What lens for a Canon EOS400D?

[Gooch]

Hi

I'm new to the forum.

My wife and I live in the country so are always looking out to see what visitors we have in our garden and take an interest in the different wildlife species we encounter on our regular walks.
My wife has a Canon EOS400D digital camera which currently has a EF 55-200mm lens which is great for photography "in general" but is not quite good enough for taking photos of birds in our garden or when we are out.
We are by no means experts in photography and understand that telephoto lenses are expensive but would very much appreciate some guidance on what we should be buying to get better pictures.
How much should we be looking to spend? I don't mind spending a few £100 pounds but don't want to go mad. Also would something like this be any good?

Photax 400mm lens digital Nikon Sony Olympus Canon fit on eBay (end time 06-Aug-10 23:12:05 BST)

Sorry for being such a noob but any help would be very much appreciated.

[Boddie]

Essentially you will be disappointeed with that lens.

What sort of standard of images do you want / expect? In my opinion most folk strive to gain images which are far beyond the 'reach' of their lenses and I am of the opinion that if you dont have a lens suitable for far off subjects, then concentrate on something that is within reach, or make that financial investment.

There is a reason that lenses cost so much. You need to be realistic in setting expectations or you may throw money at a lens that will never yield the results you want and becomes a waste of money

[bripriuk]

We are by no means experts in photography and understand that telephoto lenses are expensive but would very much appreciate some guidance on what we should be buying to get better pictures.
How much should we be looking to spend? I don't mind spending a few £100 pounds but don't want to go mad. Also would something like this be any good?

Photax 400mm lens digital Nikon Sony Olympus Canon fit on eBay (end time 06-Aug-10 23:12:05 BST)

Hi
Sadly the Photax lens will not fit your camera, and anyway it's a very old design and not very good.
To make a significant difference to your current lens you would something like these:
Your choice would seem to be between the Sigma 70 - 300 (£328)
Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG OS Lens - Canon Fit (572954) - Warehouse Express
or the more expensive Sigma 120 - 400 (£689)
Sigma 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM Lens - Canon Fit (728954) - Warehouse Express
Much more expensive, but worth it for serious bird photography as it has a high speed focussing motor.
Whatever lens you buy make sure it has image stabilisation (IS or OS) so you can hand hold it.
As the new lens will overlap your current one you may want to think about trading it in, or selling it on Ebay (about £75)

HTH

Brian

[Gooch]

Thanks all for your help.

After much research the Sigma 120mm-400mm is exactly what we are looking for. Unforunately no one has it in stock at the moment and there seems to be about a months lead time. I was hoping to get it a bit sooner.

Thanks all the same!

[johnf3f]

The camera shop I do nearly all of my shopping at is showing the Canon fit version as in stock. Have a look at Walters Photo Video Ltd.
£629.99 - don't know the lens so don't know if this is a good price but they are normally competeive.
They are a well (long) establised high street retailer with 5 or 6 branches in South Wales & Bath and I have had some good (some VV good) dealings with them.
Good luck!

[Gooch]

Thanks johnf3f

The best I have seen so far is Jessops at £599.00. I might give them a call though to see if they can match Jessops.

[squishy]

Have a look at this thread before buying a Sigma lens from Jessops:
'Jessops and Sigma (A Curious Tale)'

[Gooch]

Thanks squishy for the heads up....I'll have a re think. Having done some more research around the net on Jessops I can see horror story after horror story

[johnf3f]

For reference a while ago I bought a Canon 50d from Jessops in Swansea. I had a query regarding the top LCD panel which gave strange (stress ?) patterns when looked at through a polarising filter. Their reaction was to get every new canon DSLR on dislay down plus open a sealed one. All the 50d's showed the same effect so it wasn't a fault in mine - they still wanted me to exchange it for a new one even though there was nothing wrong with it! So let's not be too quick to condem them.
P.S. Looked at a few 40d's - they show the same effect.

[squishy]

Why would you look at the LCD panel through a polarizing filter?