need advice on a lens for wildlife!

Harvey_nikon

Harvey_nikon

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Hi all,

Just come back from my honeymoon and although I had a great 2 weeks I felt slightly let down with my kit lens and my knowledge.

Part of our trip was 2 days in Yosemite National Park. While driving I spotted a bear and although I was willing to try and get a bit closer the wife wouldn't let me and my lens just didn't get close enough. Later on that night I spotted a deer head poking up from some grass.

We parked and took a little walk, one of them was feeding and slowly meandering towards the path so we sat down and waited. It got to about 6 feet from us but the photos are a bit of a let down purely because it was between 7:30 and 8pm, the light was failing and that resulted in slightly blurred images. Got maybe one or two decent shots.

So, I am currently looking for a decent tripod and cable release for my D60 however I really want a decent telephoto lens for my camera, looking at between £600 - £800, cheaper the better and 2nd hand isn't an issue! :D

Advice?
 
I'm not too clued up on the Nikon side of things, but the Canon 100-400 is probably the kind of thing you are looking for (in Nikon equivalent!). You can pick these up for around £800 second hand....so there surely must be something out there for you, Sigma perhaps?
 
There is the Nikon 70-300mm VR, for about £400, or the there are a few sigma's like the 50-500, and 150-500mm which you should be able to get with your budget.
 
again, from a canon point of view you can get a 70-300 IS
there are similar VR lenses on nikon fit.
At that range I would get VR as it will be very handy
for low light, look into a tamron or sigma 17-50 f2.8
much more versitile than the kit lens normally.
or a 50mm prime 1.8 is a popular choice

have a play with the ISO settings on your camera and see what is acceptable noise wise for the shots you want to acheive.
shots always balance: ISO, aperture, shutter speed against ambient lighting
 
Harvey_nikon said:
While driving I spotted a bear and although I was willing to try and get a bit closer the wife wouldn't let me and my lens just didn't get close enough.

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Advice?
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Keep an eye out for the updated life insurance naming the wife as beneficiary :D
 
There is the Nikon 80-400mm VR but with your D60 you'd be limited to manual focus. This in mind the Nikon 70-300mm is probably your best bet but there is also the tokina 80-400 that may be worth a look. Unfortunately I don't know whether the Tokina has its own focus motor.

Edit: the tokina does have an internal focus motor.
 
Have a serious think about what you want out of photography. If you think you'll end up shooting wildlife and other subjects that need long lenses then I would consider jumping ship to Canon before you get tied into Nikon. The cost of long lenses fromNikon are really quite high and if you do move more towards wildlife you'll probably want to be up around 400mm or maybe 600mm, megabucks from Nikon.

Kev
 
Kev said:
Have a serious think about what you want out of photography. If you think you'll end up shooting wildlife and other subjects that need long lenses then I would consider jumping ship to Canon before you get tied into Nikon. The cost of long lenses fromNikon are really quite high and if you do move more towards wildlife you'll probably want to be up around 400mm or maybe 600mm, megabucks from Nikon.

Kev
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thanks for the advice, I can't see myself being tied to only one type of photography as I like candid and wouldn't mind getting in to social event photography as well as sporting events like the local motocross.

It's just at the moment, with summer on the way wildlife is the thing I am interested in.

I don't suppose anyone has comparison shots between a 300, 400 and 500mm lens do they? especially across the different makes.

I think I may look at hiring them to see what they difference is and which one I'll get the most use out of!
 
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