Tamron AFA011C700 SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD Zoom Lens for Canon Cameras Bundle with 95mm UV Filter, 95mm Circular Polarizing Filter and Cleaning Kit (5 Items)

The durability of the lens is in question. I just sent my lens in for the 3rd time. I always leave the big lens hood on. I thought it would help protect the lens but if it gets bumped it breaks off the filter holder and you have to send it in for repair. This repair is not covered under warranty. The frustrating part is the Tamron customer service and their eagerness to tell you its all your fault that you damaged the lens and it shouldn't be bumped. Normal wear and tear on the lens of this type shouldn't be bumped. I shoot wildlife with it. I am out in the elements not in a self contained studio. The zoom got stuck on it and again they insisted that was my fault even though it happened randomly until it finally got stuck at about the 200 mm position.The biggest disappointment is the Tamron customer service. They are not friendly. I have spent over $4000 dollars on Tamron lenses and another $1400 on lens repairs but because of the customer service. I question myself if I will ever purchase another Tamron lens.

I took a chance on the Tamron because it's half the price of most other lenses in this class, and while it's a well-built lens, I found it hard to get a sharp focus at the 600mm range, and the zoom mechanism is stiff and noisy. I wanted to use this for videography, but the pull on the zoom is much too tight to get any kind of smooth zoom in or out, and it makes noise when you turn it, making it unsuitable for noise-sensitive shots, especially if you're using just the on-cam mic.I've seen still photographers rave about this lens, and perhaps that's the best use for this particular unit.

I have not fully tried the camera yet, so I cannot fully adequately review it. But, One think that I will say is that the lens is chrystal clear. I have not noticed any problems with the UV filter making it blurry, and I absolutely cannot wait until it is a bit warmer to take photos of birds and longer distance things. It is heavy, but I expected that because I had held another Canon with this lens on it before I chose to spend the money on this one. You won't use this lens indoors unless you have a big external flash as it is slow due to the distance capacity. And, due to the distance capacity, it probably would only be useful in a big space with close-ups. The outdoor capacity is perfect for birds, animals and landscapes at distance. Truly expands your capacity from the Canon 2.8 70-200 lens which is great but not long enough for these specialty shots.

I cannot say enough about this lens. Awesome range, with very good auto focus performance, producing very sharp images. I find it focuses very fast in most conditions but because it is so long, it sometimes needs an assist when extended. This is very easy with full time manual override even while in auto-focus mode. A quick twist on the convenient, smooth and responsive manual focus ring and you are in business. I also find that the lens is very sharp, even at 600mm. I uploaded some recent photos to demonstrate. These are untouched images I took as JPEGS, about 6MB each. Zoom in and judge for yourself. This is using the lens out of the box. No focus micro-adjustment. I usually shoot in RAW but cannot upload those to Amazon. This is not a fast lens at F/5 wide open. But it's a few thousand dollars cheaper than those fast lenses from Canon. Some day, I may splurge but those lenses are not financially practical for an enthusiast like me. I tried using the one of the two filters provided but wasn't happy with the image results so I took it off. No reason to use a polarizer on this lens - it's slow enough, and the UV filter seemed to soften my photos. The filters are fine to protect while in transit or during inclement weather I suppose. I use this lens on a Canon EOS 6D full frame (not a wildlife camera but I got some pretty good shots so far) and an older Canon EOS 50D (APS-C). I have a number of Canon lenses including the excellent 70-200mm F/4 L, the 85mm USM F/1.8, and the 24-105mm F/4L USM. But I have taken more images with the Tamron than all of the other lenses combined since receiving the Tamron. I am shooting nature photos, mostly birds. The value for the money IMO cannot be beaten. If you are looking to get more reach, closer to your subjects as I was, this lens is a fantastic choice.

The package deal was meant to include two filters, but they were not in the box. After calling Amazon, I came to understand that the only way to get Ritz to send along the filters is to return/replace the entire kit. There's no way either online or on the phone to contact Ritz to see if they will send along the missing filters. Because I'm pressed for time (taking the lens on a trip), I have had to purchase 95mm filters separately and am out whatever is the value of the kit filters. (Most likely this isn't much, but regardless I have no means to protect the glass.)Two positive points: (1) The Amazon phone reps have been terrific, and (2) I'm happy with the lens in limited experiments so far. (But I don't want to take it outside until I can protect the glass.)Edit, post trip: The lens itself is terrific. Sharp, good contrast, fast enough, and with no chromatic badness. I'm very happy with the lens.