Battle of the TELEPHOTO ZOOM

[Newguy69]

So the poor man's telephoto lens should be up to the range of 500mm minimum? Primes are too expensive for you i guess, not to mention even a fast one at f2.8!

New guy's suggestion on adding a 1.4x telecon over the 500mm max and plus your cam's 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor (i assume your cam not a FF) that should bring it a little over 1000mm. Get a sturdy tripod as i guess OS is useless when mounted on tripod and you will need the support to arrest cam shake at the longest reach (with or without telecon). A 2x telecon can max out your focal len but be careful of softness and the fact that f-stop shall be doubled the value. Some may not even work with telecon.

As a wild bird photographer you don't take countless shots because most of the time it means no shot. Know the species you are going after and read up about their behaviour and characteristics. Be patience and i believe with a cropped sensor up to 1000mm you may still capture some amazing shots in time to come.

This poor man's lens though may not cost as much as the higher end ones but may cost a lot to some other photographers. You can still use it as a walkabout cam (zoo or JBP) or at airshows.

Yes in birding, reach will determine whether you get a decent size image or a sensor dust size image. The longer your lens focus length, the higher chances you will be rewarded with good shots and lesser chances of spooking your subjects.

When I first got my first DSLR (D50) years back, I used it with a 70-300mm for birding, but I only managed to get very small images of wild birds. Always drooling over the beautiful pics of birds that some of my friends got from their 500mm lenses. Frustrated, I finally sold the lens after using it for less than a month and by chance bought a 3rd hand tamron 200-500mm lens from a birding friend who has upgraded to a 600mm prime. I have been using the tammy for birding ever since and still loving it till today.

Agree, solid support is part of the essential equipment in bird photography. With proper field crafts, you will still able to get good images of birds without stalking tc. Most of my recent pics are taken at 500mm end without tc.

 

[liarliar]

Ha, good for you to get a third hand telephoto lens. For me i have not go into birding yet. 70-300mm is my walkabout cum potrait lens - poor man like me still haven't got a telephoto lens for birding yet.

 

[Newguy69]

Ha, good for you to get a third hand telephoto lens. For me i have not go into birding yet. 70-300mm is my walkabout cum potrait lens - poor man like me still haven't got a telephoto lens for birding yet.

Save save save & BBB :devil:

 

[mahojazz]

hi all, how abt the sigma 50-500mm lens? Is tamron version better in terms of IQ?

 

[kool81]

I wouldn't recommand 2x TC for a telephoto zoom lens unless yours is a f2.8 lens. When using a 1.4x TC for your lens, try to use Aperture Prioxity Mode and stop down to F11, you should be able to get decent images. But of course a solid steady support (tripod, ballhead and if possible with a sidekick) is a must.

Tks for the advice. Got the 2x for my 80-200 2.8 lens. So now stuck with it with my sigma. Pix quality wise was rather soft. Still considering if i wanna get the 1.4x TC. Or saved till I can afford a prime

 

[gunawan]

hi all, how abt the sigma 50-500mm lens? Is tamron version better in terms of IQ?

Hi mahojazz, a lot of bros say the bigma is very sharp, maybe becos of the EX feature that the 150-500 doesnt have. But I dun think I can hand hold at 500mm should I decide to just go out for a leisurely outing without the hassle of lugging a tripod...

Anyone has photos of the bigma handheld shots at 500mm to show?

 

[mahojazz]

Hi mahojazz, a lot of bros say the bigma is very sharp, maybe becos of the EX feature that the 150-500 doesnt have. But I dun think I can hand hold at 500mm should I decide to just go out for a leisurely outing without the hassle of lugging a tripod...

Anyone has photos of the bigma handheld shots at 500mm to show?

Hi thanks for ur reply. Being a sony user and wanting to have HSM features, guess my only option is sigma 150-500mm HSM. But from my research thus far, 50-500mm has better IQ compared to 150-500mm. But i think 50-500mm has better IQ due to the assembly. 50-500 consist of 20 elements in 16 grps with 4 element being SLD, while 150-500 consist of 21 elements in 15 grps with 3 elements being SLD. For me to choose, i will go for 50-500mm although i wont have HSM features. But some bro here recommended the tamron 200-500mm lens as well. i think in terms of IQ, sigma 50-500 and tamron 200-500 are comparable. Next thing to consider will be the price, which sigma 50-500 is more costly than 200-500mm. Now i just hope that Sigma will have an updated version for 50-500mm with HSM feature supported by Sony-mount. Think this will greatly sway me towards sigma 50-500mm. :bsmilie: