$80 Super Telephoto Lens vs $1,399 Tamron 150-500mm

[@mondobytes]

That Tamron lens is Crispy!

[@chamithathukorala1985]

How did he covered 24 to 150 in one lens..🙄😵🤔

[@Coppersulfate9009]

for 1,399 then it better be

[@jiandroo]

the $80 Super Telephoto Lens is still not bad for 80 dollars

[@billyoung9538]

@@alexanderb5376 just invest in a good tripod system. ;)

[@FelixCervantes]

@@alexanderb5376 he used a cheap Peak Design tripod in the beginning and then a Sachtler tripod at the end, what did you expect?

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@billyoung9538 Yes, and mirror lock up to eliminate shake from the mirror. Or use a mirrorless camera.

[@mirkwoodphotography2089]

I have a Nikon D3500, with the $80 lens. I also have a very stable tripod. If you know what you’re doing you can get excellent shots with any lens.

[@David-ff3mz]

@@mirkwoodphotography2089 what tripod do you use?

[@ravenneck1035]

I think that buying a few dirt cheap lenses is a good idea when you are just starting out with photography, as it allows you to experiment with what kind of shots you want to take. I'm only new to photography and videography, so my opinions may change on this, but I think that it's better to buy $150 of cheap lenses, improve your skills, and then buy some better lenses based on what you feel you want/need for projects, wasting off the $80 tele and $15 fisheye, rather than saving for a $1500 tele, and then realizing you never actually use long lenses because it's not your style.

[@SCRNSH0T]

100% agree! When I started I had tons of cheap lenses to experiment and try, it was so worth it, and as time goes on you upgrade.

[@CWelton6]

Agreed. Bought a terrible old telephoto manual focus but...I got a ton of experience with longer focal lengths and when I got my 'real' one with stabilization, autofocus, sharpness it was so sweet.

[@gregorypecaut7164]

On the other hand. Starting with a manual lens may disappoint a beginner so much that they never truly get into photography. Start with easier to use lenses that zoom, auto focus, and can shoot in aperture, shutter, and program (P) mode. Like 18-50 or 55 and a 70-300 or 400mm. Then keep notes on all your photos. That will tell you what lenses to save for. A 50mm f1.4 or a 30-35mm f1.4. Or if you like wide shots or shoot close all the time, something like a 13-16mm f1.4. These can get pricey. If wildlife and telephoto end up being your thing. A sharp 400-500mm with image stabilization, a good tripod, auto focus, and a hood may be your next lens. You need to master manual settings and manual focusing to use these cheap lenses, and even then, a good 500mm cropped can be sharper than the fully manual cheap 800mm lens. Don't forget, if you shoot an ASP-C lens the focal length needs to be multiplied by the crop factor. On a Canon that means an 800 mm lens will be shooting like a 1280mm full frame camera. That's wild and hard to use.

[@PafMedic]

@@gregorypecaut7164,Doesnt Make A Lot Of Difference When Your Shooting Manual

[@creativespace8637]

At this point, Storyblocks isn’t paying you to advertise them, they’re paying you to have Dillan in the video

[@BrianMakesFilms]

If you could figure out a way to lock down the $80 lens (maybe a second tripod collar) the image isn't terrible. I was expecting FAR worse. Certainly not for professional use, but I've never in my life needed a lens that telephoto for professional use, but could be a lot of fun to play around with for $80 and a cheap EF to E mount adapter (since I'm on Sony).

[@ravenneck1035]

most of those cheap tele lenses are T-mount, so you can just get a t-mount to e mount adapter. T mount is also I believe some standard for telescopes, so if you have one of those around it may be worth checking...

[@EternalCRTN]

Bro dropped the most fluid most compelling ad and thought we wouldn’t notice

[@TSGEnt]

Lack of contrast on "A" tells me it's not well multicoated and has lots of internal reflection which destroys contrast. However, 1600mm for 80 bucks and little post-processing, could be a lot of fun on a budget! And yeah, that from a distance sniper-like shot on the rooftop imagery, it would be useful.

[@peterkapunkt6783]

Well, it looks like the savings of the lens have to directly into a monster of a tripod. No way you get anything useful out of it with a just decent tripod. If you already own one, and just want something to play around with, it seems like an ok investment.

