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Super lenses (1 Viewer)

Andrew Marrison

Active member
I have finally jumped into the DSLR pond after months of procrastinating, and got me a canon eos 350d, with the bog-standard 18-55mm lens.
As I hope to shift into wildlife photography I am looking to get a bigger lens. the 135-400mm sigma lens looks promising, with the possibility of a 1.4, or 2x convertor. Bit pricy, am going to a specialist tomorrow to test them out.
In the meantime I paddled through e-bay for lenses, and came across the OPTEKA lens, 650-1300mm with a 2x converter for less than £200.

As a novice, I need to know

1) Is this just too big?
2) Would the image quality be truly awful in most light settings (bearing in mind I live in the highlands of Scotland and have only heard rumours of sun/summer!)
3)Would I need to set the camera in concrete first to avoid the shakes

All advice gratefully received
 
Henry B said:
Andrew, where is the specialist optic dealer your going to,anywhere near Elgin ?...hb
Not especially. I am takink a wee run up the north coast, and stopping in at Ffordes in Beauly. Never been before but they have a good reputation, and come recommended.
Will let you know after tomorrow if you're interested
 
Andrew Marrison said:
Not especially. I am takink a wee run up the north coast, and stopping in at Ffordes in Beauly. Never been before but they have a good reputation, and come recommended.
Will let you know after tomorrow if you're interested
I have a look at their web site ,prices seem to be ok.let me know how you get on..hb
 
In general you get what you pay for with lenses - a cheap lens will not be of the same quality as an expensive one. The OPTEKA lens that you mentioned would certainly need to be on a tripod and at that lenght would need good light. I would suspect that you would not be pleased with the results you'd get, I've heard bad reports of these lense.

The Sigma 135-400 is a nice lens with a good range. If you use it with tc's it will not auto focus with the 2x, but will with the 1.4x so long as the light is reasonable (in low light it tends to hunt a bit). I have recently changed to a prime lens so am selling my Sigma 135-400 as I no longer use it - might be of interest.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=38537
 
Another hgood lense is the Bigma (Sigma 50-500) you should consider this lense... its very cheap and sharp for the money and the range is fabulous!
 
photo_luver said:
Another good lense is the Bigma (Sigma 50-500) you should consider this lense... its very cheap and sharp for the money and the range is fabulous!

I'd agree that the Sigma 50-500 is a good lens, but at ~2.5x the cost of the 135-400 it may well be outside the budget...
 
I've visited their shop once and purchased mail order from them twice, as their prices were very competitive, and had no problems whatsoever. They are also very helpful when you speak to them on the phone.

I now have the Sigma 135-400 and it's a good lens for the price. I had the 50-500 and, although a good lens, it weighs a ton.

Although the converters are not strictly compatible with the 135-400, they can be used if you don't have it at the 135 end, as the lenses crash together. I have used a 1.4x with my lens with reasonable results.
 
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Popped into Ffordes today (before I read Anthops' links) and came away with a sigma 170-500, second hand in excelent nick for £300). Think I will wait a bit before thinking about a converter.
Have to say that the staff were very helpfil and knowledgable, but as I am a complete novice, and was spending money, I will reserve judgement.
Thanks to everybody for the advice, hopefully will post some photos soon (as soon as photography/birding skills are up to scratch, so 2009 then!)
 
Andrew Marrison said:
Popped into Ffordes today (before I read Anthops' links) and came away with a sigma 170-500, second hand in excelent nick for £300). Think I will wait a bit before thinking about a converter.

That's a nice lens, I'm sure you get some great shots with it - I look forward to seeing them in the gallery.

As for converters I'd say that the 1.4x woudl be ok - auto focus will hunt in low light, but it's fine for manual focusing. The 2x is not great with this lens I found that it was not very easy to get decent shots manually focusing.
 
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