Which lense

[Rookie47]

Can anyone advise me what is the best lens to get for wildlife photogaphy. My camera is a canon eos 400d and my lens is a tamron 28-300.I have read some reports on the sigma 50-500 on wab is it the best around for a budget under a £1000 ?
Rookie47

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Rookie47

Can anyone advise me what is the best lens to get for wildlife photogaphy. My camera is a canon eos 400d and my lens is a tamron 28-300.I have read some reports on the sigma 50-500 on wab is it the best around for a budget under a £1000 ?
Rookie47

Hi Rookie, the Sigma 50-500mm is a great lens. Is it the best zoom lens in my opinion for under a £1000. Well opinions will vary but I think for a zoom lens you wont get any better for the money that goes to 500mm.

I have a Canon 400D and a Sigma 50-500mm. I also have a Canon 400mm f5.6L USM lens. If you need the versatility of the zoom the Sigma 50-500mm is a great lens. Not sure of the price but I'm nearly sure it's under a £1000 you might like to check out the Canon 100-400mm zoom lens. It's got image stabilisation and although slightly shorter in reach than the 50-500mm I'm reliably informed that it works well with a 1.4x teleconverter attached and it does give great image quality

I personally prefer my Canon 400mm f5.6L USM lens over the Sigma 50-500mm lens for it's image quality which is no doubt better than the Sigma 50-500mm lens, but you would expect a fixed prime lens to be better than a zoom.

Hope this helps
Roger

[Rookie47]

Thanks for the advice. Would the canon 400 be expensive

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Rookie47

Thanks for the advice. Would the canon 400 be expensive

Hi again, the Canon 400mm f5.6L USM prime can be had for well under a £1000. I paid less than £800 for mine brand new. Although it's not image stabilised it's pretty light compared to the Sigma 50-500mm and can be hand held as long as you have a decent shutter speed.

Just check out mygallery on here for images taken with it. Most of the recent stuff is with the 400mm unless it states otherwise under the photo. I do use a tripod mainly though.
Roger

[Rookie47]

I have checked your site and can see what you mean the quality is better. Your photos are very good

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Rookie47

I have checked your site and can see what you mean the quality is better. Your photos are very good

Thanks Rookie, just bear in mind though that I do use a tripod for most of my images and getting pretty close in to the birds does help a lot. The Sigma 50-500mm does have a touch more reach but I find the quality of the 400mm is such that you can crop more than with the Sigma 50-500mm.

Also don't discount the Canon 100-400mm with image stabilisation, especially if you intend hand holding
Roger

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Ollie

Thanks Rookie, just bear in mind though that I do use a tripod for most of my images and getting pretty close in to the birds does help a lot. The Sigma 50-500mm does have a touch more reach but I find the quality of the 400mm is such that you can crop more than with the Sigma 50-500mm.

Also don't discount the Canon 100-400mm with image stabilisation, especially if you intend hand holding
Roger

I can confirm what Roger says about the quality. We did a test together, with my Sigma 50-500mm and his 400mm. The end results showed that the loss of the 100mm on the 400mm was more than made up by the increase in resolution from the superior prime focus 400mm.
However, I wouldn't change my 50-500mm! I like the zoom versatility. Many of my shots are taken at less than maximum zoom. I rarely use a tripod, but I do use a monopod where ever I can. The Bigma (the pet name for the 50-500mm) I find quite capable of being used hand held, and I often do, but I'd always recommend some form of support if possible.

[richardkm]

I use the Canon 100-400 IS USM on my 400D. Paid more than £1000 for it though, but it's a good lens. I firmly believe that a good prime will always beat a good zoom at the same focal length, but I like the versatility of the 100-400, and the image stab.

The pictures of the red kites on my web site were taken with this lens.

[Rookie47]

Thanks for the advice everyone, got some thinking to do