[@o.l4890]

It look like sharp 16 mm film .... I like it more ,but the expensive one is better for work

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

The $80 lens might also be a great one with a Raspberry Pi camera mounted to the back. The smaller sensor would mostly use the center portion of the lens, the portion that's usually the best qualify on a lens.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@peterkapunkt6783 For most types of photography, a tripod is a must. The main exceptions being things like photojournalism where there's legitimately no time and space to work with.

[@TheWutangclan1995]

For 80 dollars you can buy some old lenses along with an adaptor and you’re good to go.

[@ravenval5046]

I remember I bought that same lens on the fly because I wanted to try and get some close moon and bird shots, just personally. The pictures y'all got with the same lens are far better than I could have got, and this made me realize that perhaps that lens has way more potential than I expected, maybe I'll spend a day messing with it, and I'll discover how useful it is.

[@seanhannagans]

In the UK were brought up on David Attenborough. Some of those guys are sat in the rain on a wet ants nest for 2 weeks just for a 12 second shot of a dancing bird of paradise.

[@juanQuedo]

sounds better to me that most other jobs still

[@uniworkhorse]

9:20 the anticipation only to be shattered by the bird dipping off-screen was comedy gold LOL

[@welshsteve2009]

For me it was the colour rendition that gave the game away immediately in the first comparison shot.

[@splitzable]

May be the camera matters too!? Do you know which one hes using??

[@welshsteve2009]

@@splitzable I don’t think the camera was a factor in this comparison. Both cameras were Sony a7S#. The a7Siii was definitely used with the Opteka lens but I’m not sure which version of the a7S was used with the Tamron lens. I’m fairly sure that was an a7Siii too.

[@GeorgeSBlonsky]

Hey Gene.. let me start by saying how much I love all your vids.. and thank you for all the information and knowledge you share !! Love your mini foray into wildlife/bird photography/filming too as this is my thing and now I can share something back to you.!.. helpful hints if you want to film birds on the wing.. 1. Use an EVF.. 2. Start wide (so you can locate the bird in frame) and then zoom in tighter.. and 3. try when the bird is making a long flight.. tree to tree and branch hopping are almost impossible to track..! Very very best wishes to you and all... g

[@yuanyuanintaiwan]

Did you disable the camera image stabilization for this video? I feel that with the maximum camera stabilization it would never shake that much. I understand this is for the purpose of testing 2 lenses fairly, but with camera stabilization the results would probably be pretty nice for this price!

[@aoikemono6414]

It will help but I doubt it will perform miracles, especially for tracking shots.

[@Ben-rz9cf]

Jitter is to be expected at insanely long focal lengths

[@tallAldiProduction]

it's definitely the wrong tripod for such a focal length. At such a reach even the best stabilization won't work if your tripod isn't stable

[@WeebJail]

idk with the longer side of telephoto lens stabilization is way more important than ibis

[@pbanthonyv]

I mean it looks pretty bad TBH, but crappy 1,600 is better than perfect 24mm if you need the reach.

[@deltacx1059]

3:39 anything over 500mm you need a telescope mount with isolated controls or be bolted to a concrete block. 6:05 a good mount and not a wet noodle of a tripod.

[@Venus-yt8dd]

Lens A doesn't even look that bad tbh!

[@Q_QQ_Q]

Just software difference

[@robinte98]

@@Q_QQ_Q what have you been smoking? Besides the image stabilization the differences are entirely optical.

[@FelixCervantes]

@@robinte98 both lenses had issues with stabilization. He used a cheap Peak Design tripod in the beginning and then used the fantastic Sachtler tripod at the end in the park with the Tamron. I was always told that you turnoff stabilization when you use a tripod, when did that change?

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

@@FelixCervantes should still be the case. The sensor stabilizer, the image stabilizer in the lens and the tripod are working against each other so it would be the smartest thing to just focus on the tripod as a stabilizing factor

[@iDealMedley]

ffs it's super telephoto almost impossible to get a stable shot , especially on video.

[@rodneylopez5073]

I vote that that shot of the squirrel eating at the end be your permanent outro!

[@HardyOh]

Gene tries to track a bird in flight. Gene finds duck. Gene admires bird watchers. Gene finds squirrel.

