Product Review: Tamron 100-400mm

Hey there everyone. This is professional photographer, Ian plant, and right now I'm on a two week photo safari to Africa. I spent the first half of my trip in Kenya, where I was photographing primarily big cats and some other wildlife. And right now I am trekking with mountain gorillas in Uganda. Whenever I'm photographing wildlife, I like to have one versatile telephoto zoom lens with me so that I can zoom in and out depending on how close or how far away the animal is from me.

And one of my favorite lenses is a 100 to 400 millimeter lens. A 100 to 400 millimeter lens offers a good compromise between weight, portability and focal length reach. Being able to zoom from 100 millimeters to 400 millimeters gives you a lot of flexibility, and it's especially useful when working with wildlife subjects on the move. While in Kenya, my 100 to 400 was perfect when photographing hunting lions backlit by the morning light as they were constantly moving, and I had to zoom in and out as they got closer or farther away from me. I also used my 100 to 400 millimeter for a variety of other wildlife subjects, and the lens gave me the flexibility to quickly change between photographing, for example, small birds and large elephants.

A 100 to 400 millimeter lens might weigh more than shorter focal lengths, but these lenses are still light enough for comfortable handholding, making them ideal for a number of wildlife photography scenarios. These lenses excel in situations when you need to quickly adapt to changing conditions in light. Now, 100 to 400 millimeter lenses aren't as fast as shorter telephoto zooms or prime lenses, so although they work great when the light is bright, be prepared to use higher ISOs when shooting in low light. Vibration compensation helps when using shorter shutter speeds, allowing you to get sharper images than otherwise. When photographing mountain gorillas in Uganda, my 100 to 400 was perfect for when the gorillas were farther away from me or for when I needed to zoom in tight to capture a dynamic frame filling portrait or some detail of my subject that I thought was interesting.

Because it was very dark in the jungle, I used a higher ISO as necessary to keep my shutter speed high enough to sharply capture the action. So before heading out on your next wildlife photo adventure, consider adding a 100 to 400 millimeter zoom lens to your camera bag. I'm Ian Plant, and thanks for watching.