Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens Review

Manufacturers conventionally offer a 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, but unconventional has become conventional at Tamron, and the Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD is the first lens to offer the 50-300mm range.

"TAMRON's new 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 VC zoom provides a wide 50mm starting option in response to user feedback that "the angle of view is somewhat lacking at the wide end" when using a 70-300mm zoom." [Tamron]

Our zoom lenses tend to get used most frequently at their widest and longest settings and having an extra 20mm at the wide end vs. a 70-300mm lens is a big advantage.

While it is the first 50-300mm lens, it is not the first lens to fully cover this range, with the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens being a primary alternative. What are the benefits of the 50-300's shorter range? Why would I want to give up the extra 100mm of telephoto range?

How do 40% weight, 18% length, 12% diameter, and about 40% ($500.00) price reductions sound? Attention garnering for sure.

Despite the extended range over the conventional 70-300 lens class, the Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens still compares as compact and impressively light against those, and the other important features were not forsaken. This lens feels solidly built and nicely designed. A VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor provides fast, quiet, and accurate AF, and VC (Vibration Compensation) avoids handheld motion blur to ensure that this lens's great image quality is realized.

Focal Length Range

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Tamron's product name states the focal length range immediately after the branding, reflecting the importance of this specification, and this lens's 6x zoom range is a big asset. Focal length drives subject distance choices, which determine perspective, and when getting closer to or farther from the subject is not an option, this lens's long focal length range is especially welcome.

Starting at 50mm, the highly valued, hugely popular standard focal length, and extending through the 300mm focal length range, this lens has a vast range of applications.

The complete classic portraiture focal length range, the 85-135mm full-frame angle of view, is present, including for 1.5x APS-C cameras. With enough working distance, the wide end handles full-body portraits, and the long end invites tight headshots with good perspective.

This zoom range is great for sports. Capture the team photo from a reasonable distance, and moments later, reach midway into a large sports field to capture the play.

Most of us want long focal lengths for wildlife photography, and this lens has those (though longer than 300mm is sometimes needed on a full-frame camera). Some of the best wildlife photos include the animal's surroundings, showing the environment. For that use, wider angles are often needed, and this lens covers those and can capture a tight wildlife portrait with a quick turn of the zoom ring.

The 50-300mm range is a good choice for airshows, zoos, the beach, or walks in the garden or park. Detail subjects abound for this lens.

This has been a fun lens to have ready to go for whatever needs show up around the house, including those already shared in this section. This range is ideal for when your wife comes to the door to tell you she found a fawn.

I love using telephoto lenses for landscape photography and usually have such a lens with me when pursuing these images. This lens's range is perfect for such use, and I'm likely to leave the standard zoom lens at home if this lens is in my bag. When the 50-300 is matched with a to-50mm lens such as the Tamron 17-50mm F4 Di III VXD, a vast percentage of the most needed focal length range is contiguously covered in a compact two-lens kit.

The following images illustrate the 50-400mm focal length range:

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Right, 400mm is not available in a 50-300mm lens. However, the longer focal length is a big advantage of the Tamron 50-400mm lens mentioned in this review's intro, and this comparison shows that difference. Also, consider the angle of view your current lens has relative to what the Tamron 50-300 offers.

APS-C sensor format cameras have a smaller imaging sensor and utilize a smaller image circle than full-frame models, framing a scene more tightly. 1.5x is the Sony angle of view equivalence multiplier, and the full-frame 75-450mm-like angle of view lacks some of the standard focal length advantages, but the longest angle of view is strongly advantaged for wildlife photography.

I always want the chipmunk tail to be visible — unless it doesn't have one.

Sometimes the focal length range for a zoom lens with a long range are rounded, usually to benefit marketing. This lens's framing distances were similar to those of primes lenses with matching focal lengths.

Max Aperture

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A lens's maximum aperture is usually included in the product name immediately after the focal length range, reflecting this specification's next-highest importance. F/4.5-6.3 is this lens's maximum aperture, the ratio of the focal length to the entrance pupil diameter.

The lower the aperture number, the wider the opening, and the more light the lens can deliver to the imaging sensor. Each "stop" in aperture change (full stop examples: f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6) increases or decreases the amount of light by a substantial factor of 2x.

Want a long focal length range that includes telephoto focal lengths in a zoom lens without a large size, heavy weight, and high price? Expect that lens to have a narrow and variable max aperture, and this one has those attributes.

