Conclusion

The Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD is an excellent ultra-telephoto zoom lens, offering good image quality with smooth bokeh and sharpness, an effective built-in image stabilisation system which makes it possible to hand-hold and still get sharp results, and a price that certainly won't break the bank. The auto-focus system is reliably fast, mostly accurate and very quiet too, and Tamron's optic is smaller and lighter than the Canon and Nikon equivalents despite offering a bigger focal range.

Image quality is generally very good at the 150-450mm focal lengths, with excellent sharpness achieved by stopping-down one stop from the maximum aperture. Chromatic aberrations are very well controlled and flare is only ever an issue when shooting directly into the sun. The only real optical issues are a liitle corner shading at the maximum apertures, mild pincushioning at 150mm, and a lack of critical sharpness at the 600mm focal length until you stop down to f/11.

The Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD is a lot cheaper than the Canon and Nikon alternatives, while offering more reach than the cheaper Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 zoom. There aren't many lenses that offer a 600mm focal length without the use of a teleconvertor, and although the image quality suffers a little at this focal length, we have no hesitation in highly recommending the Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD lens.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	5