What To Expect With Tamron USA’s 6-Year Warranty

When my Tamron 150-600mm EF mount (A011) lens suddenly failed four years into my ownership of the lens, I was super grateful for Tamron’s long 6 year warranty. I never had to use a lens warranty service before, and my experience with Tamron was super smooth. 

Camechs Wildlife Lens Setup

In this article I’m going to talk about what to expect with Tamron’s 6 year warranty service.

The verdict: if you are having issues with your Tamron lens and it’s within 6 years of purchase, I highly recommend going through the warranty steps. 

The Problem

My favorite lens is my Tamrom 150-600mm G1 EF Mount lens. I use this with my 6D Mark II for wildlife photography. I’ve never had a proper telephoto lens, and this one takes amazing shots. It also was not super expensive compared to some other super telephoto lenses. 

One day I took this lens on a camping trip. I saw some birds after we parked at the campsite, so I whipped out the Tammy. 

First thing I noticed, the lens kept going out of focus when I hit the back button AF-ON button. After getting frustrated with a few missed shots, I switched to manual focus. Then I noticed that the VC (vibration compensation) system was actually shaking the lens elements when I was ready to take a photo. 

That’s when I knew something happened to my precious wildlife lens. It was confusing because I always took good care of my lens. I purchased it’s very own telephoto case and it lived in there when it wasn’t on my camera.

I was super bummed that I would have a defective favorite lens. With four years of use, I was sure I would just have to keep it as a paperweight or pay big bucks for a manufacturer’s repair. 

That is actually the first time I heard about the Tamron 6 year warranty. I was a happy camper when I learned about it. 

The Steps

There are a few prerequisites to being eligible for the six year warranty. You have to have bought your lens through an authorized Tamron distributor. No gray market products will be eligible. 

The links I provide in this article are going to be specific to USA Tamron users. If you are not in the US , google will lead you to the appropriate Tamron warranty website by default. 

You can learn more about eligibility here: https://tamron-usa.com/support/warranty.html

The first step is to register your Tamron lens. To register you need proof of purchase and your lens’s serial number. 

Registration can happen anytime within the 6 years that the warranty is active. This is generally a good idea as you get emails about lens updates and such. 

I purchased my lens online, so fortunately I had the receipt buried in my emails. 

Once your registration is confirmed, you will get an email. Afterwards you are ready to submit a repair request! To do this, head here: https://tamron-usa.com/support/

This is where you detail your issues and lens info. I also highly recommend getting your lens returned with the signature required. It’s only $6. 

My Costs

I did have to ship out my lens with my own cash. Because the lens is heavy, large, and delicate, this was more money than I was expected to spend. I definitely didn’t want it to get damaged in transit. 

I live in California, and the Tamron USA repair center is in New York, on the other side of the country. 

My total cost for packaging and USPS shipping was around $50. The only other cost was the $6 signature verification return shipment. So my total cost was around $56 to send my lens to Tamron and get it back to me. 

Time Frame

Because I was across the country, it took a while for my lens to actually get to Tamron. I got an email on July 13th when they finally received it. In the email they detailed what was going to be repaired. 

They repaired the AF mechanism, disassembled and cleaned the entire lens, and adjusted/replaced the VC unit. 

Six days later on the 19th, I got an email from FedEx that my lens was shipping! And it was estimated to arrive on the 25th. 

All in all, it took almost a month from me sending out my lens and getting it back. Most of that is due to me being far away from the Tamron repair center. 

Results

So $56 and a month later. What did I get back in the mail?

Well the lens was back to working perfectly! My favorite part was that the internals were absolutely spotless. They cleaned all the dust that was settling behind the front lens element. 

Tamron Warranty Confirmation

I can’t always afford dust/weather sealed lenses. The Tamron 150-600 did not have such dust sealing and I always feel helpless when I see dust build up behind the front element. 

Four years of dust inside the lens is gone, and it feels like I have a new lens again! 

All in all, the warranty service was very cheap after shipping it out. It was also a very smooth process without any real setbacks, resistance, or other issues. The worst part was probably how long it took. 

In closing, I will be much more inclined to invest in Tamron glass as they back their products for 6 years. And the process was pretty easy. 

Even Canon, the master of glass, only has a one year warranty behind their lenses. Sigma has a respectable four year warranty which is very good.