# Tamron Announces the Development of the 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD



## Canon Rumors Guy (Sep 15, 2017)

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<strong>September 15, 2017, Saitama, Japan</strong> -Tamron Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Shiro Ajisaka), a leading manufacturer of optics for diverse applications, announces the development of a new ultra-telephoto 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD zoom lens (Model A035) for full-frame DSLR cameras. The advanced optical design of Model A035 includes 3 LD (Low Dispersion) lens elements for greater aberration reduction and Tamron’s original eBAND Coating for superior anti-reflection performance. At 1,115g (39.3 oz) the new lens is the lightest weight in its class* and features magnesium material in key areas of the lens barrel to improve weight reduction, strength and portability. The Model A035 delivers fast and precise autofocus performance and consistently powerful VC (Vibration Compensation) benefits thanks to the high-speed Dual MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) control system that is found in the latest Tamron lens models.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p class="bodytext">Model A035 is fully compatible with Tamron’s 1.4X tele converter that multiplies the lens’s focal length, and the Tamron TAP-in ConsoleTM which enables lens customizations for focus adjustments, VC mechanism adjustments and more. Additionally, an Arca Swiss compatible tripod mount is available as an optional accessory.</p>
<p class="bodytext">This combination of features and optional accessories join to create a lens that photographers everywhere will enjoy using in various shooting situations, including low-light conditions that require handheld operation as well as those where convenient attachment to a tripod is preferred.</p>

<p class="bodytext">* Among 100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 lenses for 35mm full-frame DSLR cameras (As of September 15, 2017; Tamron</p>
<p class="bodytext"><strong>PRODUCT NAME</strong></p>
<ul>
<li class="bodytext">100-400mm F/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD (Model A035)</li>
<li class="bodytext">For Canon and Nikon mount</li>
</ul>
<p class="bodytext"><strong>DATE OF LAUNCH</strong>

Launch planned by the end of 2017</p>
<ol>
<li>3 LD (Low Dispersion) lens elements effectively compensate for axial chromatic aberrations, a potential issue for ultra-telephoto lenses, and other various aberrations</li>
<li>eBAND　(Extended Bandwidth & Angular-Dependency) Coating, with superior anti-reflection performance to eliminate flare and ghosting, provides flawless, crystal clear images</li>
<li>High-speed Dual MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) control system delivers quick and highly responsive autofocus performance and outstanding vibration compensation</li>
<li>Lightest weight (1,115 g / 39.3 oz.) lens in the ultra-telephoto zoom lens category</li>
<li>Optional accessory tripod mount is Arca Swiss-compatible</li>
<li>MOD (Minimum Object Distance) of 1.5 m (59 in) and maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.6</li>
<li>Moisture-Resistant Construction and fluorine coating for enhanced weather protection</li>
<li>Fully compatible with tele converters and TAP-in ConsoleTM</li>
</ol>
<p class="bodytext">* Specifications, appearance, functionality, etc. are subject to change without prior notice.</p>
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## jeffa4444 (Sep 15, 2017)

Tamron and Sigma are releasing one lens after another. Yes Canon released three tilt - shift lenses and the 85mm f1.4L but the 50mm f1.4 is in real serious need of replacement with none in sight surely this needs to be addressed in 2018.


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## AlanF (Sep 15, 2017)

It has a tripod mount, which is real plus over the Sigma.


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## privatebydesign (Sep 15, 2017)

jeffa4444 said:


> Tamron and Sigma are releasing one lens after another. Yes Canon released three tilt - shift lenses and the 85mm f1.4L but the 50mm f1.4 is in real serious need of replacement with none in sight surely this needs to be addressed in 2018.



Evidently Canon, with all their market research, do not believe so. It might seem like a strange decision to us but we don't know what considerations they take into account when making these lens release choices.

Personally I think the main reason they don't release an updated 50 f1.4 is because it amuses them how much it pisses ashford and a few others off.


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## Jopa (Sep 15, 2017)

jeffa4444 said:


> Tamron and Sigma are releasing one lens after another. Yes Canon released three tilt - shift lenses and the 85mm f1.4L but the 50mm f1.4 is in real serious need of replacement with none in sight surely this needs to be addressed in 2018.



