Originally posted by stevebrot
So I went to the Border and picked up my Tamron 200-500mm f6.9 and its a good thing I took the 1/2 ton and 2 helpers cause they used a lot of metal in this unit.
I couldn't find any reviews at all on WWW and all I found was that it is the predecessor to the SP & AF Tamron highly acclaimed by some.
So in my own simple way I did my own review. I took pictures with it and compared it to my $1200 Bigma 150-500mm.
Now its been too cold to go outside ( -20/ wind chill -36) to test at infinity. So I tested at 20' in-doors.
The enclosed picture are: #1 Tamron @ 500mm
#2 Bigma @ 500mm
#3 Tamron @ 200mm
#4 Bigma @150mm
Conclusion: For $65 I got a half decent long lens I can use while Quadding keeping the damage to a minimum if there is a misshap and bonus I have a cheap Self Defense weapon as well. (Bear Spray costs Approx $80 and can only be used once where-as the Tamron can be used repeatedly). The colour reproduction is better on the Bigma.