Teleconverter or Lens?

[Flighty]

Well, thanks everyone - essentially, you have all confirmed what I thought was the case already ... I'm a cheapskate.

I guess I'll have to start putting my coppers in the piggy bank, and be happy with landscapes for the mean time. I think, if I do anything, I may trade in my 200mm for a 300mm. The ebay price of them seems to be fairly similar so I wont actually have to spend much.

Thanks again for the good advice. Rich

[zan]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Unfortunately Zan the Bigma is over £1000 in most shops now

Wow, ok didn't realise it was that much! Not very helpful advice from me then I'd actually forgotten about the Sigma 70-300mm APO lens- that was the first one I owned and it is really good if you're on a tight budget. I couldn't say whether it's worth swapping your 55-200mm for because I'm not familar with your lens, but the sigma is nice and sharp and works well for what you pay.

I do think auction sites can work very well (I got a £1000 lens for £600 which was as new), but I'd certainly treat it with a lot of caution before you spend a lot of money there.

[1957split]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Yes but a wabber picked one up on a certain site last week for £500..

It was me I never had a £1000 for a lens so it got me playing now

Word of warning though, if buying through ebay try and source a local one so you can go and view it before bidding, I bought from a so called pro thinking it would be cared for, it wasn't, just another tool chucked in a bag from the looks of it
It operates fine focuses well but looks to have had an uncared for life, if I had seen this before bidding I'd have passed on it.

All Bigma's on ebay make between £500 and £600 with the odd exception going for nearly £700, the gamble here is trying to get the well cared for one.

Last note is "I ain't rich" for me to continue doing what I enjoy so much ebay's the only route, until circumstances change for me new is out of the question.
Now if I had a spare £18.5k I still couldn't justify this but I'd like to have a play though

Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 /400-1000mm EX DG for Canon on eBay, also, For Digital SLR, Camera Lenses, Photography (end time 27-May-09 03:32:59 BST)

Cheapest bigma I saw while looking was £496.00 and mine cost me £550 with the p&p

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by 1957split

I bought from a so called pro thinking it would be cared for, it wasn't, just another tool chucked in a bag from the looks of it
It operates fine focuses well but looks to have had an uncared for life, if I had seen this before bidding I'd have passed on it.

If you bought it from a pro, then it would have been excessively used and used, so the condition was bound to be pretty dire I've looked after my Sigma 105mm but the finish of most of the Sigma lenses seems to crack quite easily, as can be seen with mine. Same with my 50-500mm. Aesthetics aren#'t really relevant to picture quality, so as long as the internal moving pieces work as intended, you'll be good

[NicolaB]

I met a guy on Skomer who had the Sigma 120-400mm lens, and he got some pretty good results with it. The lens is going for about £600ish new, so you might be able to get a reasonable secondhand price on one?

To be honest, I'm not bothered if the bodywork on a secondhand lens has a few scratches, as long as the glass is good. I got my used 17-55mm f2.8 from Ffordes, and it's a fab lens despite looking a bit skanky!

[madukan]

Word of warning though, if buying through ebay try and source a local one so you can go and view it before bidding, I bought from a so called pro thinking it would be cared for, it wasn't, just another tool chucked in a bag from the looks of it

I watched that auction. The guy you bought it from didn't have any feedback as I recall and the description didn't go into much detail about the items condition, can't remember if there were photos, don't think so.

If you use ebay try to use a seller with positive feedback and auctions that have detailed descriptions and better still, photo's of the actual item. You can even ask the seller a question if any info isn't included. Then if it arrives in poor condition you have grounds for a full refund.

Sorry if I'm preaching a bit .

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

If you bought it from a pro, then it would have been excessively used and used, so the condition was bound to be pretty dire I've looked after my Sigma 105mm but the finish of most of the Sigma lenses seems to crack quite easily, as can be seen with mine. Same with my 50-500mm. Aesthetics aren#'t really relevant to picture quality, so as long as the internal moving pieces work as intended, you'll be good

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks like this Nick, as I'll probably be selling my Bigma soon and it looks a bit tatty in places. I've never bother about the looks, provided the lens performs as it should I don't care if a bit of paint has come off. I've treated my Bigma with kid gloves but it hasn't stopped the finish from pealing off in a few places.