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How’s the Tamron 70-300mm on the Nikon Z9?

Chris Gampat
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01/10/2023
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Nikon z9 with Tamron 70-300mm lens product images 21-250s400 3

We recently updated the Tamron 70-300mm lens review we published back in 2020. This lens is now available for Nikon Z mount, and with that comes some curious changes. Nikon and Tamron have certainly had a relationship over the past few years. But the way it has matured and come to market leaves me confused. When I read some of the news, I twist my head in the same way a dog would when it’s curious about something.

Here’s the update to our Tamron 70-300mm lens review. If you’re interested, the lens is very affordable on Amazon or Adorama.

Ease of Use

Update January, 2023

In 2022, an odd tree of Nikon’s took grafted branches from Tamron, and started to bear some strange fruit. In some cases, the lenses took Nikon’s exterior and pricing. In others, Tamron took the exterior and Nikon’s Z mount. In this case, the Tamron 70-300mm is available for Nikon Z mount.

In Janaury 2023, we tested it on the Nikon Z9 for birding photography. Overall, it did a good job, but there are some weird happenings with the Nikon Z9 mounted with a Tamron lens. Specifically, I’m talking about the process of exporting images from the camera to the computer when a USB-C cable is hooked up.

Let me explain. When a Nikon Z mount lens is mounted to the camera and plugged into a computer via USB, then powered on, the camera goes into USB storage mode. In this way, I can easily import photos into Capture One. But if a Tamron lens is mounted, the camera thinks it’s ready to shoot. The Nikon z9 will start up in storage mode and then immediately stop. The workaround on a Mac is to use Apple’s own Image Capture within the applications. (At least, that’s the workaround for the moment.)

Otherwise, this lens functions as it normally would. I own the Sony variant, and I don’t have much to complain about.

Autofocus On the Nikon Z9

In January 2023, I tested the Tamron 70-300mm lens on the Nikon Z9 for birding. After all, when I used it on Sony, I adored its results with birds. Since then I’ve also used it for sports and found that the results on the Sony a1 were very good.

I’ve used the Nikon z9 several times since I first reviewed it, and it’s received various firmware updates so far. I’ve found that with Nikon’s own higher-end lenses, the difference is vast. Nikon’s lenses focus faster and sometimes more accurately. I asked our Nikon reps about this, and they cited that the motors are most likely the difference makers here.

With that said, the autofocus on the Tamron 70-300mm is still very good. I regularly set up bird feeders on my balconies to photograph birds for my reviews. Regular visits from Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Sparrows, Cardinals, and Robins have given me lots of great opportunities to photograph them. The Nikon Z9 and Tamron 70-300mm focus as well as they did when the Nikon Z9 came out. Hence, the duo does not do as well as it would with Nikon’s own native glass. In practice, that difference is more pronounced if you’re using an all-auto focus mode selection. And if you’re giving it assistance using direct focusing points, it will help a bit.

Luckily, the Nikon z9’s scene detection for animals also groups birds into that. I’m quite happy with the photos this combination delivers. However, I think this lens would make more sense with a more affordable camera body. As of January 2023, Nikon doesn’t make anything more affordable with Bird detection, but something is bound to come soon.

autofocus birding ease of use lens nikon nikon z9 review tamron tamron 70-300mm tamron 70-300mm review update
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.