RickL Loc: Vail, Az

I have a Sigma 170-500 and the Tamron 150-600 g2. The Tamron takes excellent photo,all Very clear and great detail

Rick

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

For six months out of the year I shoot every day, seven days a week at Florida wildlife preserves. Many of the folks I shoot with use the Nikon, Tamron, and Sigma. Many, many of the folks who were sold on Tamron and Sigma have been coming over to the Nikon 200-500. Yes, the Nikon 200-500 is that good. I use it and love it. I use it on Group Auto Focus, continuous auto focus, center weighted metering, and shoot at a minimum of 1/2500 sec. on moving birds and my keep rate is almost 98%. I have used the D750 but my camera body of choice for wildlife is my current D500.

jcboy3

I'm planning a trip to Florida. What wildlife preserves would you recommend?

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I believe you on this. Many of my friends bought the 150-600 lenses in various makes and models and almost all of them have gone back to OEM Canon or Nikon lenses. I know 3 ladies in particular that still have their old 150-600's sitting in the closet while they make the rounds with their new 100-400mm Mark II Canon lenses. Another friend of mine that uses Nikon had the 150-600 and he just switched to the Nikon 200-500 and loves it. He sold his other stuff.

SuperFly48 Loc: NE ILLINOIS

I just unloaded my Tamron 150-600 first iteration; got tired of getting less than half of the shots in reasonably good focus on a D7100 body. The nail in its coffin, tried it on my D850 and "frustrating" does not begin to tell you how the dang thing performed. End of the trail, had it out on the D850, found an old abandoned barn that was less than 100 feet from where I was parked on a side road. Took a few shots at 150, 300, 450 and 550mm: never cranked it all the way to 600mm because it was always soft. EVERY shot was soft. Yes, I shot without a tripod but rested the lens on the window of my vehicle, had the image stabilization on, vehicle engine off. DONE WITH IT!!! Had been considering the 150-600 G2 Tamron and the Nikon 200-500. The deal breaker for me, the Nikon made in China! Where I work in retail, so much of what we merchandise is made in China and the company I work for gives the impression of being flag waving and patriotic. I am too old to be politically correct; never have been. Just wrankles me how much stuff is made in China these days. What I have for my D850....4 Nikkor primes from back when I shot film and all those lenses were made in Japan...a 28 f/2.8, a 50 f/1.4, a 55 Micro and a 200 f/4.....ALL manual focus. I posted some shots from Dragon Lights, from Saturday night in Chicago. Walked around for three hours plus, had the 28mm f/2.8 on the D850 and had a lot of fun. Just picked up some prints from Saturday's shoot and they are better than NICE!!!! Had them printed on metallic stock and printed at 8" X 12" to get a feel for what I might get when I enlarge them.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Wow, where do I start. I suggest you go here, it is a great place to start. http://floridabirdingtrail.com/
I live near Green Cay and Wakodahatchee which are favorites. But it is good to know where birds nest. Different breeds sometimes breed in a singular locations. For example, over the past few years, wood storks have increased breeding populations at Wakodahatchee. But Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, and stilts also breed here. Also, learning birds habits will also be helpful. For instance, baby herons will fight each other over food but wood stork babies seem to get along with each other better and often share food. Also know where birds nest, for instance, Red Winged black birds build very small nests low in branches of small trees so you have to be quick photographing them when they are first born because the young will soon outgrow the nest and mom will soon move them out into thicker cover. etc. etc.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Wow, where do I start. I suggest you go here, it is a great place to start. http://floridabirdingtrail.com/
I live near Green Cay and Wakodahatchee which are favorites. But it is good to know where birds nest. Different breeds sometimes breed in a singular locations. For example, over the past few years, wood storks have increased breeding populations at Wakodahatchee. But Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, and stilts also breed here. Also, learning birds habits will also be helpful. For instance, baby herons will fight each other over food but wood stork babies seem to get along with each other better and often share food. Also know where birds nest, for instance, Red Winged black birds build very small nests low in branches of small trees so you have to be quick photographing them when they are first born because the young will soon outgrow the nest and mom will soon move them out into thicker cover. etc. etc.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I will keep this in mind when I decide to visit Florida. I want to go to Florida and to Texas for some migration birding. Thanks

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

I am a Nikon guy through and through so call me biased. I have used Tamron and other lenses but always migrate to my Nikon lenses. I settled for the Nikon 200-500 which goes with my D810.

I posted this photo in another group but this is a good opportunity to share. This was the Mars rocket launch from last week. The rocket was 35 miles downrange from me moving at Mach 2. It was pitch black (4:05 AM) and I took the shot handheld in Sport VR with manual focus. I also used the 1.4 teleconvertor with the lens. Results were pretty good. In the high resolution version of this photo you can actually see how the rocket is breaking the sound barrier as it crosses through the very wet atmosphere that night.

(Download)

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

My idea is to go to the camera store and shoot both lens. Take your body with you and mount the lens on the camera and step outside. Take someone with you so that you are not arrested. And shoot a few frames with each lens. All factors being the same. shutter speed, lens settings (aperture, 80mm ect.) give them back the lenses and take the photos home and mount them on your computer and compare. Then you will know.
BTW changes in aperture may be a factor while changes in shutter speed may not be.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I was in the same place almost 2 yrs ago, before the Tamron 150-600 G2 was widely available. The choices among the 150-600 were Sigma Contemporary, Sigma Sport, Tamron (original) I also considered the Nikon 200-500. I got my hands on each of them and used them each for a couple of weeks.

Image quality-wise, the Sport was in the same league as my Nikkor 600mmF4, only a bit slower, and harder to use in poor light. The Nikkor 200-500 was almost as good and almost as long. But the possibility of using it with a TC was out of the question, since when I tried it, image quality and focusing performance suffered. Going from an F4 lens to a F6.3 was bad enough, but adding a 1.4 TC would have had me looking through an F8 lens. I dismissed this lens because I often find myself adding my TC to the 600mmF4 to get a bit closer. I can even use it with the lens wide open without much loss of sharpness and AF performance is barely affected. I found the Contemporary and the original Tamron to not have the image quality I was looking for. The Nikkor 200-500 was really close, but the Sigma Sport was on the money.

I've since spent some time with a Tamron G2, and I found it to be just as sharp as the Sigma Sport and focuses just as crisply as the Sigma Sport and the Nikkor. If I were to buy one of these today, it would be a hard choice between the Sport and the G2. the G2 is almost 2 lbs lighter, coming in around 4.5 lbs, if memory serves me right.

The biggest drawback with the Nikkor is build quality and lack of moisture protection. It's a very good lens for outdoor use, unless there is rain or snow in the forecast. This is not the case with the G2 or the Sport. The Sport is built like a tank, but it weighs 6.5 lbs. which may be a bit too heavy for some.