I've got tickets to the British GP, and as such, will be looking for an appropriate long lens to use.
Longest current lens is a frankly atrocious 70-300, which I've had for years.
Went looking in LCE in town today, and all they really had in the longer used stuff they were some Canon 100-400L's, plus a Sigma 120-400.
Tried the Sigma, and whilst it was a good deal cheaper than the Canon examples, the lens didn't feel quite right. Would appreciate answers/ thoughts from anyone who owns one of these:
* Does the lens support FTM focusing? It didn't appear too happy adjusting the focus manually after it'd focused, and the staff seemed to think it didn't. Information I can find seems rather conflicting....
* Focus / sharpness at 400mm also wasn't as good as I'd like, although this was on a relatively new bottom end body- I'm hoping this would be better on a decent body with lens calibrated/ micro-adjusted (I have a 50D)
Would also be interested in any opinions on the alternatives I can see at the minute:
Canon 100-400L just about scrapes into budget, but not sure on spending absolutely everything possible,,,,
The Canon 70-200 F4 IS is tempting, but my instinct tells me it's a little short. I think the F2.8 is really out of my price bracket, unless I went for the non-IS version, which feels like a mistake if I'm trying to shoot fast moving cars....
If I'm thinking about non-IS lenses, I've also come across the Tokina 80-400.
I've got a Tokina 12-24 which IMHO is the best lens in my bag, so I'll admit that's a tempting prospect if the 80-400 is anywhere near as good as that. Cheap too.....
Only other option I can see is the Sigma 150- 500, but I suspect that'll have a very similar set of issues to the 120-400.
Longest current lens is a frankly atrocious 70-300, which I've had for years.
Went looking in LCE in town today, and all they really had in the longer used stuff they were some Canon 100-400L's, plus a Sigma 120-400.
Tried the Sigma, and whilst it was a good deal cheaper than the Canon examples, the lens didn't feel quite right. Would appreciate answers/ thoughts from anyone who owns one of these:
* Does the lens support FTM focusing? It didn't appear too happy adjusting the focus manually after it'd focused, and the staff seemed to think it didn't. Information I can find seems rather conflicting....
* Focus / sharpness at 400mm also wasn't as good as I'd like, although this was on a relatively new bottom end body- I'm hoping this would be better on a decent body with lens calibrated/ micro-adjusted (I have a 50D)
Would also be interested in any opinions on the alternatives I can see at the minute:
Canon 100-400L just about scrapes into budget, but not sure on spending absolutely everything possible,,,,
The Canon 70-200 F4 IS is tempting, but my instinct tells me it's a little short. I think the F2.8 is really out of my price bracket, unless I went for the non-IS version, which feels like a mistake if I'm trying to shoot fast moving cars....
If I'm thinking about non-IS lenses, I've also come across the Tokina 80-400.
I've got a Tokina 12-24 which IMHO is the best lens in my bag, so I'll admit that's a tempting prospect if the 80-400 is anywhere near as good as that. Cheap too.....
Only other option I can see is the Sigma 150- 500, but I suspect that'll have a very similar set of issues to the 120-400.