longer lens advice for the mrs but not heavy

Ganton Gunner

Ganton Gunner

Suspended / Banned
Messages
996
Name
peter
Edit My Images
Yes
at present the mrs has a sigma 18-250 on her D7000
she is wanting something with more reach
she is happy now to have 2 lenses so am looking for something longer for her but also on a budget (£400 tops) so she ill have say a 18-70 and the new lens starting maybe around 100mm
the other requirement is she has MS so does not want a 2kg lens on the front so ideally nothing more than 1kg (her present lens is 500g) my 150-600 is way to heavy for her
any advice please i suppose ideally would like up to say 400 - 500mm
 
Anything over 300mm is going to be heavy. I would be tempted to stick with the 18-250 since adding a relatively light 70-300 won't actually gain that much in terms of focal length and will add to the kit weight.
 
Way over budget but she would fall head over heels in love with the 300 f4 PF :)
 
Agree with above, there isn't much if anything other than the 300 f4 pf which is the obvious answer bar budget, my o/h is seriously head over heals with it quality and weight wise, and the 1.4 tc fits in perfectly with it too.
 
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 SP Di VC USD - they can be picked up around £299 new, nice and sharp, the VC let me hand hold my old one down to 1/15th second without issue and at 765g it should be light enough for her.
 
You don't say if she is on Canon or Nikon but either way a 300F4 with or with out TCs is not too heavy and gives good IQ.
 
she is not wanting a prime sorry so the 300mm f4 is out of the question she does require some zoom
yes it is Nikon sorry i thought as gramps quoted the D7000 bit would give it away :)
 
ok just been googling any opinions on the older nikon 80-400 vr ?
is it any good i would assume it is probably optically superior to the sigma ? and is obviously 400mm so longer and weighs about 1.1kg she is not going to be doing BIF etc. more stationary things
i have previously owned a tamron 70-300 ld di macro and i know that was very slow on focus etc. i could fall asleep waiting is the older 80-400 that slow ?
or would i be better with maybe a decent 70-300 for her and maybe a TC if she wants more ?
my budget can go up a little but i dont want to spend too much as that will be eating into my next lens money after lol
 
The new 70-300 gets very good reviews, not used one but had the old 70-300 fx and was great quality. At 800g lighter (400g) than the 80-400 and new for only £300 think the benefits would outweigh an old 80-400
 
The 70-300 VR is optically better than the older, pre-VR version.
 
forgive me if this seems daft but would she really notice any difference with a 300 vs the 250 she already has ?
 
Not a lot! Here are a couple I've just shot and resized, one at 240mm and the other at 300mm (I was aiming for 250mm but the 70-300 doesn't have markings between 200 and 300 so I guestimated!)

240mm
GN1_5523s.jpg
300mm
GN1_5524s.jpg

Sorry they're a bit dark but they do show the difference between the 2 settings.
 
Probably not that much with regards focal length obviously, but quality wise probably yes, which may allow for a touch more cropping therefore maybe would feel slightly longer still.
 
Ganton Gunner said:
ok just been googling any opinions on the older nikon 80-400 vr ?
is it any good i would assume it is probably optically superior to the sigma ? and is obviously 400mm so longer and weighs about 1.1kg she is not going to be doing BIF etc. more stationary things
i have previously owned a tamron 70-300 ld di macro and i know that was very slow on focus etc. i could fall asleep waiting is the older 80-400 that slow ?
or would i be better with maybe a decent 70-300 for her and maybe a TC if she wants more ?
my budget can go up a little but i dont want to spend too much as that will be eating into my next lens money after lol
Click to expand...
The old 80-400 is slow but IQ isn't bad, depends what she is going to be using it for.
 
gramps said:
The old 80-400 is slow but IQ isn't bad, depends what she is going to be using it for.
Click to expand...

just general pictures ie swans and geese on a pond
animals at the zoo
and birds on the bird feeders etc.
generally nothing moving with any speed not BIF etc.
 