A smaller aperture opening facilitates using smaller, lighter, and less expensive lens elements. Because this lens's maximum opening does not increase sufficiently with focal length increase to maintain the same aperture measurement ratio, the max aperture is efficiently variable, ranging from f/4.5 to f/6.3 as the focal length range is increasingly traversed.

While the aperture value reduction is continuous, narrowing as the focal length increases, the camera rounds the reported aperture to the nearest 1/3 or 1/2 stop. Here are the focal length ranges for this lens's reported 1/3 stop apertures.

50-69mm = f/4.5
70-101mm = f/5.0
102-178mm = f/5.6
179-300mm = f/6.3

Note that the aperture reported by a camera set to 1/3 stop increments does not always change from the wide-open setting with the first aperture dial click.

These narrow max apertures make this lens an unfavorable choice for photographing challenging low-light motion, such as indoor sports or outdoor sports on cloudy days. Setting the ISO to a high number is the narrow aperture option for obtaining sharp low-light in-motion images, but the increased noise is an image quality factor. A narrow aperture is detrimental to low light autofocus performance, slowing or inhibiting focus lock.

A downside to the variable max aperture is that the lens's widest max aperture cannot be used over the entire focal length range. The camera automatically accounts for the changes in auto exposure modes (including M mode with Auto ISO), but using the widest-available aperture in manual exposure mode is somewhat complicated by the changing setting (though an in-camera function may also accommodate the changes).

While narrow aperture lenses have a greater minimum depth of field relative to their wider-aperture counterparts, telephoto lenses, thanks to their magnification, are inherently advantaged in regard to the background blur they can create. These examples illustrate the maximum blur this lens can create:

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The background is a significant percentage of many images, and when the background is not complementary to the subject (or even distracting), blurring it away is highly advantageous. This lens has that capability.

Only a 1/60-second shutter speed (twice the framerate) is needed for 30 fps video capture, and wide apertures are not often required to achieve 1/60 in normally encountered ambient lighting.

Image Stabilization

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The longer the focal length, the larger the subject details (captured at the same distance) are rendered, and the more still the camera must be held to avoid subject details crossing imaging sensor pixels during an exposure, which causes motion blur. Telephoto focal lengths gain significant versatility when optically stabilized, and Tamron included that feature, VC (Vibration Control), in this lens.

With increasing ISO being the alternative to optical stabilization, the noise difference IS enables for still subjects is huge, and stabilization dramatically improves video quality. "... at focal lengths up to 100mm, AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies provide additional compensation with videography in mind." [Tamron]

IS provides a stabilized viewfinder image, aiding in optimal composition, and also important is that a stabilized view can enhance AF precision.

Tamron does not provide an assistance rating in stops for this lens, but the VC difference seen in the viewfinder is dramatic.

While OSS is active, framing drift is not an issue, and the viewfinder view is well-controlled, not jumping at startup or shutdown and reframing is easy. A scratchy whir is heard when the switch is enabled — and when it is disabled. While not loud, the VC noise may be annoying in a quiet environment.

No VC switch is provided, meaning a camera menu option is required to turn VC off.

Mode selection and custom configuration of VC for this lens are not available, including via Tamron's Lens Utility.

Image Quality

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Whenever I see a focal length range significantly exceeding the commonly available range for a lens class, I fear that image quality has been sacrificed, and 6x is a long focal length range. The Tamron 50-400, sporting an 8x range, exceeded my optical quality performance expectations, and that lens set expectations for a repeat good performance from the 50-300. Were the expectations realized? Let's find out.

This lens is sharp in the center of the frame at its widest apertures throughout the entire focal length range. In general, lenses become sharper as they are stopped down one or two stops from their wide-open apertures, but this lens produces only minor improvements when stopped down. None are needed.

Often, subjects are not placed in the center of a composition, and lenses typically show decreased sharpness in the periphery of the image circle, where light rays are refracted to a stronger angle than in the center. This lens shows a modest decline from the center to the corner, but the extreme corners look good at the wider focal lengths and still reasonable at the longer ones. Stopping down primarily reduces peripheral shading, which increases

Taking the testing outdoors, we next look at a series of center-of-the-frame 100% resolution crop examples. These images were captured in RAW format using a Sony Alpha 1 and processed in Capture One using the Natural Clarity method. The sharpening amount was set to only "30" on a 0-1000 scale. Note that images from most cameras require some level of sharpening, but too-high sharpness settings are destructive to image details and hide the deficiencies of a lens.

