I think it’s fair to say that third-party lens options have exponentially expanded in the past few years. And while third-party lenses from brands like Zeiss, Tamron, and Sigma have been on the market for some time, it’s only more recently that these brands have stepped up their quality, availability, and range. The ultimate winners in this gear-growth area are us, the photographers looking for exceptional glass at an affordable price. What’s more, brands like Brighten Star, 7Artisans, TT Artisans, Cosina Voigtlander, Typoch, and Samyang have taken the stage at events like CP+ (held in Yokohama, Japan) to showcase multiple upcoming releases. In fact, news outlets reporting on CP+ 2026 claimed that this is the year of the lens. Photographers these days are spoiled for choice, with many third-party lens options standing up to the big-brand native glass. And that’s important to recognise and celebrate.
As a photography gear reviewer, I’ve had the pleasure of testing and reviewing a wide range of first- and third-party lenses. And while those options have largely been to support the Fujifilm X Mount, which I am a fanboy of, third-party lens manufacturers are offering new lenses in a variety of current-gen mounts. A great example of this is the topic of today’s article: the Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD telephoto zoom lens, available for Fujifilm X (APS-C), Sony E, and Nikon Z (APS-C and Full Frame). I was fortunate enough to have Tamron Australia (thanks for organising, Glynn Lavender) send me this beast of a super zoom to test. After playing with this powerful long-glass optic, I decided to write this review and celebrate the exceptional products being released by non-native glass brands. As a result, the contents of this review are my opinions and experiences, and I am under no obligation to misrepresent this product. And to be fair, there’s absolutely no need to falsely praise this lens. It’s a cracking bit of glass!
Another important admission is that I am in no way a sport, bird, or wildlife photographer (for whom this lens is perfect). Let’s be clear; I am a Melbourne-based street photographer. A city boy. While I love and appreciate the results my peers produce out in the field, I have no business walking around with a 150-500mm (225-750mm on X Mount) superzoom! So what to do? The answer is obvious! I decided to test and review this lens as a street photographer documenting how inner-city folk interact with the world around them. Let’s get stuck into the review.
Specifications
- Focal length: 150-500mm (225-750mm FF equivalent focal length)
- Maximum aperture: F5-6.7
- Minimum aperture: F22-F32
- Optical Image Stabilisation: VC (Vibration Compensation)
- Field of View: 10°59′- 3°18′ (for FujifilM X Mount)
- Filter size: Ø82mm filter thread
- Lens configuration: 25 elements in 16 groups
- Dimensions: Ø93mm × 209mm (283mm in telephoto zoom)
- Weight: 1,710g
Build Quality
At a smidge over 200mm in length, with a 93mm radius, and a body weight of 1710g, the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is far from the conversely petite standard and wide primes I am used to shooting with. For reference, my largest Fujifilm X Mount lens is the incomparable XF 23mm F1.4 R LM WR, which measures 67mm x 78mm and weighs just 375G. And my smallest Fujifilm X lens is the XF 27mm F2.8 R WR pancake prime, which measures 62mm x 23mm and weighs a measly 84g! The Tamron is big and heavy but built for speed, performance, accuracy, and exceptional image quality. Rolling around inside the lens barrel is an optical assembly comprising 25 elements in 16 groups, including extra-low-dispersion, low-dispersion, and hybrid aspherical elements. The folks at Tamron also added a BBAR-G2 (Broad Band Anti-Reflection Gen 2) lens coating to effectively control flare and ghosting.
On the outside, the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 is built to the same high standards as its optical assembly. The lens barrel is incredibly robust with effective placement of all the essential control systems and more than a few ‘bells and whistles’. Throughout, the lens seals and gaskets ensure that this bit of kit stays dry on the inside. The front element boasts a gaping gaze and a repellent fluorine coating, and it supports an 82mm filter thread. Given the size and weight of the Tamron 150-500mm, its removable collar and tripod foot with a built-in Arca Swiss-compatible tripod mount ensure you can not only mount it securely but also carry it more comfortably. Plus, the foot and collar both feature camera-strap mounts, allowing you to attach your Lucky Straps Deluxe 45 Leather Camera Strap to the lens rather than to your camera. It’s always best to attach any camera strap to the lens lugs when shooting with such a large and heavy lens. Otherwise, you risk straining the lens mount and misaligning the focal plane with the sensor.
As for the aforementioned ‘bells and whistles’, Tamron has delivered impressive performance control and usability features. All of which are designed to support folks who use super-telephoto glass to track and capture complex, often fast-moving subjects. Positioned neatly on the lens barrel, the X Mount variant of this lens features a three-way VC Mode switch, a VC On/Off switch, an MF Speed selector, and a focus limiter. Plus, Tamron has installed a handy zoom lock that prevents the lens from sliding open to its full zoom length while it hangs from your waist. It’s important to note that the Sony E and Nikon Z variants of this lens offer different switching systems. Although I wish it had a twist-to-unlock feature, since I often zoomed in, the lock prevented me from doing so. I would have to unlock and then reframe.
Tamron’s 150-500mm F5-6.7 boasts a large, grippy zoom ring with effective damping and a smooth glide in and out of the zoom. The lens also features a comparably slimline focus ring for you manual focus junkies out there. The only other feature to celebrate is the giant, ramen-bowl-size lens hood complete with a thick rubber bumper at the front to reduce shock impact on the lens. Overall, the build quality rates quite highly, which is important when you consider the folks who take this lens style into the wilds to photograph eagles, otters, and whales. It’s incredibly robust and weather-resistant, and it will endure some rough treatment.