[@frostvertical9862]

10:53, In malaysia sometimes its not golden hour anymore it turn to yellow hour because its way too golden that it look bad

[@LosMundo]

Great content my friend!!! I would like if you compare a telephoto lens with sony rx10 iv. What is better to get for the price… full camera (24-600mm) or a telephoto lens You are the best

[@TechnoBabble]

There's simply no comparison. That entire camera is the cost of just the lens, not including a camera body. The lens is not a 24-600mm, it's an 8.8-220mm and the camera uses a comparatively tiny sensor.

[@josemzumoza]

Hey man, I’m from Venezuela too and I know how Luis’s situation feels. Is really cool that you guys can help! I currently live in Spain and I do some photography as a hobby, love your channel a lot!!

[@StrangelyIronic]

Gotta try it on either an Olympus or Panasonic MFT with their IBS and crop factor to really "push" these types of things. I've tried one similar to thing with a G9 and have gotten OK results. It also helps to have a red-dot to line up shots faster/easier. I learned that trick messing around with Pentax Q's and extremely over done zoom setups.

[@sametozcan6871]

Lets just all appreciate how good his improvised monologs are. I swear im completely done every time! 😂😂😂

[@kavinp6423]

Something I would’ve liked to see is maybe test to see how good you could make the opteka footage look with some post preprocessing

[@altann2912]

Thats a really smart way of bringing up the sponsor as people won't skip the part

[@ChrisChevs]

You just sold me on the tamron for sure. Never really like Tamron's sharpness until seeing this video. This lens is great!

[@nicktasteless360]

you actually nailed it with the bird flying off the perch in slow mo. you didn't have to follow the bird and just let it fly out of the frame. good video too!

[@ConceptNewEra]

The intro is hilarious, love the good vibes! And Tamron lens is kind of very cool! And that super cheap one, has its moments forsure 💯✔️🔥

[@fricki1997]

You could try a good middle ground - a decent vintage 300mm, 400mm or 500mm prime. And if you use a camera with IBIS, shooting at 1/200 handheld also becomes possible. Also a good 500/8 mirror lens has much better image quality than a 500/8 telephoto in my experience.

[@t.j.morris8385]

Even on my phone, I didn't need to see the first B clip to know that A was a cheap lens. The color in the middle of the clip was blurry, like I had a smudge on my glasses. Great video!

[@Sim_831]

@3:38 Did he say 500 milliliters

[@NettyNetwork]

Yeah the review many people been waiting for

[@RenanDiCarlo]

I have that cheap 400 - 1600 lenses, and in my opinion it deliver enough for the price, it's really fun to try to find objects, animals, moon, persons. These were the pros. The cons are: horrible chromatic aberration, you really must find the sweet spot of focus to avoid that greenish/purple borders. And it's really hard to find the subject that you want to focus in, a little movement and it'll disapear forever hahah

[@awizawawi97]

Hold on..is no one gonna talk about how he inserted his Ads...pure genius...hahahahha

[@Middlestepofficial]

It's like one of those lens doctors use for gastrointestinal inspection, except in this case you can examine an inhabitant from Alpha Centauri.

[@box_zero]

I love watching you. Usually I skip the sponsorship part, but with you it would be disrespect for everything you do and I can't even want that. I hope to fulfill my wish to own one of the Sony cameras and lenses soon. I know your content will help me with that. Thank you for that.

[@AdamIverson]

Since you have a Sony camera, can't you use the camera's built-in stabilizer for the cheap telephoto lens? The newer Sony camera has a stabilizer on the sensor itself so it does not need to rely on the lens. There's a manual override setting that allows you to stabilize up to 1000mm if the lens does not have electronic contact.

[@tyler3201]

I find aiming down the top of the camera and lens to help find your target is best. Then move your eye to the view finder.

[@Carboxylated]

that 12800 iso footage at the end looking GÜD!

[@Protegit]

You should've mounted it on an APS-C body for that extra reach ;)

[@kevinhawthorne5257]

Thank You for all of your videos that you did. I am enjoying all of them

[@GearTestTV]

Next weeks video: How to make your $80 lens look cinematic

[@mzzah06]

the way gene casually said "so what do you shoot with that thing...the...moon or what?" lmaooo

[@fastpenguin]

you know your lens has a high aperture when its named after a fighter jet

[@ConorORegan]

I love how cheap lenses can be although they probably aren’t all that great 😂

[@Bobbylim323]

2nd hand films teles are probably the same price but better tho, that and russian mirror lenses

[@ConorORegan]

