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An aging gas tank shot in late afternoon in direct sun. Popular Photography
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Back at Photokina, Tamron announced their intentions to release a new 70-200mm F/2.8 VC lens and they’ve made good on that promise. I spent some time shooting with the new lens on a fresh-out-of-the-box Canon EOS 6D. All of the images were shot in JPEG mode with standard image settings. Click the links for full-resolution images, but make sure you’re on WiFi, as the files are up to 10 MB. The focus in this photo is on the purpble ball ornament to the left of this frame. The light was coming from a large window to the right of the scene. We’ll have to test it in the lab, of course, but right out of the box it seemed pretty sharp. Tech specs Aperture: F/2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec. Focal Length: 200mm ISO: 1600 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A group of pidgeons sitting on some power lines in the late afternoon. Sadly, the birds didn’t feel like doing any flying during the 15 minutes or so I had to photograph them for a hardcore speed test, but the focusing is very quiet, which is a plus. Tech specs Aperture: F/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec. **Focal Length: 129mm ** ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A rusted piece of metal and a mailbox shot in the shade. You can get a sense of the fine detail capabilities in the intricate rust areas. Tech specs Aperture: F/2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec. Focal Length: 177mm ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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An aging gas tank shot in late afternoon in direct sun. Shot wide open to prevent the cluttered background from becoming too distracting. Tech specs Aperture: F/2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec Focal Length: 200 ISO: 200 **Full-res image ** Popular Photography
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A collection of old barrels shot in late afternoon. The lettering on the barrels is impressively sharp. Tech specs Aperture: F/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec. Focal Length: 200 ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A group of plants blowing in the late afternoon wind. The focus is on the plants to the left of the center of the frame. Tech specs Aperture: F/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/640th Focal Length: 200 ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A piece of heavy machinery. Tech specs Aperture: F/2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/2000 sec Focal Length: 200mm ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A basketball backboard shot at F/8 for maximum sharpness and to give the VC a little bit of a test. We’ll have a full report on the vibration compensation in our lab test. Tech specs Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec. Focal Length: 200mm ISO: 200 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A fire hydrant shot with strong backlight. Note that the flare was kept to a minimum and the nice circular bokeh on the specular highlight in the background. Tech specs Aperture: F/4 Shutter Speed: 1/320 sec Focal Length: 200 ISO: 100 Full-res image Popular Photography
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A portrait shot with the sun directly at the subject’s back. In this one, you can clearly see the flare happening, but I actually find it kind of appealing. The loss of contrast is a bit much, though. This was shot without the included lens hood. Tech specs Aperture: F/4 Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec Focal Length: 117mm ISO: 100 Full-res image Popular Photography
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Zoomed all the way in on a tree in direct sunlight. Click the next slide to see it zoomed all the way out. The 1/80 sec. shutter speed seemed just fine thanks to the VC Tech specs Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec. Focal Length: 200mm ISO: 100 Full-res image Popular Photography
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Zoomed all the way out, it seems like the focal range is a bit shorter than I’d expect a 70-200mm lens to be. We’ll have to test it for sure in our lab, but it didn’t have that 70-200mm feel I’m used to. Looks like the folks over at Lensrentals found the same thing. Tech specs Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec. Focal Length: 70mm ISO: 100 Full-res image Popular Photography