New Nikon fit telephoto zoom choice?

[Leebert]

A question for all you Nikon users...

I have a Nikon D5000 with kit 18-55 and 55-200 lenses and am looking to get something a little better quality and with a longer reach than the 55-200 for telephoto action shots. I've looked at the 70-300 f4/f5.6 and the 80-400 f4/5.6. I've tried the 70-300 but I have to admit I found the results at 300mm a tad soft. is the 80-400 better or do I need to look elsewhere? Budget is around £1000 and I prefer to pay for optical quality.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Lee

 

[mikew]

With the budget you have i think the Nikon 80-400 you have seen would be the early version with no focus motor,so it wouldn't AF on you D5000

 

[Nod]

Which version of the 70-300 did you try? The VR one has better optics than the earlier ones as well as the stabilisation. The stated budget also allows the longer 3rd party lenses to be affordable - Tamron and Sigma both do 150-600 zooms and Sigma do a couple of slightly shorter ones (50-500 and 150-500).

 

[mikew]

A lot of long zooms dont give there best at the far end,ime using the Sigma 50-500 at the moment,500mm ime not all that happy with but knock it back to say 460mm and its a lot better.

 

[Leebert]

With the budget you have i think the Nikon 80-400 you have seen would be the early version with no focus motor,so it wouldn't AF on you D5000

Ah - good spot. The newer AF-S is considerably outside my budget!

Which version of the 70-300 did you try? The VR one has better optics than the earlier ones as well as the stabilisation. The stated budget also allows the longer 3rd party lenses to be affordable - Tamron and Sigma both do 150-600 zooms and Sigma do a couple of slightly shorter ones (50-500 and 150-500).

A lot of long zooms dont give there best at the far end,ime using the Sigma 50-500 at the moment,500mm ime not all that happy with but knock it back to say 460mm and its a lot better.

Thanks for the replies. I tried the VR version. It seems to do reasonably well in reviews considering the price. However, the Tamron SP 70-300 (link) seems to do just as well for almost half the price. I hope to try that one today if Park have one in stock. Has anyone got any experience of it?

Many thanks.

 

[guess&press]

I chose the Tamron 70-300 over the Nikon and the VR grips like a vice! Overall results can be very good IMHO. There might be some manufacturing variations, as some people say it's sharp wide open but mine improves with a bit of stopping down. Someone told me the Nikon focuses faster, which I can believe. The Tamron is no slouch but it's not instantaneous. OTOH the lens testing sites point to CA in the Nikon being worse than the Tamron, and looking at posted images it seems true.

I don't know what action shots you have in mind but 300mm is bit short for birding. I have a Sigma 150-500 which isn't stellar at all at 500mm but even 400mm, where it can produce good results (IMHO again) is a lot more reach than 300, and that tends to be where it stays for birds.

 

[tom24]

517[/url] by barnowl01292, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is a tamron 70-300mm by me,i'm just a beginner,so i'm sure someone with better skills and an image editor could get good images with one.

517 by barnowl01292, on Flickr

 

[Leebert]

I chose the Tamron 70-300 over the Nikon and the VR grips like a vice! Overall results can be very good IMHO. There might be some manufacturing variations, as some people say it's sharp wide open but mine improves with a bit of stopping down. Someone told me the Nikon focuses faster, which I can believe. The Tamron is no slouch but it's not instantaneous. OTOH the lens testing sites point to CA in the Nikon being worse than the Tamron, and looking at posted images it seems true.

I don't know what action shots you have in mind but 300mm is bit short for birding. I have a Sigma 150-500 which isn't stellar at all at 500mm but even 400mm, where it can produce good results (IMHO again) is a lot more reach than 300, and that tends to be where it stays for birds.

I hope to use it for aircraft at the Mach Loop in Wales. I used the 55-200 kit lens there and was happy with the results but I would like a touch more reach and a bit sharper images at the longer focal length.

517[/url] by barnowl01292, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is a tamron 70-300mm by me,i'm just a beginner,so i'm sure someone with better skills and an image editor could get good images with one.

517 by barnowl01292, on Flickr

Thanks for posting that photo. Very nice

 

[guess&press]

I hope to use it for aircraft at the Mach Loop in Wales. I used the 55-200 kit lens there and was happy with the results but I would like a touch more reach and a bit sharper images at the longer focal length.

Over to aircraft specialists for specific comment then, but either 300 will slaughter the kit lens at distance.