Budget tele

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jimmy83

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James
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I've been using a friends Canon 100-400 for some recent football photos and love it, if things process for me I may have to looking at getting my own tele. I can't afford a high end canon I don't think :( what other options do I have? I think 100-300 would be ok. Budget well...unsure of that atm. Iam just curious to know what is recommended at a cheaper price please folks.
 
I seen some good reviews of the Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6, which is a fairly decent price and gives a decent IQ. I think the OS version is around £300 and the non OS version is around £150. The Tamron 70-300's are about the same price and also give a fairly decent IQ level. However, you do get what you pay for with lenses and if you're used to using a Canon 100-400 L you wont find anything with comparable IQ for a low budget.

A good performer is a Sigma 120-400 OS, which gives very good IQ and is a great lens to handle with it's OS system. The wife has one of these and I occasionally borrow it for wildlife and aviation shots but you're looking at around £600 for that one. Alternatively, you could get the Sigma 150-500 OS which is a bit more expensive at around £700 but the IQ of that is on a par with the Canon 100-400. I had a Canon 100-400 L and a Sigma 150-500 OS and after lots of testing I decided to keep the Sigma and sell the Canon, the Sigma is constantly in use for wildlife and aviation shots and is probably my most used lens overall.
 
I'm very much a fan of the Tamron 70-300mm VC USD, especially for motorsports. At long distances, the quality is very good, although it's not quite as good at short range. The VC and the USD focusing are also excellent. I own various 'L' lenses, but I'm quite happy to use the Tamron if it's zoom range is what I need.
 
Ive recently brought a sigma 50-500 (non os) and its a great piece of glass, only been out with it once but seems verys sharp to me, with more practice im sure the images will get better, definatley worth alook and can be had for a decent price too.
Here's an image from my 1st outing with it
8476893238_c273bf3581_c.jpg


Andy
 
gcogger said:
I'm very much a fan of the Tamron 70-300mm VC USD, especially for motorsports. At long distances, the quality is very good, although it's not quite as good at short range. The VC and the USD focusing are also excellent. I own various 'L' lenses, but I'm quite happy to use the Tamron if it's zoom range is what I need.
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This.. sharp, fast and the VC knocks spots of canon's IS.
 
gcogger said:
Yes, that's the one :-)
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Cheers, seems very reasonable-can you fit an extender to it? I dont know anything about em! :eek: lens seems so small in comparison to the 100-400 canon!


Mike.P said:
This.

Excellent lens if you can find one, faster than most, good wide open and also takes the 1.4x converter very well to give you 400mm+.
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Yeah I can't see a price, well looks like its about £700?
 
Mike.P said:
Sigma no longer make the 100-300mm f4 so you would have to buy used.

Going rate is around £400 for a good example but (imo) it's worth it for the better IQ.

Edit: I see there are a couple on Ebay in Germany but they are well over priced.
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Ah I see, makes sense.

Craft said:
You might look at the Sigma long lenses, I know "artyman" on here has used one of the older ones and currently has the 120-300 that he uses for birds.. If he spots the thread I'm sure he will comment, you can look at some of his stuff here: http://www.artyman.adsl24.co.uk/photographs1.html
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Will do.

Can you guys tell me about more about extenders. Is there the x1.4 and x2 types? Do you have to pair the same brands together with the same branded lens used? Ive never used one before.
 
You don't have to have the same brand extender as lens and TBH one of the better extenders is a Kenko Pro300 DGX 1.4x. It doesn't degrade the IQ by much and it reports the correct focal length and f stop as well. You need to remember that a 1.4x will cost you 1 stop of light and the 2x will cost you 2 stops. Meaning a lens with a max aperture of f4 will become an f5.6 with a 1.4x and an f8 with a 2x. That will affect the AF system of your camera and if the lens goes past an f5.6 you may end up having to manually focus with it. A f2.8 lens will be an f5.6 with a 2x extender so you can still use AF, but also bear in mind the 2x extender will degrade the IQ more than the 1.4x will.
 
The Canon 70-300IS is worth a look at, especially if budget is low ...

I've mine up for sale in the classifieds as I'm upgrading and have been very pleased with it.
 
Would you say the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM Lens the best budget L tele?
 
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