While this lens is not as "fast" (maximum aperture is not as wide) as pro lenses, it still does well in good light

Yes its a light hog meaning you need good light for sharp shots

You really would not notice the difference in sharpness unless you had been shooting in cloudy conditions or low light in general

When there is lots of light, it is easy for me to handhold zoomed all the way in, but with less than perfect lighting, getting a perfectly clear shot will take good technique (which I'm working on).

" is turned ON.)Hand-holding this lens is possible in good light but you need a fast shutter, even with VC.Kept in perspective as to what it costs and what it is if you need this sort of reach there's nothing that comes close at well over double the price.

Buy this lens if you absolutely want the 600mm, set on the $1,000 range, and plan on shooting moderate ranged subjects under well lit settings

Some shots at focal lengths longer than 400mm had some difficulties in the poor lighting at night with contrasting beightnesses, but that may have been true for any lens.

I've been happy with the sharpness, but you need GOOD light and with my 7D, I needed to shoot it at f/9-f/10 to get sharp images at 600mm

When the conditions are ideal (e.g., good light), it can produce sharp enough pictures

Do not recommend for insider sports, low light.

As long as the light is good this lens is great

It is heavy and is best in good light, but the photos were sharp and it was a great investment

After several months of use, I learned that I get better/sharper shots if I don't go past 500mm unless I have enough light for f/8 or more

So far, I have been able to get more than enough light for the camera to get a good auto-focus the vast majority of the time I am using it

Much of my work is done in heavy canopy and it is often void of good light.

The Tamron at full extension to 600mm will do a descent job at f/6.3 with reasonable light.

Compare them at the-digital-picture.comThis operates almost as good as any other lens, even canon wide aperture ones, in good lighting

I do notice that the lens will have a harder time focusing in poor light, good light is generally needed for quick focusing and faster shots

Absolutely love the reach of this lens, plus the 2x built in to the A65.If you use this lens in good light, it will succeed

Needs good light, but that is expected

It's also light enough to hand hold for me, given that I have enough light to shoot with high shutter speeds.

I do notice that the lens will have a harder time focusing in poor light, good light is generally needed for quick focusing and faster shots

Whaddya want, egg in your beer?It definitely takes some support in anything less than good light, but the image quality is very nice and it focusses fairly fast for a zoom this long

Still have issues with focus when lighting is not great.

Better than any of the cannon "L" lens that I own (I own 3).

I also liked the lock feature at 150mm which is much easier than the lock ring mechanism at the 100-400.I got the chance to take some test shots against my 100-400 and this Tamron was surprisingly sharper than the Canon 100-400mm L in the same settings

No as sharp I like it