Hi, this Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens we headed out to Taft, California. It's
a tiny little town out in the middle of nowhere. It was established in the early 1900s. It's
kind of an oil town. Everything in this town revolves around oil because there's just nothing
but desert and oil out here. So here in town, they have an interesting festival called the
Oildorado festival. We thought it was a great opportunity to check out and to shoot with
our 18 -300mm Sony e-mount APS-C lens by Tamron for Sony.
So there's a lot of specs. Specs schmecks. How does this thing shoot? How does it handle?
You know, what's it like? How does it change the perspective? Let's take a look at all
those things.
When we're talking an 18-300mm on an APS-C sensor that's basically a 27-450mm lens. That's
a great range. And the reason I love this kind of a range so much in a lens like this
is because it gives you the ability to change your perspective so much with a single lens.
I found an old tank, and so I started shooting it at 300mm. If you look at the background,
the mountains are in close, the two little tanks in the background are way close to us.
That whole perspective is just compressed completely. As I walked towards that container,
all of a sudden those two little tanks on the side start to get pushed back and the
mountains got lower. Now they're just barely above the tank. As I get in closer into that
really 27mm, now the mountains are 100 miles back there. And those two little tanks are
way back there. And you don t hardly see the mountain range at all. That tank just juts
up into the blue sky and gives you that really interesting kind of look because it's so isolated.
And it's just so simple.
Also with a lens like this, as I shooting that tank, I can walk in super close. This
will focus, the MOD on this is about five and a half inches. So I can get in super close.
And I can see the nut on the container. Whereas if I step back, I can see the whole container.
So it just gives you so many different options. So that's what's so wonderful about a lens
like this. It gives you many different options to be able to change the perspective.
Now if you just enter one place and zoom, then all you're doing is cropping that does
not change the perspective at all. But with a 300 or with a 450 to 27 or 27 to 450 you
can now walk and completely change your perspective.
So here we are in town, we're going to photograph some of the cowboys and the different people
here at the show. And then tonight we're going to walk around and do a little bit of street
photography at night as it's a little darker. So it should be a lot of fun using that 18-300mm
or 27-450mm. So let's get out there. Let's take some more images.
So I met up with the sheriff's posse and the wooden nickel gang. We went out and did some
shots with them in this abandoned area. Take a look at some of those.
So what makes this lens so ideal in this format? It can't just be that it's, you know 27-450mm.
But there's several other things. One is the size. It's very small. So I'm looking at it
with this shade off. I'm looking at a very compact package there. I've got a small APS-C
sensor camera. I've got a 27-450mm lens on there. It's lightweight. And it has VC control.
I mean, if you're going to shoot a 450mm handheld ever, you need that VC control, which it has.
Which is incredible. I love the f/3.5 - f/6.3 because it's pretty fast. When you go to a
telephoto 450mm you really don't need anything faster than a f/6.3. But when you come in
to that 28mm that f/3.5 is really nice.
So it's super light. It s 21.9 ounces. Which makes it very easy to carry with you as a
walk around type lens. It doesn't make any sense to get into an a 6600 and not have a
very small compact lightweight lens to carry with it.
Outside in front of the Oildorado store I found old model a and there's this gal in
this great black dress with a cowboy hat. I did a bunch of pictures with her in front
of that model a. Let's take a look at some of those. It's so great with this lens to
be able to change that perspective. I'm getting close. I can get in tight. It s just so fun.
Take a look at some of these.
We did some night photography. We shot downtown here. I had the camera on a tripod. Just able
to burn in some of the neon. I got some interesting images. I got the gal who's running the theatre
here. She stood inside the little window booth and we got a picture of her there as well.
Alright, so let's wrap this up. This whole series of lenses that Tamron has done I think
are just very ergonomically perfect for the Sony camera line of mirrorless cameras. Especially
when you get into this APS-C sensor line like the a 6600. They are small. They are lightweight.
Most of your controls are not on the lens. They're going to be internally in the menus
so you can change from autofocus to manual focus. All that's going to be inside. This
is just the same.
This lens has VC control which you really need if you're going to be on a 300mm or a
450mm conversion for APS-C sensor. Just ergonomically I think it works. I love the fact that you
can focus so closely with these and it just becomes for me a perspective dream. You can
play with the perspective with a lens like this because you can go everything from wide
to super long. And if you're walking and moving you can really change that perspective. And
it makes for a lot of fun if you're walking around shooting. It's a great street lens
and a great travel lens. I think it has a great place for those who want to do sports.
So kids soccer, football, you know, even for somebody who's shooting for a high school
football team. This is a great lens for that because it just gives you that telephoto and
it's lightweight and inexpensive. I mean it really is a great price point.
So I've enjoyed shooting it. I just love the versatility. It just gives you such a great
difference in focal lengths to be able to play with. And so I really enjoyed shooting
it. So there's a look at the 18-300mm Tamron APS-C sensor for Sony. Keep those cameras
rollin and keep on clickin .
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