Best travel birding lens - Nikon fit

BillN_33

BillN_33

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I’m always looking for the “best” travel lens for taking “bird shots”.

I cannot take my Nikon 600mm f4 for obvious reasons

Next comes the Nikon 300mm f2.8 VR with both the TC14Ell and the TC20Elll – I can manage it on a lightweight tripod with a small ball head or 393, to keep the overall weight down ….. but it is still a big lump that pushes the airline hand baggage limit.

I always end up always taking my Nikon 300mm f4 with the two TC’s, the 20 does degrade the IQ a lot but the 14 is fine.

I have looked at the Nikon 80mm 400mm, but I don’t think that it will give me anything over the 300mm with TC14Ell and I have started looking at the Tamron and Sigma 150mm 600mm zooms.

I need to take quite a lot of other kit so I am always aircraft weight limits sensitive.

What do you guys reckon are any of the current third party zooms any better than the Nikon 300mm f4, IQ and weight wise?

prompted by seeing that the new Sigma 150mm 600mm is being talked about on the Forum
 
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I got a Panasonic micro 4/3rds system Bill, goes everywhere with me as it is so small.

The 100-300 is equivelent of a 200-600. You do need good light and it won`t match a dslr in the af stakes.

But it is bloody small and light, no need for a huge tripod either.

Just a thought.
 
Current Sigma 150-600 (Sport Version) is 2.8/kg ... the Tamron is 1.9kg.
The Nikon 300 f4 is ok with the 1.4 but not with the 2x so you wouldn't get to 600mm reliably with it.
The Tamron is a good compromise, who knows what the 'budget' Sigma will be like :)
 
fracster said:
I got a Panasonic micro 4/3rds system Bill, goes everywhere with me as it is so small.

The 100-300 is equivelent of a 200-600. You do need good light and it won`t match a dslr in the af stakes.

But it is bloody small and light, no need for a huge tripod either.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Thanks Ade, I always take a Nikon 1 with an FT-1 so that I can at least hook it to the 300mm f4 which gives me 810mm at f4 ….. it is not bad on a tripod ….. but as you know most of us are obsessed by "sharpness" and OOF…….. so we always compare with "primes"

Once I get to where I'm going, it's OK …….. it is just that aircraft baggage weight is the consideration ….. you can pay extra on the bigger planes ….. but the small ones at the end aren't happy, I usually end up wearing a coat and stuffing loads of heavy camera stuff in my coat pockets which is not great when you are in a hot country.

I still have a m 4/3rds G1 which is a camera that I always liked and the 100 -300, but I opted for the V1 because of the FT-1 and because it takes the same batteries as the D7100…. OK the sensor is small that M 4/3 but the IQ is not bad.

They are now almost at a stage where they are putting an FX sensor in a M 4/3 sized body, (i.e. the Sony RX1 and RX1R - same sensor as the Nikon FX bodies), but it's a lot of money and it would mean moving to Sony lens, (which are very good).
 
gramps said:
Current Sigma 150-600 (Sport Version) is 2.8/kg ... the Tamron is 1.9kg.
The Nikon 300 f4 is ok with the 1.4 but not with the 2x so you wouldn't get to 600mm reliably with it.
The Tamron is a good compromise, who knows what the 'budget' Sigma will be like :)
Click to expand...

Will they AF at 600mm on the V1 … is the widest fvalue f6.3 ………. might just do it

The V1 sensor is not too bad as you are effectively getting lots of pixels on the image as it is an optical crop versus the digital crop you get with all these super zooms
 
markyboy.1967 said:
I have taken my 600f4 on as hand lugguage several times now so it is possible if you want. I searched for a bag to suit and finally found one which suited my needs. I have a few times though had to put my camera around my neck to keep bag weight down but never had any issues so far.
Click to expand...

It also means that I would have to take my Gitzo tripod and Wimberley WH 200
 
BillN_33 said:
Will they AF at 600mm on the V1 … is the widest fvalue f6.3 ………. might just do it

The V1 sensor is not too bad as you are effectively getting lots of pixels on the image as it is an optical crop versus the digital crop you get with all these super zooms
Click to expand...

f5.6 - f6.3 ... haven't used the V1 but I can't see why not.
 
markyboy.1967 said:
I take my Gitzo 5541LS and head as well but I wrap that and put in my hard case in the hold.

Have a look at buying a Uniqball- the biggest one as I cant remember its name.Holds a 600 without to much effort at all but steap angles.
Click to expand...

I have the LowPro Pro Trekker 450 .. which is just about as big as you can carry on board ……. but it is easy to fill it quickly quickly and be at 12 kgs and on the smaller planes, (in South Africa), they insist that it goes in the hold

I use a Gitzo CF 3530 but take a Redged TSC-427K and stick a 393 on the top of it - it's really small and light and (sturdy)
It also comes with a really good and small ball head which I take, which is AS compatible
 
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gramps said:
f5.6 - f6.3 ... haven't used the V1 but I can't see why not.
Click to expand...

The new Nikon 1 100 300mm CX lens has really good reviews but it is almost £1,000 and of course is no good on a DSLR
 
I think that after using primes, you will be less than happy with any of the super zooms Bill. Unless the new Sigma is outstanding.

I had the 3-800 Sigma and swapped it to get into a 500 prime, IQ was far better than the zoom,AF was far faster.

I tend to use my 300 with a 1.4 tc on it nearly all the time now Bill, coupled to the D800, it works very well.
 
Always a compromise...
I have the new 80-400 as my travel lens. I can use it w/ the 1.4x & f/8 w/ my cameras. It's pretty descent, but not up to a 2.8 prime +TC's.
I have the CX 70-300 for my V2. This is my "just in case" lens/kit. I can get very descent results w/ a little luck.
My first choice is usually the 400 2.8 +TC's, but that's not travel friendly.

People really knock the zooms more than is justified... if used optimally they can produce very comparable results. Here's a test I did to determine if I wanted to keep my 28-300 for casual use on the D800. My only point with that is, if a zoom suits your needs get/use one.

Viewable @ 3100px on flickr

Lens test w/ D800 by skersting66, on Flickr
 
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sk66 said:
Always a compromise...
I have the new 80-400 as my travel lens. I can use it w/ the 1.4x & f/8 w/ my cameras. It's pretty descent, but not up to a 2.8 prime +TC's.
I have the CX 70-300 for my V2. This is my "just in case" lens/kit. I can get very descent results w/ a little luck.
My first choice is usually the 400 2.8 +TC's, but that's not travel friendly.

People really knock the zooms more than is justified... if used optimally they can produce very comparable results. Here's a test I did to determine if I wanted to keep my 28-300 for casual use on the D800. My only point with that is, if a zoom suits your needs get/use one.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree. I had the 28-300 and liked it, have a 70-200 and like it even with TCs. I prefer my 500 for wildlife, though it is a heavy lump to carry about.

Out of interest, how do you rate the 80-400 with the 1.4 on it?
 
fracster said:
Absolutely agree. I had the 28-300 and liked it, have a 70-200 and like it even with TCs. I prefer my 500 for wildlife, though it is a heavy lump to carry about.

Out of interest, how do you rate the 80-400 with the 1.4 on it?
Click to expand...
I'd put it about even to the prime w/ a 2x on it (both wide open). But it seems to degrade worse with longer distances which is a problem for a long lens. I probably need to do an AFMA on it. There's also no real IQ gain using a high MP sensor with it. The final image (at any size) is pretty much the same w/ my D4 or my D810.

IMHO, the only advantage of it over the V2 w/ 70-300 is the DSLR body advantage (ISO, AF).
 
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