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I don't have a lot of experience with all-manual lenses. But I was finding that my 300mm wasn't reaching close enough for some wildlife shots so I thought I'd give this a try, as it was the only way to get a bit closer without breaking my budget. Overall, I'm happy that I bought it and will keep it for the time being. It is quite difficult to use for birding and I can't recommend it for that. The in-focus sweet spot is extremely narrow, and by the time you get it sharp enough the bird will likely have moved on. The actual act of focusing is aided by a very high-quality, responsive focus ring, but there's no getting around this structural issue. You'll be using this for still and slow-moving subjects only. I don't have issues holding it steady enough, but a monopod and in-body OIS on my camera (Pentax K-S2) help a bit in that regard. The low contrast inherent to mirror lenses is an issue. But you can undo this a bit by fiddling with contrast, sharpness and saturation in post, as I've done with the attached images. They were taken on a cloudy day which was not ideal light conditions for a lens like this, and I got a lot of stinkers but these two were keepers for me (I'm an amateur who enjoys photographing wildlife and sharing with friends). I personally think the bokeh looks kinda cool, but my subjects are usually well separated from the background so YMMV. I am using this lens on a Pentax K-S2 with a Fotodiox adapter to convert it to a PK mount. So I can get even closer due to the APS-C sensor size. I have been mounting a monopod on lens directly to help me keep it steady. The lens looks super cool, by the way; like a piece from some retro-futuristic raygun, with a high-quality metal construction. Mine came with a hard case, a set of filters and a hood (the hood is a must have for adequate contrast). I'll keep this lens to keep practicing my manual focus and exposure skills and get a little closer to wildlife than I could before. For bird ID and walking around, I'll continue to use my 70-300 mm Sigma and just walk a little closer! Overall, it's exactly what I hoped it would be: an inexpensive way to get closer to wildlife.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I love the quality of images from this lens, but it's subjective for out of focus areas. You either love or hate the bokeh. For in focus areas, I find the lens to be very sharp. I've heard complaints on contrast, but I find the lens gives a nice warmth. If anything, shots can come out a little dark, but that is a result of shooting at a faster shutter speed. The best long focal length lens I've tried so far.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
its compact in length, but it wont fit in your average camera pouch as its still wide. images are verysharp with right shutter speed and stabilization. manual focus is tricky in action as DoF is extremely thin so its more like spray in pray in action and adjusting focus. for stabilized shots it will not be a problem and results are great
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The reason that I bought Tamron reflex lens is the bokeh. Traditional lenses can't give me such effect especially for taking the pictures of lotus and portraiture, it's really nice of the background. I don't like this model 55BB is it's tripod fixed on the lens is no longer fitted (old model 55B was fitted). This would cause the virbration very seriously even you put it on the tripod due to the uneven of the balance . The performance of this lens is quite good compared with other brands, especially the minimum focusing distance, it gets 1.3 meters which produces 1:3 macro effect. Since there are no more reflex lenses produced by the manufacturers except Samyang, S. Korea (also OEM for Kenko, Vivitar ... etc.) but very disappointed for it's contrast is very low, hardly to produce a better picture particular under the dim light condition. Therefore, the selling price of 55BB becomes higher in the second hand market.Read full review
For a relatively inexpensive lens it has a surprisingly good image, sharp to the edges. It's also compact and light for a 500mm lens. Because of its design out of focus objects show the classic doughnut effect but for what I use it for it is simply not an issue.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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