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Currently, when it comes to mirrorless devices, only Canon features a lens similar to the Tamron 150-500 mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD so in our chart includes also two older models designed for reflex cameras. The Canon has a bit wider focal range but at the 500 mm it features a bit slower aperture fastness, that of f/7.1 and it additionally allowed to limit its weight. Its physical dimensions, though, are very similar to these of the Tamron. Both mirrorless models are noticeably lighter and smaller than their reflex camera equivalents.

In the photo below the Tamron 150-500 mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is positioned between the Voigtlander Apo-Lanthar 2/50 and the reflex camera Sigma A 35 mm f/1.4 DG HSM.

The tested lens starts with a metal mount with contacts and a 28x21 mm frame that is put almost 2 cm deep inside an inner tube that is excellently blackened, matted, and ribbed. Under the frame there is a rear element of the lens, about 23 mm in diameter. At the 150 mm focal length the element almost touches the frame and after increasing the focal length to 500 mm it hides almost 4 cm deep. That movement reveals the rest of the inner tube that is no longer so perfectly blackened but still dark and matt. At the same time you can't spot any brighter elements or/and electronic parts inside.

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The proper body, covered by black plastic, starts with an immobile, smooth ring on which you can find a silver stripe and a mark that makes an alignment with a camera easier.

This ring increases its diameter very fast and on its already enlargened part you can find a place to attach a solid tripod adapter made of metal, that is added to the lens in the box. The adapter is completely removable and it allows you to save on weight if you want e.g. walk with your lens longer distances. The adapter itself weighs 154 grams and the lens without that adapter and caps weighs 1721 grams – it fits the officially declared value of 1725 grams very well.

A manual focus ring is another part of the lens. It is about 12 mm wide, completely covered by ribs. On the ring you can't find any distance or DOF scale and, in our humble opinion, the ring is a bit too narrow for this lens. After all the Tamron 70-180 mm G2, an instrument a bit smaller than the tested one, the corresponding ring came with a more comfortable diameter of 17 mm. The ring, a focus-by-wire construction, moves smoothly, and is properly damped so no complaints in this area. Even if you turn it quickly its focus throw amounts to an angle of about 180 deg. If you move it slower you can reach even near 720 deg. Both these values allow you very precise settings.

Further on you find an immobile part of the barrel with the logo of the company, the parameters of the lens, its filter diameter, amounting to 82 mm, the name of the model, A057, and also information that the instrument was designed in Japan and produced in Vietnam. Next to all these inscriptions you get also a LOCK switch that allows you to block the lens at 150 mm. On the left, looking from above, you get an inset with a whole array of switches. The first of them allows you to limit the autofocus range, with three options: FULL, from 3 meters to infinity, and from 15 meters to infinity. In this case Tamron offers you a bigger choice than its rivals. The next switch, AF/MF, is used to control the focusing mechanism mode, the next one, VC ON/OFF, allows you to switch on and off optical stabilization, and the last one, VC MODE 1/2/3 enables you to choose the stabilization mode.

A zoom ring, as wide as 70 mm, is the next part of the lens, mostly covered by rubber ribs. You can find on it focal markings at 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, and 500 mm.

The turn of this ring from 150 to 500 mm makes a plastic tube to slide out and that tube ends with a front focal system. During this operation the dimension of the lens increases by 78 mm.

In this case Tamron decided to use a very smart and useful patent. The zoom ring moves forward and that movement blocks the focal length at a position chosen by the user.

The front element is 72 mm in diameter, surrounded by a non-rotating filter thread, 82 mm in diameter, and a hood mount.

When it comes to the optical construction you deal here with as many as 25 elements positioned in 16 groups. Among them you find two aspherical elements, five LD elements made of low dispersion glass, and one XLD element made of extra low dispersion glass. Inside you also find a round aperture with seven diaphragm blades that can be closed down to values ranging from f/22 to f/32.

According to the producers the casing of the lens is splash and dust-resistant. The fluorine coating on the front element is a water- and oil-repellant, making it easier to clean, more resistent to dirt and fingerprints.

Buyers get in the set both caps, a metal tripod adapter, and a hood. There is no protective case in the box.

Optical stabilization

The producers claim that optical stabilization in the tested lens is as efficient as 5 EV. Still they don't mention at what focal length exactly. We in our tests always check the efficiency of that mechanism at the longest focal length where it is the most needed. In order to check that claim we took several dozen photos with exposure times ranging from 1/640 to 1/5 of a second and the stabilization switched on and off. For every set of photos we determined a percentage of out-of-focus shots; then we presented it in a form of a graph of exposure time which was expressed in EV (with 0 EV being an equivalent of 1/500 of a second).

The maximum distance between both curves reaches 3 EV and such is, in our opinion, the real efficiency of the VC unit. As you see the result is not only short of these declared 5 EV but also weaker than the results of the Tamron's direct rivals, that most often show results near 4 EV.