For the majority of Canon users the 600/4 II is a to go lens, so we'll be definitely seeing a successor in 2018. The marketing research shows all Canon users are strong beefy peeps, unlike the pathetic weak Sony crowd. Apparently no one is shooting with a 50mm anymore


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## FramerMCB (Sep 15, 2017)

privatebydesign said:


> jeffa4444 said:
> 
> 
> > Tamron and Sigma are releasing one lens after another. Yes Canon released three tilt - shift lenses and the 85mm f1.4L but the 50mm f1.4 is in real serious need of replacement with none in sight surely this needs to be addressed in 2018.
> ...



Perhaps Canon's reasoning surrounding whether to update the 50mm focal range has more to do with current sales figures of the 50mm options they are currently making? My personal opinion is that many would buy a new 50mm f1.4L and/or a 50mm f2.0 (or 2.8) IS version. The L at $1099 and the other at $589. And for the L version they could include some of that BR "stuff" they used when they updated the 35mm 1.4L...


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## 9VIII (Sep 15, 2017)

Every time someone announces a lens like this I get the silly idea that "maybe" this could be my first Supertelephoto lens with IS, _but_ it needs to be noticably sharper than the 24 year old 400f5.6.
Recently I got a nice big walking stick with a bulbous round head to use as a standing rest and help stabilize the 400f5.6, it probably gives me 2x longer shutter speed compared to handholding. You don't need fancy electronics to get better pictures.


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## Chaitanya (Sep 15, 2017)

I thought it would be full fledged product release rather than a teaser development announcement. Seems like this years birding season will be shot on 400mm f/5.6L lens.


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## ahsanford (Sep 15, 2017)

So Tamron made an announcement _of development of a lens_. Hmmm... :

I'll paraphrase the entire thing:

"Please do not buy the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens. Thank you."

- A


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## AlanF (Sep 15, 2017)

9VIII said:


> Every time someone announces a lens like this I get the silly idea that "maybe" this could be my first Supertelephoto lens with IS, _but_ it needs to be noticably sharper than the 24 year old 400f5.6.
> Recently I got a nice big walking stick with a bulbous round head to use as a standing rest and help stabilize the 400f5.6, it probably gives me 2x longer shutter speed compared to handholding. You don't need fancy electronics to get better pictures.



I have just come back from a bird safari in a rain forest and other wooded areas, and also going out at dawn and dusk searching for perching birds. Without IS, I would have missed 90% or more of the opportunities. Iso6400 and 1/50s was not unusual, and a tripod would have been useless for opportunistic photographs. Without fancy electronics, there would have been no pictures.


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## Talys (Sep 15, 2017)

ahsanford said:


> So Tamron made an announcement _of development of a lens_. Hmmm... :
> 
> I'll paraphrase the entire thing:
> 
> ...



LOL. That's exactly what I thought 

I'm kind of surprised they announced _the development_ of a lens that will likely be popular due to focal range and price, but at f/6.3 at 400mm will definitely not be spectacular or groundbreaking.

If anything, it works the other way -- it's free advertising for Sigma, who has a 100-400 that you can buy _right now_.


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## Talley (Sep 16, 2017)

Talys said:


> ahsanford said:
> 
> 
> > So Tamron made an announcement _of development of a lens_. Hmmm... :
> ...



You trying to copy my name?


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## MrFotoFool (Sep 16, 2017)

Really surprising it is only f6.3 and not f5.6. I guess they are going that way to make it the smallest and lightest in category, as they say.


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## Chaitanya (Sep 16, 2017)

ahsanford said:


> So Tamron made an announcement _of development of a lens_. Hmmm... :
> 
> I'll paraphrase the entire thing:
> 
> ...



There are 3 features straight from announcement worth waiting for:
1: f/4.5 at wide end
2: Tripod collar(optional)
3: Arca swiss QR compatible

Lets wait for reviews of this lens, to know AF performance and IQ of the lens which if on par/or better than Sigma might make this a better choice for most people wanting a tele zoom on budget.