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Be sure to find details in the plane of sharp focus for your evaluations. These results show excellent performance.

Next, we'll look at a series of comparisons showing 100% resolution extreme top left corner crops captured and processed identically to the above center-of-the-frame images. The lens was manually focused in the corner of the frame to capture these images.

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Count on samples taken from the outer extreme of the image circle, full-frame corners, to show a lens's weakest performance. The wider results are better than the longer results, but the worst results are not bad, and I seldom need sharp corners for my 200 and 300mm compositions.

Focus shift is the plane of sharp focus moving forward or backward as the aperture is narrowed (residual spherical aberration or RSA). Many modern lenses automatically correct for focus shift, though focus breathing (more later) can create slight angle of view changes. This lens performs optimally at 50mm, 100mm, and 200mm, but at 300mm, the plane of sharp moves back as the aperture is narrowed. The increasing depth of field barely keeps the intended point of focus sufficiently sharp, and the 300mm foreground does not become sharper at narrow apertures.

When used on a camera that utilizes its full image circle, a lens is expected to show peripheral shading at the widest aperture settings. The amount of shading typically varies over a long focal length range, but this lens's wide-open corner shading holds at around 2.5 stops, an amount that is noticeable but not strong or unusual.

Want less corner shading? Stopping down is the near-universal solution. At f/8, the wide end of the focal length range is stopped down more than at the long end, and the 50mm f/8 shading decrease is more significant, with the overall range dropping to about 1 to 2 stops. Further improvement at f/11 produces 0.5 to, at 300mm, near 1.5 stops.

APS-C format cameras using lenses projecting a full-frame-sized image circle avoid most vignetting problems. In this case, the close to one-stop of corner shading showing at 300mm f/6.3 may be visible in select images, primarily those with a solid color (such as a blue sky) in the corners.

One-stop of shading is often considered the number of visibility, though subject details provide a widely varying amount of vignetting discernibility. Vignetting is correctable during post-processing, with increased noise in the brightened areas the penalty, or it can be embraced, using the effect to draw the viewer's eye to the center of the frame. Study the pattern shown in our vignetting test tool to determine how your images will be affected.

Lateral (or transverse) CA (Chromatic Aberration) refers to the unequal magnification of all colors in the spectrum. Lateral CA shows as color fringing along lines of strong contrast running tangential (meridional, right angles to radii), with the mid and especially the periphery of the image circle showing the most significant amount as this is where the most significant difference in the magnification of wavelengths typically exists.

With the right lens profile and software, lateral CA is often easily correctable (often in the camera) by radially shifting the colors to coincide. However, it is always better to avoid this aberration in the first place.

Color misalignment can be seen in the site's image quality tool, but let's also look at a set of worst-case examples. The images below are 100% crops from the extreme top left corner of Sony a1 frames showing diagonal black and white lines.

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These images should only contain black and white colors, with the additional colors indicating a minor presence of lateral CA.

A relatively common lens aberration is axial (longitudinal, bokeh) CA, which causes non-coinciding focal planes of the various wavelengths of light. More simply, different colors of light are focused to different depths. Spherical aberration, along with spherochromatism, or a change in the amount of spherical aberration with respect to color (looks quite similar to axial chromatic aberration but is hazier) are other common lens aberrations to observe. Axial CA remains somewhat persistent when stopping down, with the color misalignment effect increasing with defocusing. The spherical aberration color halo shows little size change as the lens is defocused, and stopping down one to two stops generally removes this aberration.

In the real world, lens defects do not exist in isolation, with spherical aberration and spherochromatism generally found, at least to some degree, along with axial CA. These combine to create a less sharp, hazy-appearing image quality at the widest apertures.

The examples below compare the fringing colors of the defocused specular highlights in the foreground to the background. The lens has introduced any differences from the neutrally colored subjects.

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The 50-200mm results show moderate color blur differences, with the 300mm results appearing improved.

"TAMRON has long been an innovator of coating technologies that prevent ghosting and flare. Second-generation BBAR-G2 Coating is a groundbreaking advancement that provides vastly improved performance compared to the original BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) Coating. The coating corrects for ghosting and flare to an unprecedented extent and renders fine subject detail with true clarity and stunning contrast even under backlit conditions." [Tamron]

Still, the sun in the corner of the frame with a 19-element mid to long focal length lens mounted, and narrow apertures will show some flare effects. This lens produced practically no flare effects at wide-open apertures in our standard sun in the corner of the frame flare test, though, at f/16, the effects are noticeable but normal.

