Advice please

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mincie

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William
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Hi I am thinking of buying a 80mm-400mm Nikon lens. I am using a Nikon
D300s. I want ot be able to get sharp pictures of wild life and motor sport.

The lens costs approximately £1160. Can anyone tell me if this would be the right lens or recommend another.

Thanks in advance
William.
 
Hmmm.....I shall be following this thread with interest as I'm in exactly the same situation as yourself. I have a 18-200mm, but get frustrated at not being able to do wildlife/sports due to the restrictions of the max focal length. The 18-200 is a great all round lens but really has it's limitations for wildlife/sports.

I've read a few reviews and understand that the 80-400mm is not very sharp at anything over 300mm and as it's only a f4.5, unless you are shooting in very bright conditions, it's not ver effective. Also, have a look at Ken Rockwell's review of this lens HERE

The April update is very interesting. He says that the 70-300mm VR performs better and unless you will really miss the additional 100mm, I'm not sure paying £1,160 (compared to around £350 for the 70-300) is worth the extra dosh?

Have you considered/looked at the 300mm f4? Going for around £850.
 
Yes, read Ken Rockwell's review. He does not recommend the lens for sport as the auto focus is too slow.
 
ProG77 said:
Hmmm.....I shall be following this thread with interest as I'm in exactly the same situation as yourself. I have a 18-200mm, but get frustrated at not being able to do wildlife/sports due to the restrictions of the max focal length. The 18-200 is a great all round lens but really has it's limitations for wildlife/sports.

I've read a few reviews and understand that the 80-400mm is not very sharp at anything over 300mm and as it's only a f4.5, unless you are shooting in very bright conditions, it's not ver effective. Also, have a look at Ken Rockwell's review of this lens HERE

The April update is very interesting. He says that the 70-300mm VR performs better and unless you will really miss the additional 100mm, I'm not sure paying £1,160 (compared to around £350 for the 70-300) is worth the extra dosh?

Have you considered/looked at the 300mm f4? Going for around £850.[/QUOTE


Thanks for your reply. I am new to photography and just finding my feet. one of my friends loand me his Sigma 100m-300m f4 lens. I did get some nice photos with this although I would have liked them to have been sharper. I don't know wether this is down to me ,the equipment or the distance I was from the subjects. I hope the replies keep coming on this one.
Click to expand...
 
For wildlife, the 80-400VR is probably your best bet unless you want to spend £££££. The AF is painfully slow, but for wildlife that shouldn't matter, and it is pretty decent optically.

I've never shot motorsport, but I wouldn't want to use that lens if I did.

This might sound heretical, but have you got a lot of money invested in Nikon kit? If not, it might be worth thinking about switching to Canon because there are a lot more options in the £1000 telephoto range (100-400L IS, 300mm f/4L IS and 400mm f/5.6L).
 
I have owned the 80-400VR and shoot wildlife so feel qualified to comment. I sold it and bought the 300mm f4 AF-S, much better lens and cheaper.

For image quality and speed of focus the 300mm f4 AF-S, razor sharp wide open, is a much better option to the 80-400

Add the Nikon 1.4 TC and you have a 420mm f5.6 which is still razor sharp wide open.

Add the Nikon 1.7 TC and you have a 510mm f6.7 which is still sharp wide open.
 
William just remembered I had this one, an example of what it will do

D300 300mmf4 AF-S plus 1.7TC f6.7 ISO3200 :thumbs:

 
i got rid of my 80-400mm in favour of a 300mm f4 plus a 1.4 and 1.7 converter the 80-400mm is great but you HAVE to stop it down to get sharp pictures, i was very unimpressed with it for what i wanted.

the 300mm is brilliant but hasnt the flexibility of the zoom
 
Thanks for all your replies. They have given me food for thought. One of my friends has suggested the sigma 50mm- 500mm f4 lens. Has anyone got any knowledge or thoughts on this.
 
Martyn... said:
William just remembered I had this one, an example of what it will do

D300 300mmf4 AF-S plus 1.7TC f6.7 ISO3200 :thumbs:

Click to expand...

Hi that is an impressive picture. That is what i am hoping to achieve.

Thanks.
 
The Sigma 50-500 isn't an f/4 lens, lt's f/4-6.3, meaning that whilst you'll get f/4 at 50mm by the time you're up at a usable fl for motorsport you'll be at f/5.6 or f/6.3 which is no use
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The Sigma 50-500 isn't an f/4 lens, lt's f/4-6.3, meaning that whilst you'll get f/4 at 50mm by the time you're up at a usable fl for motorsport you'll be at f/5.6 or f/6.3 which is no use
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Cheers. I don't think I can afford a fixed focal length lens so I am looking to opt for the lens that will give me the best results working within a buget of around £1200.
 
mincie said:
Cheers. I don't think I can afford a fixed focal length lens so I am looking to opt for the lens that will give me the best results working within a buget of around £1200.
Click to expand...

The 300mm f4 AF-S is £900 new, or around £750 used (or from Hong Kong), the TC is around £300 new or £250 used.

If you want the best results buy the prime.
 
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