@@Bobbylim323 oh for sure but for a cheap Amazon lens it really isn’t as bad as you think it would be

[@fir3zzz580]

Tamron its not worth that much, i would expect an bigger difference. money waste, all the differences can be brought back in post

[@pierrevilley6675]

@@fir3zzz580 The tamron is 2 IL faster, nothing can bring that back in post. And the softness, CA, and lack of contrast, lack of stabilisation, lack of AF neither. I once tried to do bird photography with a 75-300 Film lens (minolta AF, worth 15€) and an olympus body (MFT which frame like a 150-600mil), but even putting all my soul in the post didn't make a single picture printable (too much chromatic aberration, not enough sharpness), they would be fine on instagram tho. A software can't invent missing information, just enhance the information you already have, and this 80€ lens obviously doesn't get much information. It is obvious on a 720p video, it would be horrible printed.

[@garymeredith2441]

Now you know how hard bird photography is , so please acknowledge us .

[@daleb194]

Best Storyblocks ad EVER!

[@JacobCarlson]

I'm curious what you had the in-camera stabilization set to when testing the Opteka lens. I know that the Sony cameras allow you to manually select the focal length so it can stabilize accordingly but I don't remember how high the manual selection goes.

[@davidrodgersphotography]

The next Potato Farm funding should go to the production of "Dylan Says, 'To-da-loo''"

[@brucea.kenney7957]

Awesome job Dillon!!!!!

[@Jasruler]

for 80 bucks it is kinda in "amusing toy" territory. might be fun to play with.

[@LebronPhoto1]

Good Image stabilization or super fast shutter speeds the way we did it back in the day before IS existed. Bottom line, for someone on a very limited budget, with a little post processing, this could be a good solution. Great video.

[@guptageneralstores5243]

One thing to factor in toher than optics is coating. The old lens doesn't have any coating relative to the new one. So it's picking every stray flare that's hitting it. A lens hood should substantially reduce the fogginess.

[@TonyLaPron]

Try this 80 dollar lens on a Panasonic S1 handheld, it will be rock solid. I use 300mm with no lens stab and it works smooth with in body stab.

[@baqcasanke]

Bruh 300mm isnt comparable to 1600mm in terms of visible camera shake 😂😂😂. Not even close

[@hesacuber]

Loving the haircuts

[@MuhdAkmal98]

Try birding with the M50 paired with 55-250mm STM. Great for handheld wildlife videography.

[@seanbeharry9319]

I love the shots of the birds !

[@SuperDoggykong]

Genius way to make us watch an ad

[@derbagger22]

Was in Alaska last week. The amount of time between sunset and total darkness is insane...

[@arthurkallinen]

I bought that same 420-810mm lens from aliexpress some time ago, didn't have the 2x tho. I have good IS in my Olympus OM-D E-M10 mk. III, which makes it more usable.

[@TiBiAstro]

If you haven't done so already, try out one of the better 500mm mirror lenses. Either an older (well-kept) Quantaray, or one of the newly released/announced ones which apparently go up to 800mm (I'm guessing it's a 400mm with a built-in doubler)

[@derrekord]

I'm protesting the channel until Dylan says toodle-oo

[@brakmaster]

When I saw those squirrel shots the first thought that came to mind was, "OMG Camera Conspiracies channel is over!"

[@TheDrExaviouse]

i got that $80 lens and a mechanical only adaptor for my GH4 so it would effectively be a 1600is mm lens. On a mono pod i am able to get some really impressive shots for the price, but it messes with texture and color a bit. Gives a nice "artsy" feel, but not great for everything.

[@parasinthephilippines]

Camera Conspiracy is the true Bird master. Squirrels too. Only playing gang.

[@Kazanyel]

looks like a pretty good startup lens for telephotography, and also having a solid tripod that is

[@richardcooke3562]

What tripod were you using when you were filming the Southwest planes?

[@WithLuca]

What is the first tripod you used? Looks like a travel one that would be very handy for me right now ahahah

[@logitech4873]

This seems like a neat lens for a low-budget used camera setup

[@kendrickl.buchan7271]

Just a minor color and stabilization adjustment in post-production and that 80$ lens is a great deal. If you are using this lens for photography, any issues like chromatic abbreviation and the lack of sharpness can be corrected through post editing. If you can't afford a high quality lens that is worth a thousand dollars, you can work on your skills and it really improves the output of any images or videos you take. Anyways, it is a great comparison review. Well done!

