D7100 and Tam 150-600 problem

N

NIKONIAN_DREAMWEAVER

Senior Member
Rob Bye said:
I hadn't heard anything about a new firmware update for this particular lens.

The Sigma counterpart to this lens can be connected to a USB dock for firmware updates and adjustments to its programming. When I checked mine for any updates, I found the dock itself needed an update, but the lens was fine. :beguiled:
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I did some looking around, it sounds like this lens does have firmware. That's new to me. Never had a lens with firmware.
I see some mention of a firmware update for this lens on the Cannon mount type. It improves AF. Apparently Cannon cameras
are having a similar problem with this lens.
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
zutty said:
I just got the 'Zooka today and took it out on my D7100 and went to the shore for some test shots. I was a little nervous about the auto-focus issue but it performed perfectly. Here are a couple of examples

View attachment 135075

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Nice first shots,i think the focus problems to most isnt a problem its just a sods law thing on the odd occasions it happens i have a bird in the finder doing something i really want to catch
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
Question:

What do you think of the focus speed of the Tamron? I have no lens I can really compare it to except maybe my 70-300mm but if I see something fly by, from the moment I have it in my lens until it is in focus can at times last up to about five seconds or more. Long enough to shoot butts at best or nothing at worst.

Light levels aren't extremely high here at the moment and I shoot f/6.3 or f/7.1 all the time. My focus method; well I tried them all and there's nothing faster.

Is this normal speed for these lenses or do I have a turtle version?
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Any 600mm at 6.3 or less is not going to be quick locking on BIF,i think in good sunlight not just good light,when the subjects contrast will be better it speeds up a bit but its not speedy any time.knock it back to 400mm and use what ever is the quickest focus setting on the 750,for me its center point.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
mikew said:
Any 600mm at 6.3 or less is not going to be quick locking on BIF,i think in good sunlight not just good light,when the subjects contrast will be better it speeds up a bit but its not speedy any time.knock it back to 400mm and use what ever is the quickest focus setting on the 750,for me its center point.
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Thanks, then everything works as intended. Good light will take some more months. I use it at 600 for flight because else I need to put on my glasses to find the bird in my shot. I don't know how others can get that close but here birds get nervous long before they fill my 600. At 400 I'm afraid I can only shoot at a taxidermist.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
I've been shooting the Tam some hours and it froze once. I don't know if it is identical as yours but when it freezes, it's like AF is dead and no matter how often I push the back-button, nothing happens. When I switch the cam on and off, all works as usual.

I paid attention this time and it wasn't set to limited so that can't be the cause.

Also, I've been shooting AF-C d9 for flyers today and it focused much faster.
 
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J

J-see

Senior Member
mikew said:
Yes no focus hunting just no reaction to pressing the shutter button,mine is never set to limited.
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The same problem with mine. It's as if it switched to manual suddenly. I checked if it was a contact problem but even when moving the lens a little nothing changed.

I think about all Tams will have it from time to time regardless what cam they are attached to. It's not a real issue for me if it occurs once every blue moon but if it becomes a regular issue, I'm sending mine in too.
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
The thing is Tamron have got something wrong here,its no good saying well you shouldn't buy the likes of Tamron, you dont have to go far to see two errors on the part of Nikon,dare i say D600,D750,the way things are made and the way accountants run company's these things will happen across the whole range of manufacturers more often.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
Yeah, the days that third parties only made cheap budget lenses are over. They're still cheap but I can't say the Tam is disappointing. It's a reasonable solid lens if you keep in mind all use plastic these days and it takes a pretty good shot.

This "problem" the Tam has isn't any worse to me than the "problem" the D750 has. If tomorrow my front glass drops out, then it's a different matter.
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
Question; since today my AF is hitting it wrong. I checked my shots in View and even when the focus indicator clearly showed my lens was in focus, that what it focused upon was not.

I wouldn't know what changed or what I accidentally changed but it's disastrous for birding.

Any idea?
 
E

Eyelight

Senior Member
J-see said:
Question; since today my AF is hitting it wrong. I checked my shots in View and even when the focus indicator clearly showed my lens was in focus, that what it focused upon was not.

I wouldn't know what changed or what I accidentally changed but it's disastrous for birding.

Any idea?
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The focus indicator only shows the location in the frame that the camera deemed was in focus at the time focus was locked. The camera either misunderstood the scene or could have moved off after lock.

Is something in focus? Is the focus deferentially off, or could it be a little movement or DOF narrower than intended?
 
Woodyg3

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
I'll just chime in here and say that with my Nikon 300mm f/4 the AF has stopped focusing in the exact same manner as has happened with the Tamron. It's very rare, but it has happened twice in dozens of hours of shooting. If I shut the camera off, then back on, all is well. There is no way I can see giving the Tamron's reputation a black eye for this rare problem. When you start dealing with all the complex electronics in a modern digital camera, it's no different than our PC computers that freeze or crash at times, in my mind. Stuff happens that you wish wouldn't, but I miss WAY fewer shots with the equipment I have today than 20 years ago. :)
 
J

J-see

Senior Member
Eyelight said:
The focus indicator only shows the location in the frame that the camera deemed was in focus at the time focus was locked. The camera either misunderstood the scene or could have moved off after lock.

Is something in focus? Is the focus deferentially off, or could it be a little movement or DOF narrower than intended?
Click to expand...

In plenty a shot nothing was in focus at all. I didn't have the issue yesterday so something changed. I did exactly the same today as yesterday when it comes to shooting but focus sure wasn't.
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
J-see said:
Question; since today my AF is hitting it wrong. I checked my shots in View and even when the focus indicator clearly showed my lens was in focus, that what it focused upon was not.

I wouldn't know what changed or what I accidentally changed but it's disastrous for birding.

Any idea?
Click to expand...

I started getting a few out of focus shots from mine,the two black images i got stated manual focus in the exif does yours,it should not really happen as i have focus priority set,just rung the shop as its nearly two weeks now but they haven't heard anything,this ime taking as a better sign than if they had just turned it round saying no fault.
 
M

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Woodyg3 said:
That's odd, J-see. What happens when you put a different lens on the body?
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With mine i have been out three times with the loan Nikon 80-400 and had no problems,if i had just had it a few times and no one else had been troubled with it i may have ignored it but it does appear to be a problem with a lot of NIK/TAM combinations.
 
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