Flare effects can be embraced or avoided, or removal can be attempted, though removal is sometimes challenging.

Two lens aberrations are particularly evident in images of stars, mainly because bright points of light against a dark background make them easier to see. Coma occurs when light rays from a point of light spread out from that point instead of being refocused as a point on the sensor. Coma is absent in the center of the frame, gets worse toward the edges/corners, and generally appears as a comet-like or triangular tail of light that can be oriented either away from the center of the frame (external coma) or toward the center of the frame (internal coma). The coma clears as the aperture is narrowed. Astigmatism is seen as points of light spreading into a line, either sagittal (radiating from the center of the image) or meridional (tangential, perpendicular to sagittal). This aberration can produce stars appearing to have wings. Remember that Lateral CA is another aberration apparent in the corners.

The images below are 100% crops taken from the top-left corner of Sony a1 images captured at the widest available aperture.

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These results show varied performance, with the 50mm results looking good and the 100mm results not so good. This lens is an unlikely choice for night sky photography, so this performance is not likely an important factor to most.

This lens is near distortion-free at 50mm, but strong pincushion distortion shows by 100mm and through 300mm

As seen earlier in the review, it is easy to illustrate the strongest blur a lens can create, and telephoto lenses are inherently advantaged in this regard. Due to the infinite number of variables present among available scenes, assessing the blur quality, bokeh, is considerably more challenging. Here are some f/11 (for diaphragm blade interaction) examples.

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The first set of examples shows defocused highlights that are nicely rounded and relatively smoothly filled at the wide end but showing an unattractive pattern at the long end. The second set of examples shows full images reduced in size and looking normal, though the unusual pattern at 300mm shows more prominently when the image is viewed at 100%.

Except for a small number of specialty lenses, the wide aperture bokeh in the frame's corner does not show round defocused highlights, instead showing cat's eye shapes due to a form of mechanical vignetting. If you look through a tube at an angle, similar to the light reaching the frame's corner, the shape is not round. That is the shape we're looking at here.

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The shape truncation is minor and limited to the corners at 50mm. As the focal length increases, the truncation increases and moves inward until it is strong and present mid-frame at 300mm.

A 9-blade count diaphragm will create 18-point sunstars (diffraction spikes) from point light sources captured with a narrow aperture. Generally, the more a lens diaphragm is stopped down, the larger and better shaped the sunstars tend to be. Unfortunately, a narrow max aperture lens does not afford much stopping down before reaching apertures where diffraction causes noticeable softening of details, and these lenses typically do not produce the biggest or best-shaped sunstars. A weak star is produced at 50mm f/16, and I wouldn't call the 300mm f/16 shape a star.

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The design of this lens is illustrated below.

"The lens has an optical construction of 19 elements in 14 groups, and a generous and effective arrangement of special lens elements, including two XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) and two LD (Low Dispersion) lens elements, that efficiently control aberrations such as chromatic aberrations." [Tamron]

This lens's primary optical detriments are a slight softness in extreme full-frame corners at mid and long focal lengths, moderate out-of-focus color blur in the wide and midrange focal lengths, an unusual pattern in 300mm out-of-focus highlights, and modest stopped-down focus shift at 300mm. However, the sharp image quality this lens produces is its overwhelming performance characteristic.

Focusing

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"The AF drive of the 50-300mm F4.5-6.3 VC uses TAMRON's VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor focus mechanism. This AF system allows comfortable focusing from the MOD (Minimum Object Distance) through infinity with high-speed and high-precision performance that represents the highest level in TAMRON’s history. Tracking performance for moving objects is also outstanding, making it perfect for shooting subjects that move in unpredictable ways such as children engaged in sports and spectator events like baseball, rodeos, and auto racing. These features ensure you can capture once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunities without missing the shot. In addition, because the quietness offered by the linear motor system provides nearly silent operation, reducing the noise from vibration and focus driving, the lens can also be used with confidence when shooting still images or filming in quiet settings." [Tamron]

This lens's VXD (Voice-coil eXtreme-torque Drive) linear motor drives quiet, fast, and accurate AF.

A narrow aperture lens is not optimal for low-light AF, but the Sony a1 focuses this one reasonably well on strong contrast in dim lighting.

