A question for all you Nature photographers - what zoom lens ?

combat squirrel

combat squirrel

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Hi all ! hope your well, I am thinking of a reasonable zoom lens for part time nature photos, birds, wild life etc, not a massive budget (£350-600) but would love a super zoom.

After reading around it seems for the money (and indeed more or less rivals canons 100-400L) is the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD.

Now, is this true ? What are your real world experiences everyone ? What have you found best? I have 3 different camera bodies to attach it to, 5D mk2, 6D, 7D.

Now obviously the 7D is obvious choice for wild life here, however the 6D has amazing low light performance and an AMAZING centre AF point - so for this I would probably use the 6D ???? I hear it has Canon's best performing low light centre AF point, does this mean its as 'able' to AF servo as the 7D centre AF? (id guess so ?)

Thanks for taking the time to reply
 
Hang on a minute... you have a 5D mk II, a 6D and a 7D?? I would choose one of those to sell and see if your options improve with the additional budget.

If you can wait a short while you might want to see what the reviews for the new Sigma 150-600mm turn out to be like, and initial reports of the new Canon 100-400mm MkII are very hopeful (expect to pay around £2k for it on initial launch though).

Personally I would be happy with the Canon 400mm F5.6 L, and coupled with the 6D it may help overcome it's low-light short comings (I'd also pair it with a 1.4X extender, and autofocus be damned). I have no experience with any of them so this is just what i would consider doing in your situation...
 
Thanks for your reply, but I am just looking for advice on how the lenses perform :), I won't be selling any cameras. Interesting Sigma are releasing a 150-600 soon! will this be in a similar price bracket as the Tamron? Bang for buck is key, in my searching the Tamron is winning so far, same/mildly better performance as the Canon 100-400L in the same available zoom ranges?
 
Yes, Sigma are releasing 2 versions. One that competes with the Tamron and a "Sports" version with a few more bells a whistles a bit higher up the price bracket. I can't recall when they are being released but it is in the very near future. Even if they are not much better than the Tammy, you might at least get a better deal on that one.
 
I have an older version of the Sigma 120-300mm F/2.8 (non os).
I also have the Canon 2x ext mkII which makes this a 240-600mm F/5.6.

So the new Sigma 120-300mm F/2.8 has an option for connecting usb to it thus updating the AF & zoom speed etc.

I am at work presently but will later post some images taken with & without the x2.

I find even my old (now over 9 years) version to be super quick in focus, doesn't hunt & the bokeh for me is great at f/2.8.
The newer version costs more of course but I've seen mine s/h recently for £500, plus a 2x extender s/h might come in your budget?
 
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