Garden Tests : DA*300 vs Tokina 300/2.8 vs Tamron BB 500, plus TCs

I have just acquired the Tokina 300/2.8 so wanted to give it a workout against my current 300-500 lens/TC combinations to see how it would stack up and when/if it would have an advantage over the DA*300/4 with or without the Tamron x1.4 and AFA x1.7. I threw the Tamron BB 500 Mirror into the mix just because I wanted to show some people how good this cheap lens can be if you can get past the occasional doughnut rendering of specular highlights !

So just down and dirty, these shots were taken the way I'd take them in the field (birding) and that means the DA*300 and Tokina 300/2.8 were used on a monopod (the Tokina especially is really just too heavy for handheld shots - though I did grab a few of a swallowtail butterfly that entered the garden just as I was packing up). The Tamron BB 500 was handheld - because currently in the field the DA*300 is on the monopod - so that is how I'd use it.

In all cases I kept the shutter speed at 1/500 and shot in RAW. And except for a few shots of some willing subjects at the end there has been no PP, i.e. no sharpening aside from when the RAW were imported into Aperture 3 and no Noise Reduction, but in a few cases I did use the auto-exposure and auto-curves button.

Note there is no systematical testing here - it's just what was of interest to me (and maybe someone else out there) !

So take of it what you will. If you like it then great ! If you don't think it's of any value then you can exit the thread and go onto another more interesting one. Hope this is of value to someone at least.

DA*300 vs Tokina 300 @ 100%



Tokina 300 + Tamron x1.4 @ 100%



B]Tokina 300 + Tamron x1.4 cropped vs AFA x1.7@ 100%[/B]



DA*300 + Tamron x1.4 equalised to AFA x1.7 @ 100%



DA*300 cropped to 500mm FoV vs Tamron BB 500 @ 100%



Tokina 300 at f4 and at f2.8 @ 100%



Tamron BB 500, out of camera and @ 100%




My test subjects, these shots have had minor PP (sharpened but no NR applied). The lens and TC used are written in Red on the shots




Tokina 300 @ f5.6, 1/500 and ISO 1,250



Proud Mama & Papa and their brood (there are 3 one is out of shot).



Tokina 300 + AFA x1.7 @ f5.6, 1/500 and ISO 500

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http://frogfish.smugmug.com/ Pentax. Pentax DA*300/4, Cosina 55/1.2, Lens Baby Composer Pro & Edge 80, AFA x1.7, Metz 50 af1.
Nikon. D800. D600. Sigma 500/4.5, Nikon 300/2.8 VRII, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 21/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 35/2.0, Sigma 50/1.4, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikon TC20EIII, Nikon TC14EII, Kenko x1.4, Sigma 2.0

Hi Frogfish,

Thanks for this comparison. I find it interesting how well the Tamron mirror holds it's own for it's price.

John.

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