Some of the reviews of my new Tamron 150-600mm lens suggest that it has trouble capturing birds in flight, so I was anxious to test out its capabilities and the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) coming and going from my local marsh served as my initial test subjects.
These five geese were part of a larger group that was departing from the marsh and I started tracking them as they flew past me. Initially thought that one of the geese has flown out of the frame in the second image, but then I looked more closely and realized that all five were still there—the formation was really tight (or at least the compression caused by the long telephoto lens made it look that way.
Sometimes in the past I have had problems in grabbing focus on moving subjects, especially when the background is cluttered and is competing for focus. I was happy to see that I was able to acquire and hold focus pretty well and the geese are separated from the trees in the background.
I am learning how to manage this longer lens and, for example, still have trouble sometimes pointing the extended lens at a subject and then finding the subject in the viewfinder—the field of view is not very wide at 600mm. I plan to check out the different focus options for my camera to see if any of them will improve my changes of getting clearer shots.
Does it show that I’m pretty excited with my new lens? I’ll be sharing more images as I continue to practice and learn with it.
Five guys in flight
Tight Formation
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Hi Mike, I’m practising too so can relate to your focusing challenges. I find I hone in on birds in flight at 100 first then zoom in at 400 (my max on my lens). It’s easier to find the little critters that way. Your first image is nice and clear, with a good muted background. With the second one the background is stronger and the birds are flying close together, so not quite as effective. That’s the other challenge, isn’t it – whether to go for greater or shallower DOF! Pretty hard to go for shallower DOF to mute the background whilst keeping all the birds in focus. So you did well!.
Thanks. I definitely agree with your call on the two shots. I think the geese may have been getting closer to the woods in the second shot. My biggest goal was seeing if the focus would shift entirely to the background, which it didn’t do for these shots. As for zooming in, I forget sometimes that I am using a zoom lens, because I used a fixed focal length macro lens most of the summer. It seem too that this Tamron lens zooms in the opposite direction from my Canon zoom lens. (I’ll have to double check, but I think it zooms like a Nikon lens vice a Canon lens). I’ve got lots of work to do. 🙂
Nice, I have a sigma 150-500, it is fun to play with in terms of catching the birds in flight. Hope you have lots of fun.
Thanks. I had been mostly using a 70-300mm lens, so this extra reach is new and especially exciting.
Great job capturing these guys in flight Mike.
Thanks, Dan. I shot some the next day against a blue sky, which didn’t compete for focus, but thought I’d post these first.
This lens really lets you get close up to study the birds and also gives you a beautiful image which I find is very 3D. Amelia
Thanks, Amelia. You highlighted one of the things I really like about the lens (as long as there is decent light). It’s also nice to be able to get in close on little birds, like sparrows, and I’ll be posting some shots soon of the little birds.
Maybe the people who say that the lens has trouble catching birds in flight would say that about any lens, because maybe it’s not the lens that is the trouble. You certainly don’t seem to be having any trouble with it.
Exactly..:-)
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Allen. i had more than my share of missed shots, but I am pretty happy that the first day out with the lens I could get some decent in-flight shots.
Beautiful images and that golden light is just perfect for these birds.
It was pretty early in the morning and the light was cooperative and the geese chose to fly in a good direction.
Looks great, practice makes perfect. Its all about the photographer and maybe the weather conditions and available light..:-)
The light is going to be really important for this lens. Eventually I’ll get around to checking how it operates in conditions of more limited light.
I purchased one of these a few weeks ago, and am approaching it use with cautious optimism. So far, I’m extremely pleased. It’s a big lens, but accordingly really gets the reach, which was missing with my usual 18-270 Tamron. These are at least, a lot of fun – and at best capable of some extraordinary images. I’m finding the Nikon 5200 set at AF-C (a motion tracking auto focus setting) to perform well. My recent post “Bald Eagles Talent Contest” http://wp.me/p37YEI-1om is my first attempt, and was shot hand held from a drifting boat! Love your shots! M 🙂
Thanks. We’ll have to compare notes as we both get used to the lens. I like to shoot such a variety of shots that’s it’s always a challenge to keep the camera on the appropriate settings.
The action shot and the lighting is absolutely perfect…Love the photos.
Thanks, Charlie, for your constant encouragement.
Great photos. I’d say the new lens is a winner