My Telephoto ist Kaput....

yoby

yoby

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Dave
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Just went out to see whether I could grap a few shots of the Moon and Mars.
Being perpetually skint, my weapon of choice for was my trusty Tamron 70-300mm which I've had for a couple of years, but has recently taken a bit of a hammering at the local under 11 Sunday League (by hammering I'm talking about 3 or 4 hundred shots per game.

Anyways, fired off a shot just now, and Error99 hit the screen.
Removed Batteries and replaced - Error99
Removed Grip and replaced - Error99
Removed Lens and as I replaced it (even though the body was off) I could hear something whir inside the lens. Error99 cleared and I lined up to fire another shot. As soon as I pressed the shutter, it fired and immediately after - Error99.

On looking through the viewfinder I noticed that it was around 3 stops darker than it should have been. On inspecting the lens when I took it off, it appears that the Iris (or whatever the technical term is for the blades that control aperture) is part closed as opposed to wide open as it usually is.

Tested my other two lenses and they're fine. When I re-attach the 70-300, it makes a noise (which I now now is the iris opening) but as soon as I click, it breaks again. So.........

Is it worth repairing? (A new one of these is £126 on camerapricebuster)

I suspect not, which leaves the question of what I could consider replacing it with. Always been happy with it, image quality was great. Only niggle was the autofocus which was a bit slow.

Realistic budget is around £250 - Used or new i fine.
Because of the football I could really do with a 300mm

Don't really want to turn this into a what lens thread but would appreciate any thoughts.
 
You could look at the canon 100-300mm usm 5.6 for quality it is better than any of the 75-300mm second hand about £80.00 new about £230.00 might be cheaper on line
Regards
Richard
 
I would have thought it is not worth repairing, but a call to intro2020 may be worth while, it may be less than you think for repair, I had a water damaged 18 - 200 repaired and it cost £65 all in (for a new main board).
 
Hadn't thought of the 100-300, I'll have a browse and see what's about, and will give intro2020 a call in the morning.

It'd be a good excuse for an upgrade if only I hadn't cancelled the credit card in October......
 
Interstingly, if I keep it wide open (i.e F4 at the short end and f5.6 at the long) id doesn't seem so bad (I managed to rattle off 30 0r so shots this morning until it stuck), then every time I took it off and on it stopped itself down to the highest it can go.

Bah.
 
Difficult one to call over repairing it - esp with the new price you quote, personally, I'd go for a new lens and maybe sell this one as a faulty unit - you might get a few quid for it on a well known site.

The Canon 55-250 IS is a cracker of a lens, around £180 mark and very well regarded. If you have a look at the data on your shots and if you aren't up at the 300mm range, you should be okay.

The Canon 70-300IS is a cracker, but is more than your budget at present, think you might be able to pick a 2nd hand one up, Ian (Kerso) was doing them around £350 new a few weeks ago.

Not used the 100-300, so can't help with that one I'm afraid.

Hope this helps :thumbs:
 
Cheers Andy,
At the moment considering a direct replacement in the form of a Sigma 75-300 DG APO,
or trying to find a used 100-300usm - The focus speed would sway it.

Going to have a browse for a 55-250 IS as well just in case (though most of the Sunday League stuff is shot @ 300mm - The kids barely fill the frame when they're next to me ;))
 
yoby said:
Going to have a browse for a 55-250 IS as well just in case (though most of the Sunday League stuff is shot @ 300mm - The kids barely fill the frame when they're next to me ;))
Click to expand...

You are probably going to need a 300mm then, buy the best you can afford, if you can stretch to it the 70-300IS is def worth it.

BTW, the 55-250 was around £160 at buyacamera last week. :)
 
Andy,
Thanks for the pointer - was really tempted by the 55-250, especially at that price with IS but ended up spending a bargain £90 on the Sigma 70-300 APO DG as a direct replacement just to fill the gap short term.
However, this episode has given me an opportunity to have a long hard think about a proper upgrade and I've decided I now need to save hard for some long fast glass. Hopefully I can squirrel away a few quid a month to have a blowout in the summer.
Not used to this saving up malarky having always had a Credit card until recently, but reckon it's do-able if Mrs Dave pays for her own nails and haircuts. :D
 
I have the 100-300 USM and it is very fast focusing. Seems good quality too. ;)
 
it will be faster than the 55-250 and most other cheapish ones as the focusing is different. Not sure what its called, is it ring type USM? Basically, the focussing is internal and there is i manual focus override anytime. Compared to the Canon 75-300 USM, which the front lens focusing moves in and out while focusing.. Crappy explanation, I hope you get what I mean! :lol:
 
lawrenceots said:
it will be faster than the 55-250 and most other cheapish ones as the focusing is different. Not sure what its called, is it ring type USM? Basically, the focussing is internal and there is i manual focus override anytime. Compared to the Canon 75-300 USM, which the front lens focusing moves in and out while focusing.. Crappy explanation, I hope you get what I mean! :lol:
Click to expand...

I wouldn't class the 100-300mm f4.5-5.6 as anything other than average, yes it has a USM motor, so autofocus is quicker than most lenses in this price bracket, but you would need decent light and to stop the lens down to get the best from it. Yes the 75-300mm or the IS version weren't great lenses, the 55-250mm IS would be considered slightly better and for abit extra $$$ the 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM is probably the one to go for at the budget end of the market.

The next significant step up in quality is the 70-200mm f4 L
 
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