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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Reviews by Guidenet

Guidenet
For 170-500mm f5.6-6.3 APO in SLR & MFT (micro four thirds) Lenses
Recommended
No
Price
0$
Pros
  • Fairly decent build quality
Cons
  • Soft at most focal lengths, especially above 400mm.
I purchased one of these for about 2 months before selling it and getting the Tamron. I find this lens to be quite soft compared to the Bigma or Tamron zooms. I suppose if you get the bird to fill the frame where you don't need to crop, you'll be ok. Maybe mine was a bad sample, but I'd not recommend it and think there are better choices in this price range.
Guidenet
For SP AF 200-500MM F/5-6.3 Di LD in SLR & MFT (micro four thirds) Lenses
Recommended
Yes
Price
0$
Pros
  • Sharper than any zoom at 500mm in this price range
Cons
  • Lots of plastic
I really love this lens at this price. Sure, I'd rather have a 500 f4 vr Nikkor, but I don't want to afford one. I use this on a tripod and get excellent images at 500mm. Maybe I got a lucky good sample, but I consistantly make nicer, sharper, and more contrasty images than my brother does with the 50-500 Bigma.

This lens is light enough to hand-hold (with good technique) for in-flight birds on sunny days. I use a fast shutter speed of at least 1/1250 sec and let auto-ISO take care of the rest. Much of the time I get very good keepers with a Nikon D300.

Overall, this is a very fun and quality tool for birders on a budget. Highly recommended for owners of cameras with good high ISO charactoristics. Must have in body screw type autofocus, so manual focus only with D40/D40x/D60.
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