Best lens for Safari under 700 quid

ndwgolf

ndwgolf

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Neil Williams
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I have a mate of mine in Tanzania (Safari Guide) that I have just sold my D800 to. He needs a lens so I recommended the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens but he cant afford that, so what would you guys recommend screwing onto a Nikon D800e for shooting wildlife??
 
Or Tamron 150-600 even cheaper and compares well in most reviews :)
 
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gramps said:
Or Tamron 150-600 even cheaper and compares well in most reviews :)
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IMO you're better of with the Sigma 150-600c. The Tamron is good, but the AF isn't as fast as the Sigma when speed priority is 'customed' in via the dock, and a lot have complained of softness over 500mm and AF freezing issues.

But its the highly custom'able dock that would (and did, with other reasons) give it to the Sigma.
 
odd jim said:
IMO you're better of with the Sigma 150-600c. The Tamron is good, but the AF isn't as fast as the Sigma when speed priority is 'customed' in via the dock, and a lot have complained of softness over 500mm and AF freezing issues.

But its the highly custom'able dock that would (and did, with other reasons) give it to the Sigma.
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Whilst I accept that some early models suffered with an issue with occasional freezing, I never found mine to be soft over 500mm and it was used almost exclusively at 600mm ... the dock certainly adds a new dimension to the Sigma, it just depends on what disposable income the purchaser has available. :)
 
gramps said:
Whilst I accept that some early models suffered with an issue with occasional freezing, I never found mine to be soft over 500mm and it was used almost exclusively at 600mm ... the dock certainly adds a new dimension to the Sigma, it just depends on what disposable income the purchaser has available. :)
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No, not all do, there are a lot of very pleased users out there but it might suggest some copy variation? Quite a few people have commented on that issue though. Looking around I think they're pretty much on par now price wise, Amazon (where I buy most of my Sigmas) have them at the same price.
 
ndwgolf said:
What's a dock
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You plug it into the lens and you can customise its operation (AF speed, accuracy etc), change the OS settings, micro adjust across a wide focal range, update the firmware and a few other bits and bobs. You can then select your custom options and activate them with the custom switches on the lens. Its very innovative.
 
So I looked on B&H and they have models from 900 bucks to 2000 bucks. What would be the best option for my mate to get for the Nikon D800e??
 
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Strange this should come up as
I was talking to someone on the cruise I was on last 2 weeks about this very subject, which lens for safari. They said as most of the animals either approach the vehicle or the vehicle can get close to the animals a long reach lens is not necesary. So by that I would also use a shorter mm lens as well say a 24-70mm one
 
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realspeed said:
Strange this should come up as
I was talking to someone on the cruise I was on last 2 weeks about this very subject, which lens for safari. They said as most of the animals either approach the vehicle or the vehicle can get close to the animals a long reach lens is not necesary. So by that I would also use a shorter mm lens as well say a 24-70mm one
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I wouldn't agree with that, whist you do get lucky, a decent safari (where you're in the wild rather than a park!) you're mostly within binocular range!
 
realspeed said:
Strange this should come up as
I was talking to someone on the cruise I was on last 2 weeks about this very subject, which lens for safari. They said as most of the animals either approach the vehicle or the vehicle can get close to the animals a long reach lens is not necesary. So by that I would also use a shorter mm lens as well say a 24-70mm one
Click to expand...
I used my 600mm 90% of the time and even that wasn't long enough, a 24/70mm would be no use at all.
 
ndwgolf said:
I have a mate of mine in Tanzania (Safari Guide) that I have just sold my D800 to. He needs a lens so I recommended the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens but he cant afford that, so what would you guys recommend screwing onto a Nikon D800e for shooting wildlife??
Click to expand...

I went Tamron, that said I don't shoot that long nowadays so have it up for sale at the moment
 
Maybe a 24-70mm would be better then on a Soneari against a Safari
 
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realspeed said:
Strange this should come up as
I was talking to someone on the cruise I was on last 2 weeks about this very subject, which lens for safari. They said as most of the animals either approach the vehicle or the vehicle can get close to the animals a long reach lens is not necesary. So by that I would also use a shorter mm lens as well say a 24-70mm one
Click to expand...

When I was on safari in Namibia (before I got into photography unfortunately) we had a mixture. A lioness was 10 ft away from the vehicle at one stage but there were certainly other occasions where I borrowed some binoculars!!
 
Sir SR said:
When I was on safari in Namibia (before I got into photography unfortunately) we had a mixture. A lioness was 10 ft away from the vehicle at one stage but there were certainly other occasions where I borrowed some binoculars!!
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I hired the Sigma 50-500mm OS when I went to Tanzania recently and the above is why I think it's a pretty good choice. We got animals right up to the vehicle and others at over a mile away so, although it's probably not quite as sharp as the 150-600mm options, the large focal range is ideal. Particularly if you don't have a second camera and you don't want to change lenses because of the ridiculous amount of dust. New it's slightly out of your friends budget (~£850) but they are fairly easy to find used (for example MPB have a few at the moment starting at less than £600)
 
ndwgolf said:
I used my 600mm 90% of the time and even that wasn't long enough, a 24/70mm would be no use at all.
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Have to agree with Neil and Jim here, I used my 100-400 90% of the time also. I was lucky to have two cameras with the other being 24-105, but in a vehicle I didn't use it hardly at all. You may feel with the longer lens you can also isolate a herd as well.
 
realspeed said:
Strange this should come up as
I was talking to someone on the cruise I was on last 2 weeks about this very subject, which lens for safari. They said as most of the animals either approach the vehicle or the vehicle can get close to the animals a long reach lens is not necesary. So by that I would also use a shorter mm lens as well say a 24-70mm one
Click to expand...
Well, maybe, but that's not terribly relevant.

Case in point. Last month I was on a trip to Spitsbergen. We had one polar bear who came right up to the ship: he looked like he was interested in us so the captain obligingly "parked" the ship in the pack ice and let him come to us. We we hanging over the deck rails to photograph him directly below us, no more than about 5m away, and my 100-400mm lens was not ideal: I switched to a 24-70. I got some lovely shots of the bear sniffing around the ship.

However, they're not the best ones I took on the trip, not by a long way. The best wildlife photos are always when the animals are doing something interesting - in our case, the big highlight was when one bear had a seal and another bear wanted to take it away from him - and that kind of stuff probably won't happen right under your nose.
 
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I'm off on Safari next month and after reading several reviews and discussion like this I purchased the Sigma 150-600c last month. I have tried it on in our wild life parks and got some good quality pic.
 
There was one on MPB used for £879 but that's gone now. Still one left slightly over budget at £1019.
 
I was there for a week and never felt I needed more reach than 300mm with the 1.4 and to be honest I hardly used the converter.

if anyone out there is thinking of going on safari ....just do it ................,it was a magical experience
 
tiny tim said:
I was there for a week and never felt I needed more reach than 300mm with the 1.4 and to be honest I hardly used the converter.

if anyone out there is thinking of going on safari ....just do it ................,it was a magical experience
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Couldn't agree more. I'm trying to resist booking up again for next year.
 
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