Tamron 150-500MM DI III VC VXD

This is professional photographer Paul Thompson here for Outdoor Photography Guide. And today we're in the heart of the English lake district. And it's absolutely stunning day today. And I've come up to a crag that's high on the hillsides. And the idea is I want to try and pick out details in the landscape from up here.

Now I find having that extra elevation just helps you to be able to see the details better that you want to pick out within the landscape. And the other thing that really really helps you is to have a telephoto lens. Now, I don't really use a telephoto lens all that much, or I haven't done until relatively recently, where I've started to use in my 70 to 200, and it's revealed a whole new, different approach to my landscape photography. It's allowed me to look at the landscape in a lot smaller details, pick out smaller vignettes, maybe abstract shots, close in detail, shots of plants, flowers, wildlife, actual smaller details in the landscape themselves, like plants between rocks. It's just opened up a whole new area for me.

The other thing it allows you to do is to be able to photograph places that you wouldn't actually be able to reach, like I'm seeing out in front of me now there's a lovely tree with autumnal colors, just on the crag side there. I wouldn't be able to get out to photograph it, but with a telephoto lens, I can zoom in. I can get really quite close, and I can pick out a shot that probably a lot of other people wouldn't have been able to get. Now looking at this then, you can see what I mean. That tree's a way out on the cliff side then, and the likelihood is I wouldn't be able to get a decent enough shot at it from any angle because so there's a cliff right in front of me.

And there's a steep cliff that the actual tree is on. So I wouldn't be able to get to it, and to get a decent shot. But with this lens, I've got the scope to be able to get in really quite close to it. I can get in right really tight with it, and get a really decent shot. Now as well as landscape shots and closeup detail shots, it's also a fantastic lens to have with you for getting wildlife shots.

And it's a great way of being able to capture wildlife, which is further out and you don't want to disturb them. You want to get close up. You want to get some really nice captures, and really nice details. Fantastic for that. Now, currently I'm using the Tamron 150 to 500, and it's a fantastic lens for this sort of photography.

It gives me the scope to get in from 150 mill, right into 500, which is a really fantastic range because the way I'm looking right now, I'm looking out towards over the tops of the lakes. I'm looking out towards the forests, and I can just look at the forest and see where I want to shoot, pick out smaller details without being anywhere near them whatsoever. And that allows me a great deal of freedom as far as my photography is concerned. Now I'm currently using the Tamron 150 to 500 DI III VC, and it's a superb lens for being able to walk around and get handheld shots. It also comes with this fantastic foot as well, which is already equipped with an Arca-Swiss plate.

So you can clip it straight onto your tripod. And the great thing about this lens is I can mount it on the tripod and I can use this place as an overview, a vantage point, and pick out places way off in the distance that I don't have to actually get up into. I can watch what the light's doing on parts of the landscape, wait for the light to hit and give me the right conditions, and I can get the shot. And that's the advantage of having this lens to me is that it makes you actually actually get the shots that you would normally miss, 'cause you wouldn't have the right scope of a lens to be able to get it. Now as a walk around lens, I really love the fact that this has got stabilization built into it.

And it does a great job when you're walking around hand held, trying to get images of plants or animals. It gives you that peace of mind that you're gonna get tack sharp images. Now looking down the Borrowdale valley from here, I can see the light hitting the hills, and I can see images happening in front of me that would look absolutely superb. So with this lens, I'm able to zoom in on those and grab the shot where I would probably normally miss out on it. Now there's nothing more frustrating, and I've, I've been there loads of times where I've actually seen, witnessed things happening way up in the hills, or fog rolling off the hills, all sorts of changing weather patterns in amongst the fells and the mountains.

And you can't get the shot because you can't get close enough. And having this sort of lens with you just gives you that extra scope. Now, having these sort of high vantage points really gives you a lot of benefit, especially with a telephoto lens. If you look out, down towards the lake below me here, Derwin water, you can see all the islands that are out in the middle of the lake. Now without having a drone or something like that, to get a higher perspective, you're really gonna struggle.

So if you gain a bit of elevation, you've got the ability to zoom in really close. You can pick out these islands, and that's where these lenses come in really fantastically. I can look down there and I can isolate one of those islands, pick it out from the rest, and get some really unique images from up here. This is why I love telephoto lenses for landscape photography. So I think if you're actually looking for something unique in the landscape, and you're looking to pick details out, or you're looking to do some macro work, or you want really close up, a telephoto lens is the way to go.

And it's definitely worth having in your kit bag.