Non-cinema lenses usually require refocusing after a focal length change. As illustrated in the 100% crops below, the reviewed lens exhibits close to parfocal characteristics. When focused at 300mm, zooming to wider focal lengths results in a relatively sharp subject, with 200mm being the primary out-of-focus result.

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The Tamron 50-300's strongly rubber-ribbed mid-sized focus ring is raised noticeably from the lens barrel, making it easy to find. Located near the typical balance point of the mounted lens, this ring is susceptible to inadvertent focus changes if full-time manual focus is active.

The MF ring has light resistance and, by default, a variable adjustment rate. At 50mm, a full-extension focus distance change requires 405° of rotation when turning the focus ring slowly. Turn the ring fast, and only 50° of rotation does the same. At 300mm, 710° and 65° are the approximate numbers.

Those speed differences are significant, and I frequently hit the faster adjustment speeds when attempting to fine-tune the focus ring. Fortunately, this lens is easily configurable.

Using the Tamron Lens Utility app (free) on a laptop (or mobile device using the mobile app), connected via the lens's USB Type-C port (a USB cable is not included in the box), linear MF is selectable, with 90, 180, 270, and 360° rotation angles optional. I chose the 360° linear option, and it works great.

Reversing the focus ring direction is another available feature via the software.

This lens has an AF hold button. At least that's the button's historical function. It can also be configured for:

• Assign function from the camera
• Select AF/MF (immediate or 1-sec button hold)
• Focus limiter (Near, 5m, 7m, and 10m to ∞)
• Focus Preset (focus speed selectable for movie)
• A-B focus (focus speed selectable for movie)
• Ring function (Focus/Aperture) (immediate or 1-sec button hold)
• Focus Stopper (immediate or 1-sec button hold)
• Astro FC-L (immediate or 1-sec button hold)
• Clear settings

While a native AF/MF switch is not provided, that feature is included in the options list above.

It is normal for the scene to change size in the frame as the focus is pulled from one extent to the other. This effect is focus breathing, a change in focal length resulting from a change in focus distance. Focus breathing impacts photographers intending to use focus stacking techniques, videographers pulling focus (without movement to camouflage the effect), and anyone critically framing while adjusting focus.

This lens produces a moderate change in subject size through a full-extent (worst-case) focus distance adjustment.

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This lens's short minimum focus distance, especially at the wide end, makes the focus range longer than most videographers would incorporate within a movie segment, and short distance adjustments show considerably less magnification changes.

Sony's DMF (Direct Manual Focus) AF mode supports FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing.

What if your general-purpose telephoto zoom lens had macro capabilities? With a minimum focus distance of 8.6" (220mm) at 50mm, this lens has an impressive 0.50x maximum magnification spec. The minimum focus distance increases to 35.5" (901mm) at 300mm for a still impressive 0.32x magnification spec.

Model	Min Focus Distance		Max Magnification
Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM Lens	34.6"	(880mm)	0.41x
Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports Lens	17.7"	(450mm)	0.42x
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS C Lens	63.0"	(1600mm)	0.24x
Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens	35.4"	(900mm)	0.31x
Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens	38.6"	(980mm)	0.35x
Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens	8.7"	(220mm)	0.50x
Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens	9.8"	(250mm)	0.50x
Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.26x
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens	37.4"	(950mm)	0.16x
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens	31.5"	(800mm)	0.20x

At 50mm, a subject measuring approximately 3.0 x 2.0" (76 x 251mm) fills a full-frame imaging sensor at this lens's minimum MF distance. At 300mm, a 4.3 x 2.9" (109 x 73mm) subject does the same.

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The individual USPS love stamps measure 1.19 x 0.91" (30.226 x 23.114mm).

Field curvature is often a significant factor at minimum focus distance, and it is especially so with this lens. At 50mm f/4.5, only a tiny central portion of the image is sharp.

This mourning cloak butterfly sample picture was captured at 50mm f/4.5. No portion of the rock in the periphery of the image is sharp, even at this greatly reduced size.

F/11 and longer focal lengths only mild improve peripheral sharpness. So, this lens's extremely high maximum magnification capability is limited to applications where strong peripheral blur is acceptable.

The minimum focus distance is measured from the imaging sensor plane with the balance of the camera, lens, and lens hood length taking their space out of the number to create the working distance. At 300mm, this lens's minimum focus distance working distance is significant, but the plane of sharp focus is only about 2" (51mm) in front of the lens without the hood mounted at 50mm, and the lens is likely to obstruct the subject lighting.

