Telephoto for Nikon D800

chrism_scotland

chrism_scotland

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Chris
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Looking for some advice - posted this in the D800 thread but theres Nikon users not using a D800 that I'm sure can help!

I'm looking for a telephoto for my D800 for some wildlife shots, planes and maybe a tiny bit of motorsport - having the full frame D800 I know I'm probably looking at needing to go longer and I've been weighing up a few options - money isn't a huge issue but I'd probably prefer to spend no more than £600-£800.

I've looked at the Nikon 300mm f4 with possibly the 1.4 teleconverter but a little concerned that I'd miss some of the shorter length, also considered the Sigma 150-500mm OS particularly as there is the £100 cashback making a new one almost the same as used, also spotted a good price on a Sigma 100-300 f4 which I had before on a Sony and was impressed with but looking for suggestions/help from others!
 
300 and 1.4 tc takes a lot of beating.

Don't forget you can shoot the D800 in dx crop mode, 18 mp shots. Gives you equivalent of 630mm.
 
You could pick up a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 for £800 or less or a Sigma 100-300mm f/4 or potentially look at getting a crop camera, D300 or D7100
 
Last edited:
Gary Coyle said:
You could pick up a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 for £800 or less or a Sigma 100-300mm f/4 or potentially look at getting a crop camera, D300 or D7100
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary - I've read good things about the Sigma 100-300 f4 and was impressed with the one I had before (In a Sony Mount), at around £400-£500 it also appears to be a bargain - I'd be interested if anyone had used both the Nikon 300 f4 and the Sigma 100-300, I've read elsewhere that they are quite close performance wise and of course both can take a TC to give me 420mm f5.6 at the long end - not sure if I'd miss the VR though.
 
for £800 you could get the Sigma 100-300mm f/4 and if you are desperate for more reach you'll have enough left over to buy a D300, stick a 1.4x on that combo and you have 630mm at the long end
 
fracster said:
300 and 1.4 tc takes a lot of beating.

Don't forget you can shoot the D800 in dx crop mode, 18 mp shots. Gives you equivalent of 630mm.
Click to expand...

Whether you use crop mode or not makes no difference to the size of the subject on the sensor, the camera just uses the middle part of the sensor then you have a smaller image to enlarge. You do of course have a smaller file size to store, but it is also a smaller image.

If you take the image in crop mode, and miss part of the image (eg miss the tail of a plane), you can't get it back, whereas if you've taken it in full frame mode, it may look smaller in the frame, but you choose what you crop in photoshop/lightroom etc.

You can test this out by taking two photographs at the same settings, one in ff mode, one in crop mode, then blowing them up so that the central subject is the same size, and comparing the two images.

hth
 
Gary Coyle said:
for £800 you could get the Sigma 100-300mm f/4 and if you are desperate for more reach you'll have enough left over to buy a D300, stick a 1.4x on that combo and you have 630mm at the long end
Click to expand...

£800? I've seen the 100-300 a lot cheaper than that!
 
david357 said:
Whether you use crop mode or not makes no difference to the size of the subject on the sensor, the camera just uses the middle part of the sensor then you have a smaller image to enlarge. You do of course have a smaller file size to store, but it is also a smaller image.

If you take the image in crop mode, and miss part of the image (eg miss the tail of a plane), you can't get it back, whereas if you've taken it in full frame mode, it may look smaller in the frame, but you choose what you crop in photoshop/lightroom etc.

You can test this out by taking two photographs at the same settings, one in ff mode, one in crop mode, then blowing them up so that the central subject is the same size, and comparing the two images.

hth
Click to expand...
Yup, never understood the value of "crop" mode other than to potentially increase FPS, shoot FX and crop in post if required, i always find it difficult to frame something properly in DX Crop mode, if it filler the whole viewfinder it wouldnt be so bad but the shaded box is just a poor effort by Nikon.
 
that is why i said equivelant.
 
Guys thanks for weighing in - I think I've narrowed it down to either of the zooms for now - cost wise theres not going to be much in it (£585 with the cashback for the 150-500 or £600 roughly for the 100-300 f4 with the 1.4x TC)

Would probably prefer the backup of the brand new lens and maybe the OS in the 150-500 but not totally convinced its going to be fast enough
 
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