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## Talys (Sep 16, 2017)

Talley said:


> You trying to copy my name?



No 



Chaitanya said:


> There are 3 features straight from announcement worth waiting for:
> 1: f/4.5 at wide end
> 2: Tripod collar(optional)
> 3: Arca swiss QR compatible
> ...



I won't deny that any of those are good things. But...

1. 4.5 vs 5 is not really a huge deal, because you're only going to get 4.5 at exactly 100mm.

2. I agree that a tripod collar is a big win. However, it may be slightly mitigated by people probably buying this over 150-600 is for handheld shooting. 

3. I have to see the bottom of the arca foot before getting excited. I have an arca foot for my Canon 100-400LII, but I don't use it, because it's not as good when I'm not using an arca tripod; and when I am using an arca tripod, there is no place to put on a blackrapid connector. I have an arca plate that has both the arca part and a thread for a Blackrapid, which just works much better.


But all of this misses the biggest problem -- If the lens were coming out next month or two and I wanted a Sigma, I'd definitely wait. But _in development_ could be 6 months. A year? Two years? Four years? Without some kind of clue, life is too short to just press pause, especially on a sub-$1k lens.

My inclination would be to just buy the Sigma, and if I liked the Tamron when it came out, sell the Sigma. Even if I lost 30% of the value, in the year (or whatever), that is time I got to use the lens.


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## 9VIII (Sep 16, 2017)

> DATE OF LAUNCH Launch planned by the end of 2017



Within three months of release is a perfectly normal time to make a product announcement.

While not having a specific date is worrying, if they're saying "2017" we should be fairly confident that it'll be shipping in December.


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## Chaitanya (Sep 16, 2017)

Talys said:


> Talley said:
> 
> 
> > You trying to copy my name?
> ...


1: From marketing perspective that wider aperture is a big checkmark.
2: 150-600mm lenses are quite heavy(Sigma C :1.9Kgs, Sigma S: 2.8kgs, Tamron G1: 1.9kgs and G2: 2Kgs) while Sigma 100-400mm weighs only 1.1kgs. That's a significant weight saving and if Tamron costs the same as Sigma(add another 50-75$ for collar) there is quite a bit of delta in prices of these 100-400mm lenses to 150-600mm lenses. 
3: There are couple of good tripod/monopod heads from Manfrotto and other manufacturers that provide compatibility with Arca swiss style QR plates. Biggest benefit of these heads that it comes with a arca swiss plate which I can use it with flash bracket(Kirk) and macro rails(kirk) without having to spend another 200-300$ on plates for my camera and lenses. 

According to PR the lens is supposed to be released before the end of this year which means it should be shipping by last week of Dec(worst case scenario) and for me that a decent enough waiting time(will miss the butterfly season though). Only reason why I am excited about these lenses is that they are cheap(relatively) and since I shoot primarily macro having a tele zooms serves well for the rare occasions like when shooting large butterflies(tigers, jays, birdwings, etc..) and for mammals like wolves, foxes, etc(on open habitat). I have been borrowing my friends 400mm f5.6L lens which is a nice lens for shooting mammals and raptors. 



Indian Wolf by Chaitanya Shukla, on Flickr



Indian Wolf by Chaitanya Shukla, on Flickr


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## Talys (Sep 16, 2017)

Chaitanya said:


> 3: There are couple of good tripod/monopod heads from Manfrotto and other manufacturers that provide compatibility with Arca swiss style QR plates. Biggest benefit of these heads that it comes with a arca swiss plate which I can use it with flash bracket(Kirk) and macro rails(kirk) without having to spend another 200-300$ on plates for my camera and lenses.



GAH. Let's not go there on Manfrotto Arca heads. I have, I think, the only Xpro arca compatable ballhead. It's one of the best ballheads ever! Except it's the most incompatible ballhead ever-- 75% of the arca plates that I own don't work, because the dovetail angle is a little different. And you MUST topload, because the base has a safety pin, the prevents you from putting a safety stop on the front and sliding it out the back.

