Which Telephoto lens.

[glsammy]

I'm ready to order my new equipment, but I can't decide which telephoto lens to get. I've changed my mind so many times over the last few days.
I want a lens that is hand holdable occasionally, although I do use a mono-pod.
Is not too heavy to carry around. Image stabilisation I think would be useful, but look at Digi's images, his Sigma 50-500 shots are fabulous, he manages without IS. Then again he's a much better more experienced photographer than I ever will be.

My selection so far are between:
1) Canon 100-400L.
2) Sigma 50-500mm f4-f6.3.
3) Sigma 80-400 f4-f5.6 OS DG.
4) Tamron 200-500mm SP f5-f6.3 Di

I've had valuable advice from Digi, but I would like other peoples views before I order.

The way I see it:
The Canon offers image stabilisation, is relatively light but is prone to dust problems (Pull & push zoom) and is EXPENSIVE!
The Sigam 50-500 is BIG and Heavy. It's capable of superb images as we see with Digi's pictures, but it doesn't have image stabilisation.
The Sigma 80-400 has image stabilisation, but I've heard that the AF is slow and unreliable when tracking moving objects.. Its also Heavy.
The Tamron is lighter and cheaper than all the others, but is the image quality up to it?

If anyone else has any experience of any of these lenses, I would value your opinion.

The rest of my equipment will be:
Canon EOS20D with 18-55mm kit lens.
Sigma 150mm Macro lens
2 x 1GB Sandisk extreme III c/flash cards.
X'S Drive 2XL VC2660 40gb Storage device.

That lot should just about empty my bank account..

[digi]

Originally Posted by glsammy

My selection so far are between:
1) Canon 100-400L.
2) Sigma 50-500mm f4-f6.3.
3) Sigma 80-400 f4-f5.6 OS DG.
4) Tamron 200-500mm SP f5-f6.3 Di

To recap on what I have said, I have owned all four of these.

In reverse order, I did not like the Tamron at all, its very large and the one I had was not sharp from 350-500mm

The Sigma 80-400 is very sharp but only has slow speed focus so for fast moving subjects this can be a limitation, but for slow moving prop aircraft its excellent.

The 50-500mm is in my opinion the best, I have owned three of these since its launch, I have sold them only to realise how good they were and then bought a replacement a few months after.

The 100-400mm is also sharp, but I hate the push pull zoom and the second one I owned gave nothing but trouble with Error 01 on my 20D which Canon claim is an issue with this lens and camera setup (Quote - fast focus camera old design lens) do a search on google. I know another member of this forum that uses this lens and its not a problem.

Another option is the Canon 400L prime, this is a very sharp lens because its a prime. Its light weight and fast focus, lots of bird photographers use this model. The downside its not a zoom but I must admit when I am photographing Wildlife I seldom use the zoom anyway.

Well that's my biased opinion.

[digi]

Originally Posted by glsammy

X'S Drive 2XL VC2660 40gb Storage device.

Take a look at the Smartdisk Fotochute at Warehouseexpress its £79 and can be both a USB2 host and slave device, also it has a two year warranty and is very light and robust.

[Oy]

If you look at the bird photos I've uploaded - they were all taken using the Sigam 50-500mm.

However - I have a friend who uses the Tamron 200-500mm and gets images at least as sharp as mine!

[digi]

Originally Posted by Oy

If you look at the bird photos I've uploaded - they were all taken using the Sigam 50-500mm.

However - I have a friend who uses the Tamron 200-500mm and gets images at least as sharp as mine!

Has your Bigma been fixed now Oy?

[Helen]

As I've said somewhere else, I have the Canon 100-400 IS lens

I have never had problems with dust, since purchasing it last summer. I seldom use the zoom outside, I prepare beforehand (usually!)

I havnt' had error 01 either, although when I first bought my camera, with the kit lens (18-55) it was showing "error 99" all the time, until I returned it to Jessops, and they changed the kit straight away. But I digress....

If the camera is for bird photography, be wary of heavy lens, try capturing a flight image with a heavy lens, I guess it's not easy! The 100-400 IS is fine for this - as you know I tend to take a lot of flight photos with it.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Remember though, I only have experience with this one lens in your list.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by digi

Take a look at the Smartdisk Fotochute at Warehouseexpress its £79 and can be both a USB2 host and slave device, also it has a two year warranty and is very light and robust.

The only reason I liked the X's Drive was it came with a car charger. The extended warranty on the one you recommend is a good point. After all, there's a hard drive in there and from my own experiences they can be unreliable.. An extra year may sway it.
Thanks again Digi.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Helen

As I've said somewhere else, I have the Canon 100-400 IS lens

I have never had problems with dust, since purchasing it last summer. I seldom use the zoom outside, I prepare beforehand (usually!)

I havnt' had error 01 either, although when I first bought my camera, with the kit lens (18-55) it was showing "error 99" all the time, until I returned it to Jessops, and they changed the kit straight away. But I digress....

If the camera is for bird photography, be wary of heavy lens, try capturing a flight image with a heavy lens, I guess it's not easy! The 100-400 IS is fine for this - as you know I tend to take a lot of flight photos with it.

That's my 2 cents worth.


Remember though, I only have experience with this one lens in your list.

Thanks Helen. A good value 2 cents worth..

[Oy]

Originally Posted by digi

Has your Bigma been fixed now Oy?

Yep - had it back a while now - I missed it

[glsammy]

I've decided to go for the Sigma 50-500mm. If I get on with it Ok, I've saved £400! If not, I'll sell it and get the Canon 100-400L.

Thanks to all of your that replied!