Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have the Canon 100-400mm L, and I was looking for a lens that gets me that better reach without having to pay $14,000. Once I heard about this lens and the previous reviews, I decided to give it a shot as it's anyway cheaper than my 100-400. I got the lens a couple of days back. From the first look, the lens looked solid and well built, and I could actually see the quality of the optics once I removed the lens cap. The zoom ring is very well sized to the extent that you can't ever miss. 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. I'm attaching here a comparison shot, both shots were taken at F/8.0 using a tripod and a gimbal head at ISO 100. Focus was fast and accurate, at least for the still objects I tested. At 600mm, the lens goes just a bit softer, which was actually expected to me. However, the photos at 600mm are pretty much usable since I was prepared to sacrifice some little IQ for a better reach. Overall, I'm so far happy with this lens and looking forward to take it out for some bird and wildlife shots. For this price tag, you can't go wrong with this one. UPDATE: I took the lens for a test shot in the field and got some nice birds. I uploaded some of the photos I took that day here on Amazon. My initial review is still as is. The lens performed very well in the field and actually better than my Canon 100-400mm. Fast focus, very good image stabilization handheld "VC" (Although it's not that easy to keep using it handheld due to the weight), and most importantly a very good IQ and sharpness even at 600mm. The one best thing I could easily see in comparison to the 100-400 is the contrast, a very beautiful contrast and color reproduction. The best money I have spent this year is on this lens.