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Shomel122

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Hi,

I will be going to Africa for end of the year for few month, really excited! Im looking to buy a new lens to go with my canon 550D. I currently have Sigma 18 70mm lens, i think the focal length is too short for Africa. I like my wide angle, macro, night photography (slow shutter). I don't have loads to spend, as I fork a lot out for this trip already. I will be taking my jiby gorilla tripod for the night photography.

Any suggestion peepz? Any other accessory might be need?
 
Welcome :)

Well... I don't know much about Canon kit but the Canon 50-250mm lens is meant to be very good and will hopefully give you just about enough reach for Safari. It's the best bang per buck telephoto lens from what i understand, if you want anything longer then you will be spending many hundreds of pounds.

Otherwise a lenspen would be on my essentials list (a great piece of kit for cleaning your lenses).
 
Is it the Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 OS lens you have, I can't find the 18-70. That should suit for your wide angle night photography. :)

As has been said the Canon 55-250 gets a good write up, particularly when value for money is taken into account. You could go for a little more reach with a 70-300 lens.
What budget are you working on ?
 
welcome to the forums Shomel and what a great trip!
yes, as above, it depends upon what budget you have to spend
55-250 about 100-150 quid
70-300 IS £300 2nd hand I think
if you have a bit more, then 150-500 sigma or similar would be fantastic
I went for a 70-200 sigma with a TC for my general wildlife shots. would love to take it on safari
 
sorry it was 17 70 sigma. I guess 70 - 300 IS sounds like a good option. Might got one for £200 on ebay.My budget would be between 150 to 300, sell the lens after I come back. I heard on safari you need to have 200mm+ to get close enough. I got always carry a lens brush.

Thanks for the feedback, keep them coming
 
You can get a new tamron 70-300VC (works like IS on canon lenses) for just under £300. I have one of these and can show samples with it on a 7d from a zoo trip if you're interested ?
 
I will have a look at the reviews. I might have to go london for some practical shoot. I would love to see some sample.
 
Just a quick question, what photo are at 300m fully zoomed in. I heard the quality fails after 200m. Is the lens light?
 
I don't find the lens heavy, it's not feather light but I've never thought if it as heavy.
I'll check the exif info on the originals and post again later on.
 
Info (ISO/aperture/shutter/focal length) has now been added to all photo's in the gallery.
The lens probably is softer at 300mm rather than 200mm, but most of those pics were at 300mm and I think they look OK.
 
The picture looks good quality even at 300mm.

Does the body matter? As I'm only using 550D and you is 7D full frame camera.

Thanks for all the update and info
 
My 7D is a crop camera like your 550D. I doubt there will be much of a diffeernce in picture quality betweent he 2 cameras, the 7D is just generally more solidly built, better fps for continuous shooting etc..

There's a comparison of the 2 cameras here
 
I'm not sure about the ebay lens, only 1 month warranty makes me wonder ?
I got mine from Amazon for £280 and registered it within 2 motnhs to activate the tamron 5 year guarantee.
 
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