Mounting an extension tube moderately decreases the minimum focus distance, which increases the magnification, especially at 50mm. Extension tubes are hollow lens barrels that shift a lens farther from the camera, allowing shorter focusing distances at the expense of long-distance focusing. Electronic connections in extension tubes permit the lens and camera to communicate and function normally. As of review time, Tamron does not publish extension tube specs or manufacture these items, but third-party Sony-compatible extension tubes are available.

This lens is not compatible with Tamron extenders.

Design & Features

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The 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens was the first lens to get a new Tamron design:

"Every individual part of the lens has been reexamined, right down to the fine details, resulting in a new design that updates both operability and the ergonomic considerations. The surface of the lens exterior is shiny black, much glossier than previous models. Improved abrasion resistance makes the lens harder to scratch and resists fingerprints. In addition, grip performance has been improved by increasing the number of protrusions in the striped pattern of the rubber ring. The smoothly curved, glossy surface of the brand ring creates a dignified appearance with a design that signifies functional beauty and high quality." [Tamron]

That new design is great, and the 50-300 gets the same. Here is the comparison:

I'll compare these two lenses in depth in the alternatives section.

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Turning the big, short-rotation rubber-ribbed zoom ring smoothly extends the lens 2.24" (56.8mm) at 300mm, with the extended inner barrel having surprisingly little flex. The sole switch, the lock switch, holds the lens in the fully retracted position. The zoom ring rotates in the same direction as Sony lenses.

This lens features weather sealing and fluorine coating to repel dirt and moisture and to make cleaning easy.

At review time, there are no other 50-300mm lenses available for direct comparisons, but this lens is similar in size and only slightly heavier than Tamron's also compact and lightweight 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 option.

Model	Weight oz(g)		Dimensions w/o Hood "(mm)		Filter	Year
Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM Lens	22.4	(635)	3.1 x 6.5	(79.5 x 164.7)	67	2021
Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports Lens	87.7	(2485)	4.7 x 11.1	(119.4 x 281.2)	105	2023
Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS C Lens	40.9	(1160)	3.4 x 7.8	(86.0 x 197.2)	67	2020
Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens	30.1	(854)	3.3 x 5.6	(84.0 x 143.5)	72	2016
Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens	49.2	(1395)	3.7 x 8.1	(93.9 x 205.0)	77	2017
Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens	23.5	(665)	3.1 x 5.9	(78.0 x 150.0)	67	2024
Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens	40.8	(1155)	3.5 x 7.2	(88.5 x 183.4)	67	2022
Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 Lens	30.2	(855)	3.3 x 6.2	(83.0 x 156.5)	67	2023
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens	52.9	(1500)	3.5 x 7.6	(87.9 x 193.0)	77	2017
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens	19.2	(545)	3.0 x 5.8	(77.0 x 148.0)	67	2020

View the complete Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens Specifications using the site's lens specifications tool for many more comparisons.

Visual size comparisons are always helpful. Since we already looked at the 50-400mm lens comparison, I'll exclude that optimal choice from this one.

Positioned above from left to right are the following lenses:

Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens
Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens

The same lenses are shown below with their hoods in place.

Use the site's product image comparison tool to visually compare the Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens to other lenses.

Tamron has standardized on 67mm filter threads, and most of their latest lenses utilize this size. This size commonality makes sharing effects filters such as circular polarizer filters and lens caps easy.

The Tamron 50-300mm lens does not ship with a tripod ring. Even when using a solid ball head (Really Right Stuff BH-55), there is a small amount of sag after lockdown.

The Tamron HA065 Lens Hood is included in the box. The slightly flexible plastic hood's petal shape is optimized to block as much light outside the utilized image circle as possible. As zoom lens hoods must be tuned for the wide end of the zoom range, less than optimal protection is afforded at the long end. Still, this hood offers significant front element protection.

The petal shape looks cool, and another advantage of this hood shape is the easier installation alignment it provides (simply align the small petal to the top), though a round-shaped hood better enables a lens to stand on its hood. The ribbed interior avoids internal reflections. A release button is not featured on this hood.

A lens case is not included in the box.

Price, Value, Compatibility

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The Tamron brand is synonymous with good value, and the 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens upholds that reputation. The quality construction and high performance of this lens are easily worth the modest price.

