lens upgrade

ruffdog64

ruffdog64

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Harvey
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I presently own a canon 1000d to which i fit a tamron70-300 lens and 2 x kenko converter to shoot wildlife with now would i get a really noticable improvement in quality by getting a canon1.4x converter and canon 70-200 lens
 
From what I hear the IQ of the 1.4 + Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM II is pretty close to the Canon 100-400, but it is a very expensive option and to use the TC you will need the 2.8 II otherwise its just not as good.

I have the 100-400 and the IQ is very good.

Which Tamron by the way - if its the new VC then thats an excellent lens (I used to own one) and is not a million miles behind the 100-400.
 
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The tamron is thef4-5.6di ld macro 1:2 it's not that this lens bad buthaving looked at some peoples photos I wonder if a better combo would help , but I don't have thousands to spend and tbh if I need to spend silly money I may put up with it and get a nice macro lens instead
 
aye, I know what you mean - I've dropped shed loads of cash into this hobby and haven't improved that much.

Do you have any images on flickr etc to look at - its just I am thinking that the VC despite being a little short on reach (the same as yours) may be a reasonable upgrade without spending a fortune (£343 at the moment).

Also if you do go that route one option would be to buy from Jessops (if you're going new) and try it for a week or so and if you;re not happy use their returns policy.

How do you get on using a TC on that lens by the way - I only ask because my 100-400 didn't get on all that well with my TC - it did work but the IQ dropped quite a bit for not that much gain.
 
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Hmm, the Tamron 70-300mm LD macro isn't a brilliant lens on its own, adding a 2x teleconverter is a pretty bad move IMO. Surely you must struggle manually focusing, let alone gettting sharp shots with that combination with an f11 aperture?

Also, your current combo will give you a 600mm focal length at the long end, a 70-200 plus 1.4x TC will only give you 280mm. Personally, for wildlife I use an old Canon EF 300/4L with Canon 1.4 TC. Now THAT is decent combo :)
 
If you don't want to spend megabucks then look at a used sigma 150-500 or 50-500 (the older non-OS 50/500 is not bad but heavy) and both will AF on your camera.
Once you try to get 400mm+ in the Canon white lenses you are into big money, £1K upwards.
 
Thanks for everyones replies, my flikr account in under the name ruffdog64 I think some photos on there will give you some idea of what I'm doing, I have seen the sigma lens and they look like a suitable alternative as my budget isn't endless
 
I tried looking up your photos, but no joy.

I can also back up what Chris is saying the Sigma 150-500 is a nice lens, but not great in overcast conditions, like most of the "daylight" lenses for that matter.

If it helps and please ignore my lack of skill here are a couple of galleries of lenses I have own on my wife's hijacked flickr account :)

Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM - about £1200
Tamron SP 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di VC USD - about £340
Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM - about £800

Oh, the prices are from CameraPriceBuster and if you do get from there ALWAYS check Amazon directly as sometimes there are much better deals on there.

Oh and one last thing, think about weight with some of these lenses - the 150-500 was pretty heavy, the 100-400 is heavy too but the Tamron wasn't. It may not be an issue to you and it wasn't to me as I can handhold the lot, but that is not the case for everyone.
 
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Just checked my flickr account and i don`t have anything on there that shows what i mean, i`ll put some up when i`ve taken them
 
For wildlife you're much better off with a sigma 150-500 than with a 70-200 x1.4

The 100-400L is great if you can stretch to it, but the 150-500OS does a fantastic job of coming close for less money.
 
If its any help this is with a siggy 50-500 at 500mm hand held about 50 yds away so its a fairly heavy crop

p1036091872-4.jpg


Chris
 
Nice shot chris that sort of range is what I'm after and this will work on autofocus as well?
 
Oh yeah, the 50/150 - 500 will do that easily, the only down side (apart from how heavy it is) is the amount of light you need - take a look around and all the best shots are in great light. Anyway I sound bitter but I'm not they really are great lenses and having owned a 150-500 I can tell you the OS on it is excellent.

BTW your flickr looks good - no issues I can see, however checking the birds gallery I do see the need for more reach (a feeling I know all too well!), you may well be better off with one of the Sigma's.

Worth noting though that as the numbers get higher the return gets lees, by that I mean if you go from 15-50 the zoom seems huge, but not so much so from 300 to 400 - check out this tool by Tamron and you'll see what I mean, notice how little it seems to change from 300 - 500. This is something I wish I'd seen earlier and would have saved a little bit of disappointment.
 
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