Early Spring is a great time to be out in the woods, especially on a sunny day – the trees may still be bare, but the forest floor is bursting with life… the under-story plants, shrubs and smaller trees rush through their flowering and leafing cycles quickly, to take advantage of the unrestricted sunlight – in a few weeks, once the trees leaf out, the canopy blocks off most of the light, and the small bushes go into the “quiet survival mode” until Fall when they get their chance in the sun again!
I’ve been out with the Sony Alpha 700 and the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6. The choice of lens for woodland photography may seem surprising, but I find that the Tamron is very useful – the extended zoom range (the 70-300mm is equivalent to 105-450mm) on the Sony Alpha provides an useful stand-off distance so one can zoom in on an intresting flower or bud from a distance of at least 5 feet away without having to brave the underbrush and wicked looking brambles – the woods around here are chock full of wild raspberries and dog rose brambles. This also has the advantage of not blocking the light.
Besides, the Tamron 70-300mm is also a 1:3.9 macro, and since can focus down to 5 feet at the extended end of the zoom range, it does a great job. Moreover, I marvel at the fact that the Sony’s built in anti-shake allows me to handhold the 450mm equivalent lens. I would never have been able to do that with my manual Olympus bodies or even the auto focus Minolta 800si.
By the way, I purchased my Tamron lens about 8 years ago, back in June 2000 – I know they still make this lens, but I am not sure how the build quality has changed, or if it is still made made in Japan. I’ve always been very pleased with the Tamron, and even more so now…. with it’s super-zoom length of 450mm f/5.6 and equivalent when mounted on the Sony Alpha 700, it’s a formidable piece of optical engineering, and very cheap at the price. This is a true “cheap awesome lens”.
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Tamron AF 70-300mm |
Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 and Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens. I used a Polarizer.
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