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!

[digi]

Don't forget to try Andrew at UKdigitalcameras for the Sigma and 20D. Try to negotiate a bulk discount.

[Fourwings]

That's one seriously big shopping list Sammy.

As I've only just made the leap to DSLR I can't really comment too much on the lenses, other than to say that the Sigma 150mm macro is on my shopping list, as is the Canon 400mm prime but that one may have to wait a while

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Fourwings

That's one seriously big shopping list Sammy.

As I've only just made the leap to DSLR I can't really comment too much on the lenses, other than to say that the Sigma 150mm macro is on my shopping list, as is the Canon 400mm prime but that one may have to wait a while

Yep, it is. For once in my life I'm not going to compromise (much anyway!)
What I tend to do is buy a cheaper version of something, wait a few months and moan about it, and then buy what I really wanted in the first place!
In fact, that's exactly what I'm doing now! I bought my FZ30 only back in September. I knew it's limitations but couldn't "justify" spending more. I've now successfully convinced myself that I must spend more to get the quality I crave.
There is a danger in this. I've always blamed the equipment to date. What do I blame when I've got all this?
After I get this equipment it may be the last you all hear from me as I hide in disgrace with my pathetic attempts..

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by digi

Don't forget to try Andrew at UKdigitalcameras for the Sigma and 20D. Try to negotiate a bulk discount.

I contacted him last week Digi. He told me he can't supply the 20D at the moment..

[digi]

Looks like I had his last one.

[matt_xyz]

I've found the above information useful. Good luck with your purchases glsammy, I'm green with envy

One day I also intend to go down the dSLR route. I'm very happy with my Panasonic FZ30, but its performance in low light is restricting. It's great that the costs of the dSLR camera bodies have come down in price so much but the lenses still seem to be very expensive. I regularly look at the various options and would also struggle to know which ones to buy. The perk of the FZ30 is the long, image stabilised f3.7 zoom and I would worry about the loss of IS. As pointed out above, though, digi gets excellent results hand held so maybe the IS isn't that crucial. I've never previously used a longer lens than 200mm before my FZ30 so don't have any real experience of hand holding long zooms.

glsammy, have you managed to order a 20D yet? What's the key advantage of this model over the 350D? There seems to be quite a difference in price between them.

Matt

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

I've found the above information useful. Good luck with your purchases glsammy, I'm green with envy

One day I also intend to go down the dSLR route. I'm very happy with my Panasonic FZ30, but its performance in low light is restricting. It's great that the costs of the dSLR camera bodies have come down in price so much but the lenses still seem to be very expensive. I regularly look at the various options and would also struggle to know which ones to buy. The perk of the FZ30 is the long, image stabilised f3.7 zoom and I would worry about the loss of IS. As pointed out above, though, digi gets excellent results hand held so maybe the IS isn't that crucial. I've never previously used a longer lens than 200mm before my FZ30 so don't have any real experience of hand holding long zooms.

glsammy, have you managed to order a 20D yet? What's the key advantage of this model over the 350D? There seems to be quite a difference in price between them.

Matt

Matt,
In my usual inefficient way, I've ordered the batteries, the memory cards, two extenders, photo holder, in fact everything except the camera & lenses!
I'm adverse to paying more than I have to, so I'm patiently waiting while various suppliers come up with the best offer, plying one against the other.
An order WILL be placed over the next two days.
The 20D has a bigger buffer that the 350D, and can shoot faster. i.e. 55 shots & 5 frames per second, against 14 at 2.8 on the 350.
The 20D is bigger, which I prefer. Some say the 350 feels "cheap" whatever that means! The 20D has better ISO range, although that didn't influence me in any way, and a flash sync port. (Neither did that!)
So far as quality, there's essentially no difference. So it comes down mainly to size, feel and shooting performance.
I've only held a 50-500mm for a few shots, and I had no problems. It was a very good bright day, but have a look at that Dunnock shot I did. It was the very first shot I took with a 20D+Sigma 50-500mm lens.
If shooting speed doesn't concern you, and your happy with the size of the 350, then it's a fine camera.

[matt_xyz]

Thanks for the info glsammy. I'm clearly not up to speed on dSLRS, basically because I'm not in the market for one just yet. Maybe in a year or two.

I look forward to seeing your shots. I hope you've got a big camera bag

Matt

[Alan]

Take a look at this article entitled 500 vs 300mm lense be Nial Benvie:

www.imagesfromtheedge.com/articles/300v500.pdf

It'll give you something to think about!

Alan