Tamron SP 5.6/300mm (54b) - additional samples

[Rolf]

some additional samples with Pentax K-5 and Tamron SP 5.6/300 mm (54B) at 300mm, ISO 800 and wide open handhelded.

[Laurence]

These are what I was looking for! GORGEOUS falloff of the out-of-focus areas. Take a look at the first image and the
lower part of the spikey florets - the falloff is even and smooth. This is further shown with the second image
and the way the two major leaves fall off smoothly. This has always been a particularly nice trait of the 300.

Also, the fifth image of the flowers that look like droplets with the deep green leaf in the foreground: the bokeh circles
in the background are to DIE for! The edges of the circles are superb - smooth, with very little to no 'ring edges'. These are
the kind of background bokeh circles that make an image BETTER, while sometimes the circles from other lenses detract from
the image. So smooth, so mellow, so wonderful. Even where the circles overlap towards the upper left of the image are
simply fantastic.

What a lens! I mean really, how many of the modern lenses have this kind of output? And of course the sharp areas speak
for themselves. Tamron REALLY got it right with these premium lenses, and they deserve the honor of their SP designation.
This is the kind of lens one could be tempted to leave on the camera all day, simply because of the gorgeous rendering.
And so handy by virtue of just being able to turn the focus from normal to semi-macro, all on the same unit.

Gotta LOVE the Tammie 300. If you post more, I would not cry. I could look at this kind of output all day. Coupled with
the professional attributes and ease-of-use with the K-5, it's hard to imagine that there could be a better combination of the
K-5 with a 300 lens. The K-5 sensor renders fantastically at ISO 800. It's obvious that Pentax has really utilized technology
with the ISO 800 looking just as good as ISO 100 these days. I can't imagine needing much more than the K-5 model for quite
a long time.

I would love to see additional examples with the teleconverter attached. I do remember that my particular Tamron 01F did not
seem to detract from quality in any tangible way. I suppose you could pixel-peep and see the difference, but then again who
goes around 'pixel-peeping' all the time? The proof of the pudding is in the real world output, since most of us don't
look at large prints with a magnifying glass pulled out of our pockets.

[Rolf]

Many thanks for your summary Larry

I will try the lens the next days with the D800 (in the meantime I own different adaptall mounts) and with the teleconverter 01f which unfortunately didn't receive at Saturday.

So stay tuned !

[hoanpham]

That's a long summary.
I too appreciate a such long comment. Thank you.

I don't have this lens, nor the 19AH, but I do have the TC 200F after few years searching.
It is a slightly better than 01F on the edges.

[Rolf]

Below some samples with 2x teleconverter 01f so in total 600mm focal length. All images wide open handhelded at ISO 6400. That is really the limit of using this combo. Better would be a tripod and live view. Optimal distances less than 10 or 15 meters.

Pentax K-5 with Tamron SP 5.6/300mm and 2x converter 01F

[Laurence]