Performance
The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is a fast, accurate, and reliable super telephoto lens perfectly suited to tracking and capturing fast-moving subjects at a considerable distance. When paired with my Fujifilm X-E5, the Tamron 150-500mm delivered snappy autofocus performance throughout the zoom range. Granted, at the 500mm focal length, it felt like the lens's end was swinging wildly, making it hard to spot subjects. But that will also come down to the user experience of quickly locating, focusing on, and tracking subjects from afar. When enabled, Vibration Control (VC) quickly settled those long zoom wobbles, allowing me to lock on and compose the frame with ease. Once I located my subject, the Tamron quickly and accurately gained sharp focus and held focus, especially with tracking modes enabled. It was incredibly reliable; however, I did have a few occasions where the camera/lens missed focus, and it took the lens a hot minute to breathe and have another go. Not a deal-breaker, and again, it is more than likely due to my inexperience with such a long lens.
Tamron’s 150-500mm telephoto lens boasts a fast and near-silent VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) motor drive system. As a result, the lens is incredibly suitable for still photography and video capture. Other neat tricks include the ability to get in (relatively) close to your subjects for high-detail macro shooting. At the 150mm end, the Tamron delivers a 0.6m minimum focus distance and an incredible 1:3.1 maximum magnification for close-up and macro work. At the 500mm end, the minimum focus distance is 1.8m.
My Experience
I have to reiterate: I am not a typical or frequent long-lens user. In my lens lineup, the longest focal length is 50mm, and I rarely use that these days. My go-to Fujifilm lenses for street photography include a 16mm (24mm Full Frame), 23mm (35mm), and a 27mm (40mm). For me, street photography images work best when environmental elements provide relevant context for the subject. It’s all part of the storytelling, and to achieve such shots, I have to get in close to people. Not Bruce Gilden close, but close enough. To achieve a similar look with the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD zoom, I had to be a long, long, long way away from my subjects. It was such an interesting experience capturing candid moments of folk interacting with their world. One of my favourite activities is to employ my street photography skills and approach with a non-standard lens. For example, I am currently playing around with a Laowa 4.5-10mm f/2.8 CF Zoom Fisheye with an ultra-wide field of view.
Getting out and about to capture street scenes with the Tamron proved to be equal parts challenging and fun. Plus, what’s not to love about shooting at a 750mm full-frame equivalent focal distance regardless of the subject? It’s like looking through a telescope and realising you can make out the secret base on the moon! I will say that the overall size and weight of the Tamron ultra-telephoto zoom quickly resulted in muscle fatigue. I am just not used to hefting a kit weighing 2.5kg, and my wrists soon raised the alarm. I need to work out more. I carried the lens and camera cross-body with my trusty Lucky Straps Slim 30 attached to the lugs on the lens collar. The Slim 30 isn’t the best lens for the job, but it was what I had available at the time. A far superior level of comfort would be achieved with the Lucky Straps Deluxe 45 or OG Standard 53.
When I am out doing street photography with my slimline Fujifilm X-E5 and a pancake prime, I am incredibly discreet. However, hitting up Chapel Street in Prahran with the monument-like Tamron 150-500mm is a very different story. Folks notice a big lens like that, so there is no hiding the fact that you are photographing others. My only saving grace was that I had to be far from my subject. I also used the long lens at my local skate park where I photographed a skater doing run after run on the massive half pipe. The Tamron allowed me to frame up nice, tight compositions with crisp facial detail. Overall, I had a blast with the Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD and cherished the opportunity to try it out in my hood with home-ground rules.
Image Quality
I am not going to go into much detail about the image quality from the Tamron 150-500mm zoom. Image quality and resolution are never determined by the lens alone. It takes two to tango, and the pairing of the Fujifilm X-E5 and Tamron’s 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD results in excellent detail capture, tight compression with layer flattening, and impressive sharpness across the frame. Plenty of other sites offer tech-heavy reviews detailing the lens's intricacies and optical performance. Besides, other than reviewing a Fujifilm X 500mm and GFX 500 some time ago, I have little to compare it to. For me, the images are bright and rich; colour reproduction and exposure were excellently controlled, and I captured the moment I intended to. I noticed no negative characteristics or image artefacts throughout my use of the lens or within the resulting images. All images were shot with the Fujifilm X-E5 and the Tamron 150-500 F5-6.7.
Final Thoughts
Tamron’s 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is an impressive piece of glass ideally suited to sports, wildlife, and birding. The beastly lens delivers excellent results with rock-solid reliability. Getting back to the theme of this article, that third-party lenses are giving the big names a run for their money, the Tamron 150-500mm is a compelling and much more affordable option. With lenses released like this, photographers looking for quality glass have more choice than ever before. Plus, even premium third-party lenses come in at a fraction of the cost of a native equivalent, with little compromise at all. The Tamron 150-500mm F5-6.7 Di III VC VXD currently retails for around $2,100-$2,300 AUD. In the Fujifilm stable, you have the XF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR at around $3,300 AUD, or the XF 150-600mm F5.6-8 R LM OIS WR at around $3,500 AUD. Even a brand snob like me appreciates this kind of value proposition. It’s also worth noting that Tamron’s super zoom has been awarded Best Full Frame Ultra Telephoto Zoom Lens by TIPA in 2022, and Best Telephoto Zoom Lens by EISA in 2021.
