In a quandary Canon 100-400mm or 400mm

russellsnr

russellsnr

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Russell
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I bought a Sigma 150-500mm lens but find it far to heavy to hand hold even though it has IS on it so wanting to trade it in against a 100-400mm (not the mark 2) or the 400mm Canon lenses both seem to sell used around the £600 to £700 mark. Will use for bird photogrphy in the main. Advice please? Thanks, Russ.
 
For birds you will be at 400mm most of the time, the 400mm f/5.6 is sharper and has a little more reach than the zoom (the zoom is probably around 360mm). All that the prime is lacking is stabilisation, but add a monopod and IS becomes not so important... What focal length did you use most of the time with the 150 - 500? If it is at the long end then the prime, if the focal length varies a lot then maybe the zoom will be better.

HTH
 
PhilH04 said:
For birds you will be at 400mm most of the time, the 400mm f/5.6 is sharper and has a little more reach than the zoom (the zoom is probably around 360mm). All that the prime is lacking is stabilisation, but add a monopod and IS becomes not so important... What focal length did you use most of the time with the 150 - 500? If it is at the long end then the prime, if the focal length varies a lot then maybe the zoom will be better.

HTH
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What focal length did you use most of the time with the 150 - 500? Around 400 as found 500mm for some reason didn't seem to give such good images even after I tried Focal on both ends of the lens. Russ.
 
Its also worth having a look at the 300mm f4 IS with a 1.4 TC, there is very little ( if any - I did not see any ) loss in IQ with the TC and you get 420mm f5.6 with IS and the AF is not affected although I understand its not as fast as the 400mm f5.6
 
having used all of those lenses the 400mm f5.6 is head and shoulders above the others .you can shoot all day with it wide open . no need of i.s use a faster shutter speed or up your i.s.o
 
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