Ganton Gunner said:
just general pictures ie swans and geese on a pond
animals at the zoo
and birds on the bird feeders etc.
generally nothing moving with any speed not BIF etc.
Click to expand...
I would probably do then ... but BIF would make it struggle
 
well the 80-400 is a no go as just weighted up her camera to show what it would weigh and is too heavy for her :(
so guess may be the 70-300 then
 
just looked on jessops at the 70-300 and its £300
right below it is the 55-300 for a couple of £ more
has anyone used the 55-300 and the 70-300 is there any difference in IQ
 
well just got her a kenko 1.4 afd tc today was only cheap £30
anyway she loves it :D was put on her cam and she said its not coming back off lol
just a quick one will it degrade the IQ much and as i know she likes it would i be better investing in a different possibly better quality tc ?
 
Yes, in a word. I don't use mine now - I crop into unconverted images to get the extra apparent reach. Does reduce the final maximum print size but A4's big enough sometimes!

The Nikon TCs won't physically fit behind the 70-300 VR - the front element of the TC makes contact with the rear element of the lens itself. Not sure about the Sigma TCs.
 
18-200 if she wants something on the camera all the time
70-300 if she likes to swap
150-600 Sigma C for everything else, its light enough to carry about I use one all day at rugby and motorsport on a D500
You could also wait for Sigmas new 100-400 thats due anytime...
 
littleted said:
18-200 if she wants something on the camera all the time
70-300 if she likes to swap
150-600 Sigma C for everything else, its light enough to carry about I use one all day at rugby and motorsport on a D500
You could also wait for Sigmas new 100-400 thats due anytime...
Click to expand...


i got her the 70-300 but it seems she still wants more reach :( with the 1.4 TC on it does seem to hunt quite a bit at times
i have the sigma 150-600 C but as stated originally that is way to heavy for her to carry and use with having MS
i may have to have a think on what to try next for her the 100-400 may be interesting weight dependant
 
if you want big reach with no weight a micro four thirds set up is the way forward, you could get funds on trading the Nikon kit in.
 
niko said:
if you want big reach with no weight a micro four thirds set up is the way forward, you could get funds on trading the Nikon kit in.
Click to expand...

erm whats a four thirds apart from the obvious ?
just had a look on jessops etc and not finding a lot all ive found is a dozen lenses upto 150mm and no cameras ?
whats about some of the compacts ie stuff like
sony dsc wx500 or hx90v
or panasonic dmz-tz60

or are they probably too far behind the d7000 with nikon 70-300 af-s she already has ?
 
Ganton Gunner said:
erm whats a four thirds apart from the obvious ?
just had a look on jessops etc and not finding a lot all ive found is a dozen lenses upto 150mm and no cameras ?
whats about some of the compacts ie stuff like
sony dsc wx500 or hx90v
or panasonic dmz-tz60

or are they probably too far behind the d7000 with nikon 70-300 af-s she already has ?
Click to expand...
micro four thirds is a format/lens mount utilised by Panasonic and Olympus. because of sensor size 300mm is 600mm equivalent. its very good to give reach and not much weight. something like the Olympus OM-D E-M1 or the omd e-m5 or omd e- m10 are even cheaper and still very good add the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II would give 600mm of reach with a tiny weight, its a little soft at the top end but very usable and the built in stabilization its brilliant, can hand hold really slow speeds. high end pro glass is also avalable
 
Last edited:
niko said:
micro four thirds is a format/lens mount utilised by Panasonic and Olympus. because of sensor size 300mm is 600mm equivalent. its very good to give reach and not much weight. something like the Olympus OM-D E-M1 or the omd e-m5 or omd e- m10 are even cheaper and still very good add the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II would give 600mm of reach with a tiny weight, its a little soft at the top end but very usable and the built in stabilization its brilliant, can hand hold really slow speeds. high end pro glass is also avalable
Click to expand...


just been looking at this option again and think i may well do it i am thinking the e-m10 and the 75-300
 
for reach to give me a idea how does the micro four thirds 75-300 compare against her nikon 70-300 and my sigma 150-600 on a d7000
 
Just considering the basic format, a D7000 is 1.5x and u43 is 2x, setting your Sigma to 400mm on the D7000 would be like 300mm on u43.

400 x 1.5 = 600 (full frame 'equivalent')
300 x 2.0 = 600 (full ...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top