Telephoto advice needed please.

alexisonfire

alexisonfire

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Mike Simpson
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Festival of speed is fast approaching, and i would like to hire out some decent glass for the day (maybe weekend).

I've narrowed the choice down to two lens.

The bigma :love: (Sigma HSM 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO)

OR

The beast :love: (Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR IF-ED)

Now my issue with the sigma is handling and usability. This is one big lens, to be carrying around all day, and im hoping to be not using my tripod. Whats it like trying to handle this lens at 500mm without any image stabilizing? My 2nd issue is the aperture. From what i remember alot of the hill climb track in particular is heavily shaded by trees. Is shutter speed going to be a problem?

Next there is the Nikon, two issues again. The first being focal length, i guess only people who have done photography at FOS can answer this, is 200mm going to be enough? I did some practicing with my cheapo 55-200mm, and was surprised by how far you can in fact get away from a car at 200mm and still have it full frame. The last thing i want is not to have enough reach :naughty: . Second issue is the aperture once again, (i can't be pleased :woot: ).
Hyperfocal distances...am i going to have focus problems shooting at 200mm @ f/2.8?

At the moment im leaning towards the sigma because of the focal range, but maybe if stewart comes in and says 200mm is enough i'll probably go for the nikon :)

Cheers guys!
 
You can get pretty close at Goodwood, so the 70-200 should do the job just fine and be far easier to carry around. By the time I've walked up the hill each year, I always regret taking too much heavy gear!

:)
 
Well i decided to go for the 70-200, and then found out they wanted a £1200 deposit, so they can kiss my.......

Looks like i'll be going for the sigma 50-500 now (different rental place, and only wanted a £250 deposit).
 
alexisonfire said:
Well i decided to go for the 70-200, and then found out they wanted a £1200 deposit, so they can kiss my.......

Looks like i'll be going for the sigma 50-500 now (different rental place, and only wanted a £250 deposit).
Click to expand...

Real shame as the 70 - 200 would be the way to go ... imgo ... :shrug:






:p
 
alexisonfire said:
Now my issue with the sigma is handling and usability. This is one big lens, to be carrying around all day, and im hoping to be not using my tripod.
Click to expand...
Don't bother with a tripod, there's no space to use one.

alexisonfire said:
From what i remember alot of the hill climb track in particular is heavily shaded by trees. Is shutter speed going to be a problem?
Click to expand...

There are plenty of spots that get good sunshine - Sunny 16 rule will hopefully apply so 1/200s, f/16 ISO200 = 1/800s, f/8, ISO200. That should be plenty for handholding at 500mm, mind you you'll not need that sort of length unless you're in paparrazi mode round the paddocks. I had a quick flip through my shots and most of the track ones are in the 100-250mm range, I've got some out at 400mm but they're more because I could rather than because I had to.
 
Well this is odd, i swear i bookmarked the rental site for the sigma, but can't find it anywhere, i've tried googling for UK lens hire, but can't find the site.

AFAIK they only did sigma lenses and had about 10, i believe the site was orange in colour, anybody know which im talking about?! Help?! :p

Pretty sure i got the link from this forum.
 
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