I finally got pissed off with it, took the super-expensive Manfrotto plate off the top, and plunked on a cheap Chinese one so that I could actually use the plates I want.

BTW, if they are going to have the lens out this year, they should just say, "we're going to release it November 15". Really, any later, and they're going to miss the Christmas rush, because retailers need to place in their orders by about then. And, in North America, Black Friday is a huge part of the Christmas shopping.


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## Chaitanya (Sep 16, 2017)

Talys said:


> Chaitanya said:
> 
> 
> > 3: There are couple of good tripod/monopod heads from Manfrotto and other manufacturers that provide compatibility with Arca swiss style QR plates. Biggest benefit of these heads that it comes with a arca swiss plate which I can use it with flash bracket(Kirk) and macro rails(kirk) without having to spend another 200-300$ on plates for my camera and lenses.
> ...


Thanks for letting me know about the interoperability headaches of Manfrotto heads, guess I will just get a Kirk ball head (which means spending quite a bit for lens plates and body plate). In general it seems like arca swiss is more a guideline rather than a standard when it comes to Quick release systems.


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## ExodistPhotography (Sep 17, 2017)

This could be a very interesting lens to consider. Sigma IMHO is almost always in some degree optically better then Canon and Tamron, however their extreme hit and miss with focusing on Canon bodies has had me sell almost all of my Sigma lenses. Tamron with its G2 series has honestly become on par with Canon in terms of optical quality and their focusing has always been very good. The only G2 so far that has not been very impressive is the 150-600. So IMHO its going to boil down to price on this lens to determine if I will pick it up over the Canon 100-400 mkII or not. The difference in f/5.6 to 6.3 is mehh at most. That said, I hope this lens is just as good optically as the 70-200 G2 and also that it hold up very good when used with the 1.4x tele converter.


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## pknight (Sep 17, 2017)

ahsanford said:


> So Tamron made an announcement _of development of a lens_. Hmmm... :
> 
> I'll paraphrase the entire thing:
> 
> ...



Just like Sigma did with the 150-600!


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## Talys (Sep 17, 2017)

Chaitanya said:


> Talys said:
> 
> 
> > Chaitanya said:
> ...



Arca-swiss plates all have dovetails on opposing sides of the plate, and the ability to put optional safety screws on either or both ends that can prevent your camera from sliding off accidentally.

Most people who use arca plates don't put safety screws on both ends on most setups, because they like giving a half-twist, and just letting the camera side out -- usually back towards them. If you put screws on both ends, you have to turn that knob forever before you can remove it from the top.

But a lot of people (me included) prefer top-loading, drop-in systems. There isn't an efficiency reason to this; it's just a preference. So Manfrotto made theirs top-loading by making one of the dovetail sides retractable. You can either twist the knob to tighten/retract it, or press a button to retract it. When you let go, the dovetail springs back into place, and then you can drop the camera in.

Sounds great, right?

Well, two things. First, for whatever reason, the angles are very slightly sharper than most arca plates. That means that a lot of plates will work, but some won't. It sucks if the plate you want to use, doesn't. 

Second, the Manfrotto plate doesn't use the safety stops on the ends system, theoretically, because it's a top loading system, and they can make the plate a little smaller that way. But it's still not good for your camera to fall off the tripod, so instead, they have a built-in safety pin, built in to the head. It sticks out, and catches the safety plate if it's sliding forwards or back.

Sounds lovely, except, now, you can't remove it by sliding the camera back towards you anymore. On a light lens, who cares; you can just use the release latch, and lift the camera up. But on a heavy lens, it's just easier to slide it back towards you than to lift it up.

Now, of course, you can say, why would anyone want to use a heavy lens on a ballhead... but it happens, for whatever reason, and it's definitely inelegant in that situation.

But fortunately, it has a nut in the middle, so you can replace the top plate with a more standard one. The XPRO ball itself is excellent; it's much smoother than most, because it's much larger (and heavier), and it has additional friction controls. Still, if you're going to do this easy modification, don't bother with the Arca version, because the regular version of the same head is cheaper or is bundled for cheaper.


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