Last Friday, I purchased an inexpensive Tamron 70-300 VC Zoom to take on a trip from my local camera store. They don’t have very good reviews, but I know they have been trying to improve their reputation, and I have had good luck with them in the past year, so I went ahead and purchased the lens there.

Saturday afternoon I took the lens out with my Sony A6000 to a local park. I found the AF wouldn’t work above 200mm, nor was it accurate above 135mm. Switching to manual focus is one of the reasons why I love the A6000 so much, being able to zoom into the subject in the viewfinder and focus, theoretically should bring sharp shots. Not with this lens. In the end, only 15% of my pictures were in focus and 2 were ‘sharp’.

Sunday I took the lens out with my Canon 6D to the same park. I had better luck as the AF worked at all focal lengths. About 40% of Sunday’s photos were in focus with 15% ‘sharp’. Using live view resulted in more in focus and sharp shots, however, I expect to have a higher hit rate than that. Before you ask, the lens was microcalibrated with FoCal.

I had expected that the ‘in focus’ results would have been better with the A6000, than with the 6D, given less of the image circle is being used, or did I get that wrong and am dealing with defraction on the A6000?

I had used the Tamron 70-300 VC before and had no such problems getting in focus shots, so I returned to camera store to get a replacement. And that is where is all went to hell…..

The salesmen were shocked I was returning the lens. Initially I asked if I can trade in the lens and go with the Canon 200L 2.8 (I was willing to get a replacement of the Tamron), then we started discussing my issues with the Tamron.
• “we have sold dozens of this lens, and we have never had one have focus issues”
• “Are you sure you have your camera set up correctly”
• “Here, let’s test it out on this 5D Mk3….hey the VC is broken, did you drop the lens?” After explaining how the VC works…”Oh I guess its ok, I am not getting sharp shots at 1/30”….at 300 mm in a dark store at high ISO’s.
• “The photos look fine to me” said looking at the back of the camera.
• The salesmen head outside for some photos & return: “Hey, I thought you set it to jpg, why can’t I find the pictures….oh they look fine to me” I look over they are looking at a blurred picture of a spider.

At this point, I am rather annoyed; I have owned, at one time or another, over 50 lenses, and if I had any problems with a lens or body in the past, my regular camera store (which is 60 miles away) exchanged it with a smile and no questions asked.

They are still fumbling around with getting photos out of the camera, when one guy notices some dust on the lens:
• “You went to the beach didn’t you!!!” No, I went to such & such park…it could have been a little windy
• “Well there is dust here on the front element, and it could have gotten inside the lens and damaged the focus mechanism or made the lens blurry” No, it has been proven that dust inside a lens doesn’t damage the picture quality. And you can blow off the dust, see (as I blow the dust off….)
• “We can’t exchange it until we send it to Tamron to check if you damaged it” O_o It isn’t damaged “It is”
• “If you send it to Tamron, they will clean it, fix the problems, and if it is broken, send you a new one” I don’t want to do that….I am leaving on a trip soon. Just replace the lens and you send it back.
I grabbed my lens, stuffed it back in the box, and left. So in a nutshell, they are saying that I damaged the lens by taking it to the beach, and I am trying to get a new one because I damaged it. Tomorrow I will call my credit card company and file a BBB report.

Has anyone heard of camera stores not willing to exchange a lens?