[@macclint3014]

5:00: Bourne Ultimatum vibessss😂

[@AjaySingh-228]

0:07 nice bro..its good..10:27 beautiful..I am a huge fan of telephoto lens..I like it❤️

[@OliverAlbrechtOfficial]

Thanks got this informativ and very nice movie. Nice to see the difference between the cheap lens and a high quality glass. I like the tamron lenses with 24-70mm - thanks potato for your hard work!

[@ishudshutup]

Shocked that it actually works, better than expected is all I can say.

[@dvbkyg.9130]

Using Sigma 150-500mm , I use the viewfinder ,than when bird flying ,zoom out than zoom in ! Any help

[@bananasandbass]

The A lens shows heavy coma/ghosting as well ass the colours being off, harsh lines on the bokeh and more chromatic abberation

[@EinFaen]

Great video, I really enjoyed it! Thx for making it^^

[@cryora]

What about a spotting scope with digiscoping?

[@BURTBROWN]

Years ago (1978) when I had my cheap 600 mm lens - no stabilization, we're talking film days - I got great shots of a huge sun setting like in National Geographic! No photoshop, just clicking and learning the settings that worked for that huge setting sun... For a poor kid, with not much money in the old days, that $80 lens produced some nice and impressive photos.... Remember, we weren't COMPARING lenses, it was just a cheap way to get shots that very few people could get down in Orlando at the time! Digital and Image Stabilization have improved things dramatically!!!!

[@eliseogermanstenta]

Hey there are some generics 500mm f8 (not the reflex ones) super telephoto primes that are indeed very good. You should review one of these.

[@mixeddrinks8100]

what park is that with all the birds? asking as a birder.

[@gilvrgs]

I never thought someone could have a crispy image out of a thermos! That is such a great lens. 😍

[@juanjohntramos7196]

How can this Tamron 500 or 600 mm lens , be use with a canon eos 4000 D ?

[@fitzfizzy]

Question; can i submit to the potato video projects even if I didn't get any help from you guys?

[@gummikalli2]

Come to Iceland around June 22. I'll show you around.

[@MinhTrinh918]

Where are you in LA with that much water and birds?

[@Venaloid]

I have that cheap lens! I used it to take a decent picture of the moon. Honestly, worth the money, even if it's not actually "good".

[@I_am_Jordan_K]

I understand why you'd want to talk about the sponsor during a part of the video that won't have much audio, but I kind of wish you didn't cover the lens comparison segment with stock footage b roll. Anyways, for $80 the lens doesn't seem bad. Sure, it's not good for anything pro, but for a hobbyist or somebody on a huge budget it could be a lot of fun. Did you have IBIS on for any of the shots?

[@ropeyarn]

Anyone remember the Spiratone 400mm f6.3 ? Not too sharp but a lot of fun. Also the Spiratone 18mm super wide. Those lenses were popular back when Tamron 70-200mm lenses would self disassemble in a year.

[@samuelodan2376]

Woah! I’d just really love to see Dylan with a beard.

[@fzeo]

i live in Malaysia. the goldern hour is like 5-15 min at most. \ but yeah. im thinking to get 70-300 tamron for my a7. but having 500mm is an extra.

[@HelloyeloNo1]

Nice - What about the p1000 how would that compare?

[@williamjonker9848]

see that black spec on the screen at 5:12 ? i'm having that problem with my camera, anyone know what it is??

[@Sqeedledee]

Dirt on the sensor most likely, the self cleaning setting will shake it off, hopefully.

[@williamjonker9848]

@@Sqeedledee thanks!

[@alejandrortorres]

Epic squirrel shots, man.

[@chamithathukorala1985]

How did you covered 24 to 150..?

[@glssjg]

I would also like to know.

[@clonkex]

That Tamron lens is so clean!

[@andrejackson6618]

What’s the best way to stabilize the opteka ($80) lens?

[@jorymil]

For video, I can see IS being really helpful. Perhaps an in-body body would give good results.

[@ConnorNolanTech]

I own that same lens, and I didn't even need to see the B footage to know which one it was 😂

[@JulesMariani]

Ayyye how did potato know I was interested in getting a new telephoto

[@legenderry25]

This is just proof that there can be reasonable decent telephoto lenses that don’t break hobbyists pockets but they always make usable expensive af