Lens Advice

A friend of mine has used this lens (Sigma 120-400) for a number of years, he thinks it is good value for money.
Phil

Same friend has just bought Canon 300mm F.4 L IS and is much happier with it.

Phil

Hi
I have been useing the Sigma 120-400 lens now for about two years for airshows and bird watching, the only down side as far as I can see is the weight of the lens, a monopod helps if you can use one OK.
Cheers
Jeff.

You say a new lens, which have you been using? What body do you use?

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I’ve been using a Sigma 70-300 apo dg macro (which is the 1 I’m looking to replace), and for some closer stuff, the canon EF 28-135 (which is pretty much permantly on the camera). Both been used on the 1000d. I am looking to upgrade body to a 7d some time soon.

What I am after is a bit more length (In lens!!!) image stabaliser, a good image quality and above all, good value.

A friend of mine has used this lens for a number of years, he thinks it is good value for money.
Phil

Thanks for the advice both of you.

Funds are going to be a major issue in a new lens. I have also recently considered the sigma 120-400mm. Any views?

You say a new lens, which have you been using? What body do you use?

I find the Canon lens sample forums to be very useful.

Maybe consider the Sigma 150-500mm lens. Great focal range, and if you search through this thread, i think you’ll be quite impressed.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=514846&highlight=sigma+150-500mm

I was looking at the 100-400L as well, but then came across the Sigma and now i’m getting that instead. The sigma stopped down to f6.3 or f.8 is incredibly sharp.

As I said, the Lens Samples forum is great to browse through.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=107

Very useful as you can search within threads for say ‘airshow’ or ‘aircraft’ and see what people got.

Personally, I have a EF 70-210 f4 which is fantastic. Haven’t been able to use it at an airshow yet though. The autofocus is a bit slow but should be good enough. The only reason i’m looking at other lenses is for a longer reach. This lens can be had on ebay for £100 which is a bloody bargain. There’s also a 3.5-4.5 version with USM focus, which is probably more suited to airshows and can be had for roughly the same price.

Here is a sample thread for the 100-400.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=373778

On the face of it this is a useful lens for airshows generally. The range of zoom and the 400mm should cope with most events. However having used this lens for a few years I came to realise that compared with more expensive lenses such as the 300mm f2.8 it is a little soft at 400mm. The 300mm f4 is sharper also and more reasonably priced but is not a zoom of course.

The 300mm f4 and a 70-200 f2.8 (excellent lens) is a better combination for the camera bag.

It is really down to the cash you have spare, the more you pay the better the lens.

Good luck
Phil
www.targeta.co.uk

As far as I know, the 70-300VR is not out yet. Wait for the reviews.

I have found the Sigma 50-500, Nikkor 70-200VR with 1.4TC or the 80-400VR to be ideal. The VR allows you to shoot at 1/250 to blur the props.

Hello all,i’m after a new lens for my D50,i had my eye on this one:
Nikon AF-S VR 4,5-5,6/70-300 IF-ED

Will this lens be an improvement on my current:
Nikkor 70~300mm f/4~f/5.6G
I’m after nothing larger than 300mm as it would be just too heavy to bring around on my back when cycling.If anyone knows of other brand lenses in this range please tell me of them 😉

Hi Gary,

I had a quick look at the specifcation for the lens in question and the short answer is yes, the optics will be better the image stablization will allow you another two stops to play with, no doubt others will come up with other advantages.

I had the same debate a few years with a canon lens, the one I purchased was well worth the money.

Regards

Eric