Wildlife options

pooley

pooley

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Mike
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I'll soon be in a position where I can look at re-investing in some new gear, primarily for wildlife but also kids football.

At the moment I only have my underwater gear which consists of a D200 with 10-17mm fisheye and 60mm macro, none of which will be useful for day to day shots, and will remain with me until I can afford to change both camera and underwater housing.

I have no affiliation to any brand, I've happily used them all previously, and the fact my current gear is Nikon is of no relevance to my new purchases - they will be separate systems.

I have the possibility of 2 budgets which are yet to be determined, but for now I'll go with the lower option of around £2000 - £2500.

I've read all the articles and comparisons, and my initial thoughts are split between the following -

1. Canon 7d with 400mm f5.6 and 70-200mm f4 (previously owned both these lenses)

2. Either a 7d, D300 or D7000 with a sigma 120-300mm f2.8 and converters.

I've considered both the canon 100-400 and the sigma 150-500, but the general internet concensus appears to be they don't quite match up to the other lenses I've mentioned above (albeit I've seen plenty of photos that suggest they can be very sharp). I don't really fancy the 300mm f4 and 1.4x converter route.

I'm totally open to any ideas providing this doesn't turn into a willy waving battle of the brands thread. :thumbsdown:

Mike
 
What's wrong with your D200. Why not just invest in a decent lens or 2.
The sigmas are good for wildlife, 50/150-500mm but with a f6.3 @ 500 I've seen images where they've struggled to produce a decent image when the light conditions aren't good even with the new OS system.
 
It really depends what you mean by wildlife. Out of birds, mammals, insects or insect macro would you want to concentrate on? I haven't included plant life.

The 7D/400mm f5.6L combination is excellent, I've owned 2 of these lenses, sold them and almost immediately regretted it!
This lens is very sharp but lacks IS. For many people this isn't a problem, for me it is so I find some method of stabilisation necessary.
For BIF the lens is unrivalled in terms of value for money alone.
The 400mm can be used with a 1.4x extender but will not autofocus with a 7D without tricks being applied.

The 300mm f4L IS is another great lens for wildlife. It's faster than the 400mm and therefore can take a 1.4x extender on the 7D. I've used that combination and it's produced good results.
The other great advantage of the 300mm apart from it's native sharpness is the short MFD, brilliant for large insects like butterflies etc.

For macro the 7D shares with the 1DIV a special macro focus setting which is very useful.

I've only given Canon based views because that's all I know about!

HTH.
 
Mike, a good copy (try before you buy!) of either of the long Sigmas will turn in great images given their limitations (f/6.3 at the long end). The 50-500 OS is reputed to be marginally sharper than the 150-500 but that could be down to the quality of the reviewed samples!

A friend of mine is heavily into bird photography (on an amateur basis) and uses either a D300 or a D3x with a Sigma 120-300 and converters. He also has a couple of slightly longer primes but seems to use his 120-300 for convenience.

IMO, the D200 isn't ideal due to its rather poor higher ISO performance. 800 was pushing it a bit (again, IMO).
 
I would even say ISO 400 on the D200, above that you get noise. It was the only thing I didn't like about mine.
 
Cheers gents,

Pete - The D200 is fine for what its used for now (underwater) a I can pretty much shoot full frame at low ISO's. However, used outdoors with slow lenses in dim light, it'll just annoy me with the quality it can produce. Regarding the sigma 150-500 and 50-500, I have been tempted, but am currently out off by the slow aperture and loads of reports of them being a bit soft at the long end. I'm happy to be proved wrong though.

Laurence - It'll be birds and mammals rather than insects. If I go the canon route at this price range its likely to be the 7d. I've considered the 1D3, and not totally ruled it out yet though. Not to keen on the 300mm + 1.4x due to the reported loss in focussing speed. I do like the thought of the close MFD on it as opposed to the 400mm f5.6 which has a pants MFD.

Nod / Cagey - I agree. I have no problems with the D200 at low ISO but its going to get out of its depth pretty quick if I use it as I intend to.

Mike
 
The canon 300mm f4 was my 1st long'ish lens, I've had no issues with it or when attached to a 1.4x TC its a great combination. I've upgraded to the 300mm f2.8 and have used that with 1.4x, 2x and stacked. With the 2x and stacked TC combination you do notice a definite drop off in performance if you lose autofocus, but with the 1.4x TC on either lens, no significant loss of quality of autofocus, but then again I'm using a 1D which will have an effect.

Like some lenses (canon 100-400), there are very good copies, average and bad ones, especially with the sigma longer zooms.

I know several Nikon users that love the Nikon 300mm f4 and use it very successfully with the Nikon 1.4 and 1.7x TCs if you were to stay with Nikon.
The sigma 120-300mm f2.8 OS is another option (still think there's issues with that lens, especially as sigma's releasing V2 model) or you could look at the Nikon 200-400mm f4 VR but its not a lens that comes up that often used, but might be outside your budget?

Personally I would look at the Nikon 300mm f4
 
Cheers Pete,

I'm currently on a serious creeping mission with SWMBO, which, if sucessful, could release the funds to get the 200-400 which is what I really want. But then again with that budget I could find a 2nd hand 500mm f4 and 70-200mm f2.8 with 1.x which would cover most bases! :bonk:

I've seen a few canon super tele's go for cheap prices but they are old non-is versions, which in itself doesn't bother me at all, but concerns me that I've got an expensive paperweight if something goes wrong.

Mike
 
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