Which telephoto lense? canon or sigma Please help

[CarryOnBoo]

Hi i'm after a telephoto lens to take wildlife photography. i cannot afford to pay anymore than £450 really.

I am looking at either the

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM Lens

or the

Sigma AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG APO Macro Canon Fit Lens.

Considering there is a quite a price difference between both i want to make sure i make a good choice so was hoping for some advice. i cannot afford a bigger zoom. also can you use a teleconvertor on these lenses? the reason i am looking at the canon is simply because its stabilized. and not sure how much a difference that would make between either lens.

Thank you

[Mike Jackson]

I've got the Canon and get on well with it. The IS allows you to shoot hand held at the 300 end of the range instead of needing a tripod.

Can't comment on that Sigma but I've got a Sigma 10-20 ex lens and the quality is superb so I believe the main difference will be the IS.

Mike

[CarryOnBoo]

Thank you. thats good to know as i don't plan to be carrying my monopod eveywhere with me.

[ron1863]

I have the Sigma and it's an excellent lens for the money and it has 1:2 macro at 300mm, which is handy, as is the price at under £200

[CarryOnBoo]

Thank you. How is the image on the sigma at 300? do u need a tripod to get decent images? only i would mainly be ding handheld shots.

[zan]

The Sigma was my first lens, and it was a pretty good all-rounder, with the macro function as well as the telephoto.

I've still got some of the photos I've taken with it on my flickr page: (Flickr: Search Zan M's photostream, if you want a look at them? They were all taken handheld, and a couple used the macro setting. (Mods, I hope the link is ok?)

It's a bit slow when the light is poor, as you'd expect from a cheaper lens, but I thought it was great, and had no problems. For a budget lens, you could do far worse! Sigma have a bit of a reputation for quality control though, so if you do buy the Sigma, make sure you give it a good testing, either in the shop or as soon as it arrives. Their customer service is second to none to make up for it though, so you would have no problems replacing one if you had to.

[CarryOnBoo]

thank you your photos look awsome! im confused now and am wondering if i should save some money and forget about IS and go for the sigma.

[Markulous]

I have both lenses (well the inferior non-APO Sigma which is OK but the APO version is much better). Have to say that the Sigma is excellent value but you'd probably get more shots from the use of the IS in the Canon