Tamron 150-500 mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD review - Vignetting

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Tamron 150-500 mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD

19 July 2024

Maciej Latałło

8. Vignetting

First let's check how the Tamron 150-500 mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD deals with vignetting on the APS-C sensor with the use of uncorrected JPEG format. Appropriate thumbnails can be found below.

A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 150 mm, f/5.0	A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 150 mm, f/5.6

A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 300 mm, f/5.6	A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 300 mm, f/8.0

A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 500 mm, f/6.7	A7R IIIa, APS-C, JPEG, 500 mm, f/8.0

At the smaller APS-C sensor vignetting is almost no problem at all, especially at the shorter focal lengths. At 150 mm and the maximum relative aperture brightness loss in frame corners reaches 20% (-0.66 EV) and it decreases to 14% on stopping down the apertue to f/5.6. By f/8.0 this aberration disappears practically completely because we got a result of just 4% (-0.11 EV).

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In the middle of the focal range the situation is even better. By f/5.6 vignetting reaches 18% (-0.57 EV), and by f/8.0 it drops to an imperceptible level of 3% (-0.09 EV).

The highest values you get at 500 mm but even here it would be difficult to talk about any kind of problems. By f/6.7 brightness loss in frame corners amounts to 23% (-0.76 EV), by f/8.0 it decreases to 13% (-0.42 EV), and by f/11.0 it disappears practically completely, with a result of symbolic 2% (-0.07 EV).

Now let's check how the situation changes after passing to full frame – respective thumbnails we present below.

A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 150 mm, f/5.0	A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 150 mm, f/5.6

A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 300 mm, f/5.6	A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 300 mm, f/8.0

A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 500 mm, f/6.7	A7R IIIa, FF, JPEG, 500 mm, f/8.0

This time the aberration, described here, is far easier to spot. Of course for the mirrorless standards it doesn't look so bad. At 150 mm and by f/5.0 brightness loss in frame corners amounts to 47% (-1.86 EV) and it decreases to 41% (−1.51 EV) on slight stopping down of the aperture to f/5.6. More serious problems end by f/8.0 and f/11.0, where the results we got in our test amounted to, respectively: 21% (−0.69 EV) and13% (−0.41 EV); by f/16.0 vignetting disappears practically completely, reaching just 10% (-0.29 EV).

After changing the focal length into 300 mm the results are very similar. By f/5.6 vignetting amounts to 46% (−1.80 EV), by f/8.0 it reaches 25% (−0.82 EV), and by f/11.0 it drops to 20% (−0.33 EV). By f/16.0 the problem disappears practically completely because the value we got amounted to 9% (−0.27 EV).

Very similar results we get also at the maximum focal length. When you emply f/6.7 aperture the brightness loss in the frame corner reaches 45% (−1.70 EV), and after passing to f/8.0 this aberration decreases to a level of 34% (−1.19 EV). By f/11.0 and f/16.0 apertures the results we got are, respectively: 14% (−0.45 EV) and 7% (−0.22 EV).

Sony A7R IIIa, 150 mm, JPEG, f/5.0