Tamron's Di III lenses are designed for use on mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. The Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens is compatible with all Sony E-mount cameras, including full-frame and APS-C sensor format models.

"This product is developed, manufactured and sold based on the specifications of E-mount which was disclosed by Sony Corporation under the license agreement with Sony Corporation." [Tamron]

Tamron USA provides a generous 6-year limited warranty.

The reviewed Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens was borrowed from Tamron Americas.

Alternatives

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The perfect lens does not exist. However, the best lens for your needs does. To determine that answer requires a look at the alternatives. The first alternative lens I mentioned in this review was the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens, containing a superset of the focal length range.

The image quality comparison does not offer meaningful discernment in this lens selection. The two lenses create similar image quality. The 50-400 has less wide-open aperture peripheral shading except at 50mm. With fewer lens elements (19 vs. 24), the 50-300 produces modestly fewer flare effects, and it has modestly less pincushion distortion and less lateral CA.

The Tamron 50-300mm vs. 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens comparison shows the 50-300 measuring 18% shorter and 12% narrower, and it weighs 40% less. Otherwise, the specs for these two lenses are quite similar. The 50-400 has custom mode and VC switches, and its 100mm longer focal length range is valuable for sports, wildlife, airshows, and many other uses. The list price for the 50-300 is $500.00 less.

The Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens is next up for comparison.

The image quality comparison shows the 50-300 delivering sharper image quality. It also has slightly less pincushion distortion at 300mm.

The Tamron 50-300mm vs. 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens comparison shows the 70-300 weighing 4.3 oz (120g) less and measuring practically the same size as the 50-300. The 50-300 has a 9-blade diaphragm vs. 7, a VXD Linear motor driving AF vs. an RXD stepping motor, a customizable function button, a USB port, a 0.50x maximum magnification vs. 0.20x, an improved physical design, and a 20mm focal length advantage on the wide end. This decision would be a no-brainer if the prices were the same, but the 70-300 is moderately less expensive.

Sony's nearest equivalent lens is the FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS.

The image quality comparison shows the two lenses performing similarly, with the Tamron lens having an advantage at 300mm. The Sony lens has less peripheral shading and less pincushion distortion at the long end, while the Tamron lens shows less lateral CA.

The Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD vs. Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS Lens comparison shows the Tamron lens weighing 6.6 oz (189g) less. The Sony lens is slightly shorter and wider. The Tamron lens has 67mm filter threads vs. 72mm, a USB port, and a 0.50x maximum magnification vs. 0.31x. The Sony lens has a 1/3 stop wider aperture in some of the range and IS, AF/MF, and focus limiter switches. The Tamron lens provides an extra 20mm on the wide side, and it is nearly $500.00 less expensive.

Then Tamron made the 28-300mm F4-7.1 Di III VC VXD Lens.

In the image quality comparison, the 50-300 is slightly sharper, and especially sharper at 300mm. The 28-300 has less wide-open peripheral shading at the wide end and produced less flare effects at narrow apertures. The 50-300 shows less geometric distortion.

The Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 vs. 28-300mm F4-7.1 Di III VC VXD Lens comparison shows the 28-300 slightly lighter and a bit shorter when retracted. The 50-300 has a higher maximum magnification 0.50x vs. 0.36x. The 50-300 has an about 1/3-stop aperture advantage at most focal lengths, while the 28-300 has a big focal length range advantage. The 50-300 costs $100.00 less.

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Summary

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The 70-300mm focal length has long been a standard offering in manufacturer lens lineups, and for a good reason. That range is extremely useful and optimal for designing a lens with a modest size, weight, and price. With this lens, Tamron adds a highly desirable 20mm to the wide end without downsides in those regards.

Viewed another way, what if Tamron removed the last 100mm from their 50-400mm lens and reduced the weight by 40%, the length by 18%, the diameter by 12%, and the price by about 40% price ($500.00)? This is that lens, and many will say "Sign me up!".

The Tamron 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD Lens is a great high-performance general-purpose telephoto zoom lens choice. Its primary detriments are a somewhat narrow max aperture, slight softness in extreme full-frame corners at mid and long focal lengths, moderate out-of-focus color blur in the wide and midrange focal lengths, an unusual pattern in 300mm out-of-focus highlights, and modest stopped-down focus shift at 300mm.

However, the sharp image quality this well-designed lens produces is its overwhelming performance characteristic. The 50-300mm F/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD has been a fun lens to have always mounted for immediate use, and those uses have been plentiful.