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Looking for advice on telephoto lens
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I visited the zoo recently in company with some PI members. Talk about lens envy!! With the glass in use they were able to get so -oo much closer than me with my kit 18-135.
I also use a Canon S3 12x zoom with 1.54 conversion telephoto.I have looked in Dpreview, Ken Rockwell, etc. for info but am still puzzled. [Nothing new there then]
I like taking landscape/wildlife type shots and I want a lens which gets me close.
I think I would prefer to purchase a zoom rather than a prime, and guess I am looking at a 70-200, 70-300, or 100-300, but am not sure what these terms mean:? And everything I looked at on Photozone got very lukewarm reviews.
Advice much appreciated,.
Signed: Confused :?The numbers are the focal length, i.e. 300mm will zoom in much closer than 55mm. Simple enough really.
As to what to get … it depends on budget and how uch you will use it.
You can spend a lot of money and carry a lot weight around with you if want to get really close.
BUT, all my recent zoo shots were all taken with a ‘Sigma 70-300mm F/4-5.6 APO DG Macro’
It costs around 200 Euro (I paid ?199 in the Dublin Camera Exchange) and I don’t think you can do better anywhere in that price range.Unless you want to spend at least 2x or 3x that money you should check it out.
Here is a review:
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Sigma-70-300mm-F4-56-APO-DG-MacroYeah, the Sigma 70-300’s give nice bang for the buck. The DG is a good one, as Hauke has shown. It won’t stand up to L glass but it’s gonna be quality if you know how to use it and it’s great value, especially if long glass is just something you use every now and then. My 70-300 is a bottom feeder (lowest model of that lens family) that I bought in camera exchange way-back-when for ?130 or so. I still break it out every now and then, mainly for the “macro” mode and if I don’t want to stand out like a sore thumb.
Go beyond that .. the Canon 70-300 with IS, maybe? Then we’re in medium spending country …. the Sigma DG 50-500. Then things get higher: the Canon EF 400 F5.6 and then the Canon EF 100-400 L IS (what I use).
Then you’re into megabucks territory: a nice EF 600 F4 :-)
i’d say the canon 70-200L f/4 (no IS). i won’t bother talking price since we seem to have much cheaper lenses over here in the states, but the 70-200L was twice as expensive for me as the sigma 70-300. i originally had the sigma 70-300 dg, wasn’t happy with it (used it for 2 years).. seemed like i couldn’t use it past 200 or it would be very blurry and soft. on the sigma i got great quality shots between the apertures of 11-16 and focal lengths between 70-200, but that was about it. on the canon i get great quality all around except for the user errors ;)
bethEr…[whisper] My DSLR is a Nikon D80. My other camera is a Canon. :oops: :oops:
But there’s some great advice there. I’m going on hols soon so want to get myself organised asap.
p&s wrote:
Er…[whisper] My DSLR is a Nikon D80. My other camera is a Canon. :oops: :oops:
You get Sigma lenses in almost all mounts.
Beth is right, at 300 mm the 70-300 tends to get soft.
But between 70 and 250 mm it’s a nice piece of kit of the money.I’m with Beth on this – I had the Sigma for a while but did start to notice it’s failings fairly quick.
I also have the Canon 70 – 200 f4 L lens and I love it. It’s fast, quiet, sharp and not too expensive.Personally, I’m using a Nikkor 300/4.5 AIS lens, which I bought for ?160 in almost unused condition on ebay. Manual focus, tricky metering, but I’m convinced that I can get much better results in good light than with the sigma 70-300… If I’d buy another tele I’d consider the sigma 50-500, which seems to produce sharp pictures or a bigger Nikkor prime (500-P/5.6).
Plenty to think about there, thanks. I am going to have a look at/tryout of the following:
Nikon 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 AF-S G VR IFED
Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 DL
Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO
and whatever else they let me try!!p&s wrote:
Er…[whisper] My DSLR is a Nikon D80. My other camera is a Canon. :oops: :oops:
But there’s some great advice there. I’m going on hols soon so want to get myself organised asap.
P&S mightn’t be of much use to you but Jessops are selling the Sigma for ?99 online and collect at shop or have it posted. Don’t know if they post outside the UK.
SodaThanks, Sodafarl. I got the Sigma in Dublin end June and am pleased with results so far.
p&s wrote:
Thanks, Sodafarl. I got the Sigma in Dublin end June and am pleased with results so far.
P&S any examples of photos taken using the lens.
Thanks
Soda
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