stop and two f/stops with the TC-X20. All of my lens choices come with VC (Vibration Compensation) and are also moisture resistant. At the end of the day I was very pleased with my decision, the 100-400mm with its Dual MPU (micro-processing unit) and USD motor focuses very fast. You also get four stops of VC allowing you to hand hold the lens at slower shutter speeds. I found the image quality of the lens to be in par with the 150-600mm. I was also glad that I had the extra 100mm at the telephoto end as many of my shots were between 300 and 400mm. I’ve been working in the photo industry for many years and technology has vastly improved lens quality, a lens from ten years ago cannot compare to a lens from last year. I can’t wait to use the 100-400mm lens again at a sporting event and see how it performs in that situation.
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