Tamron 70-300USD, 100-400APO, DT 55-300, etc...

Size comparisons from left to right in the first picture

Minolta AF 100-400mm F4.5-6.7 APO 840 g
Tamron SP AF 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di USD 765 g
Minolta AF 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 "Big Beercan" 865 g
Minolta AF 70-210mm F4 "Beercan" 695 g
Sony DT 55-300mm F4.5-5.6 SAM 460 g
Minolta AF 100-300mm F4.5-5.6 APO 435 g

Fully retracted with hoods stored


Fully extended with hoods installed


Test chart comparison at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 600 mm.

Tested on a Sony SLT-A65V on a tripod with Steady Shot off, manually focused using a 24" 1920x1080 monitor, IR remote for shutter. You might notice these don't look as sharp as the pictures posted in previous 100-300 APO thread which were taken on the SLT-A58K.

100 mm Wide Open Center


100 mm Wide Open Top Left


100 mm Wide Open Bottom Right


200 mm f/5.6 Center


200 mm f/5.6 Top Left


200 mm f/5.6 Bottom Right


300 mm f/5.6 Center


300 mm f/5.6 Top Left


300 mm f/5.6 Bottom Right


Edited by QuietOC - 07 August 2016 at 18:16

Thanks for the test, QUietOC. Some interessting results there.

Firstly, at 100mm the diffrerence between the PF of the 70-210 and the CA of the Tamron 70-300 is most marked, though this seems to reverse at the longest end.

Your copy of the Minolta 75-300 seems to be better than mine - mine shows very significant CA against a bright background at full aperture, though lessnes a lot by f11.

The SOny 55-300 does seems to be sharpest of the lot, though only a little more than the Tamron which is still good, and is only let down by the CA at longer focal lengths. I presume you have compensation switched off (or you're using raw)? I guess this CA would be corrected with in-camerra jpegs; it would be interesting to know how well.

The 100-400 seems to work well with the TCs, doesn't it?
At what distance did you carry out the tests, and was that the same with the TCs fitted?

These are the lenses I have. I don't have 100-300/4s or any of the G lenses. Those are really in another size/weight/cost class except for maybe the 70-300G/G2. I don't have a full-frame digital camera. The results are valid for the APS-C crop area. The Tamron MTF curves at 70 mm looks like it falls off rapidly beyond the APS-C region. It us too bad we don't have longer APS-C lenses. The 55-300 is a very nice cheap lens.

I should measure the distances and report those. I just keep the test chart the same apparant size, and it is printed on a 13"x19" paper. The 100 mm shots are just beyond 1.5 meters, some of the lenses couldn't focus on the chart at 70 mm. The 600 mm shots are much farther away.

Edited by QuietOC - 07 August 2016 at 18:20

I haven't found a good candidate for an outdoor test chart yet. The brick school gym wall I've used is very low contrast. The lighting also varies a lot. I have yet to see any consistent difference between tests at different distances. I have thought before I found some, but later testing has always disproved it.