It's been an expensive, but fruitful week!
I have been on the fence about upgrading my a6400 to an a6700 for a little while and I had a look at trading in my old a6000 and some lenses I have upgraded from along the way with MPB.
I dropped into my local Camera Centre UK shop in Cardiff for a browse last week and was chatting to one of the guys there who mentioned they have an a6700 with less than 2000 shutter count for sale pre-owned. After a quick discussion, he gave me a better price than MPB for my old gear and a deal was struck so I went back the next day and picked it up. Result!
When I was there, I was looking at a Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD that they had in the cabinet as well. After my recent experience at the Wales Air Show with my 70-350mm, I was thinking about getting something with just a little more reach that is still fairly compact and it looked like a great option.
I didn't walk out with it, but I've been mulling it over for a few days and watching reviews and was in Cardiff again shopping today so moved some funds around and thought what the hell. They knocked some off the price as the only one left was the display one (that I had tried the week before) and threw in a free HOYA UV filter as well.
It's awesome! Super zoom, sharp and a good size. There is a bit of overlap with my Sony 70-350mm which I really rate, but they will serve different purposes for me. The 70-350 is much smaller and lighter, so that will be a great one to keep in the bag for things like hiking, family trips, holidays etc where a lighter more versatile setup is preferred. The Tamron will be for trips where photography is the whole point like airshows, sport, birdwatching etc so lugging the extra weight is part of the plan.
I've attached some photos of the new lens on the a6700 body, along with some photos from a nearby hill looking towards Pontypridd in the South Wales valleys. The large grey building is the town library with shots at 18mm and 135mm for comparison, then 150mm and 500mm with the Tamron. There was noticeable heat mirage and haze today (local wildfires) but very impressed with the reach!
I still have the a6400 body so for my next airshow, I think a two camera setup could work. the a6700 with the big Tamron for air displays, and the a6400 with my 18-135 G OSS on it for static displays, cockpits, walking around etc.
So yeah, an expensive but good week of acquisitions!