Telephoto lens

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Halky68

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I was wondering if anyone could give me advice, I have just upgraded my Nikon dslr from the 5000'to the d300s and was thinking about a telephoto lens, my main subject area is horse eventing and fighter aircraft, two extremes I know but I have a budget of around £450-£500. Could anyone advise on a lens that may suit my needs for that amount of money or am I barking up the wrong tree. Any help greatly appreciated!:)
 
Welcome to TP :)

I'm a Canon man myself so have no idea what these lenses are like in the real World but you need to look along the lines of these:

http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/us...nses/nikon-af-s-70-300mm-f/4-5.6g-if-ed-vr-1/

http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/us...it-lenses/nikon-af-80-400mm-f/4.5-5.6d-ed-vr/

http://www.wexphotographic.com/niko...efloat=500.0<focallengthtelefloat<519.0

I know the last two are a lot more than you want to spend but ideally you'll more than likely want/need more than 300mm for horses and planes (depending on how close you can realistically get to either of them)
 
For that kind of money I think the best you will get is a 300mm max zoom. Whether that is good enough for horses and fighter aircraft I dont know. I suspect too short for planes but maybe ok for horses.

Even the sigma 120-400mm is £650 plus. On the d300 I think its a 1.5 crop sensor so that'd be similar to a 600mm at the long end then.
 
Also you can fit a kenko TC to this lens but not the Nikons own TC's.

The kenko 1.4 is quite good on it but you do lose a stop of course.

depends on how good the light is.
 
Several options, all used, prices should be about in budget.

Nikon 70-300 VR
Sigma 70-200 with 1.4x TC
Sigma 120-400 OS
Nikon AF-D 300mm f/4
Sigma 50-500mm

Probably more sigma's out there that would also fit the bill.
If you have patience and look around, you should pick any one of those up in budget.
 
The Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR will give you VR to get a steady shot but remember it's f/4.5 at the 70mm end going down in aperture size f/5.6 at the 300m end.
Another possibility are the 80-200mm f/2.8 lenses which gives you f/2.8 throughout the focal range and this could allow you to shoot at faster/higher shutter speeds.
I think the second hand push/pull barrel ones coupled with a 2nd hand kenko 1.4 TC would fit in your budget. Have a read up on them.
Good luck :)
 
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Thanks fac, am reading around like mad!!!! Has anyone used a kenko 1.4 tc? I thought they made coffee!!! All I can say what a helpful bunch u lot are, really do appreciate everyone's suggestions. Am looking at 80-200 with a 1.4 tc
, will I lose a few stope tho???? Might have to up the budget and eat rice and baked beans for a month!
 
Yes I tried one on my brothers 80-200 F2.8, only go for the 300 pro version, the lower priced version isn't as good, the Pro 300 DG though works fine.
 
Halky68 said:
I was wondering if anyone could give me advice, I have just upgraded my Nikon dslr from the 5000'to the d300s and was thinking about a telephoto lens, my main subject area is horse eventing and fighter aircraft, two extremes I know but I have a budget of around £450-£500. Could anyone advise on a lens that may suit my needs for that amount of money or am I barking up the wrong tree. Any help greatly appreciated!:)
Click to expand...

You lost me at Nikon. Lol
 
Halky68 said:
I was wondering if anyone could give me advice, I have just upgraded my Nikon dslr from the 5000'to the d300s and was thinking about a telephoto lens, my main subject area is horse eventing and fighter aircraft, two extremes I know but I have a budget of around £450-£500.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, both the options I'm thinking of are a little more than that - around £600-650 or so, if you consider used models:

(1) Nikkor 300mm f/4D. Downside: it's a prime, so it's 300mm and nothing else. Upside: it's a prime, and a fairly amazingly good one - very sharp, resistant to flare, and negligible CA. It's not feather light, but it's still quite easily hand-held.

(2) Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3. Not quite as good optically as the above, or as bright, but with a good degree of flexibility, and still quite a solid performer.

Of course, the choice also depends on just how close or far you typically are - if location's not much of an issue, you probably don't need to consider >300mm particularly strongly. I'm more a wildlife sort, cursed to find to rabbits particularly interesting, so I'm given to pursuing as long a reach as possible, given the slight difference in size of subjects. =:)
 
Thanks to iancandler for pointing out it's the pro 300 DG that works best. (they seem to be selling for around £75 in the classifieds section, so a billy bargain!)

I used this with my 80-200mm here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dh14162/sets/72157624265284271/

The Kenko TC won't show/use the 1.4 multiplier in the exif data though, so for example a pic's exif data might show 200mm, when in fact it is more 280mm.

I found using the kenko 1.4 a great cheap way to give me the extra reach i needed. So on my D300, it was 1.5 x 200mm x 1.4 = 420mm.

Bear in mind f/2.8 will become f/4 when using the TC.

For sharpness, the 300mm F4 will probably win as it's a prime lens, but of course you lose out on the zoom ability.

Why not try renting the zoom and/or the prime lens and taking it with you to a horse event to see which works best for you before committing to buying one?
 
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Ah I'd not thought of renting, maybe that's a way forward. Once again I am overwhelmed by the support and advice given, what a great friendly forum, thanks fellas!
 
Many thanks to all who advised, managed to get sorted with a 300 mm. Very nice it is too, roll on wadding ton airshow this weekend!
 
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