Looking to upgrade (1 Viewer)

[Evan Atkinson]

Hey all, I’m getting a new lens at the end of my school year, and I’m trying to figure out what I want. At the moment I have a 75-300mm EF with a Canon EOS 700d, and I would like something with a bit more zoom. My budget is under £1000. Options I was looking at are

Sigma 150-600 f5.6-6.3 (Canon Fit)

Canon EF 400mm f5.6 I usm (or the f4 variety if I can find one)

All in all I’m looking for a lens with good reach (400-600mm) that will fit my camera body. I am aware that I will need to change to a new body soon and upgrade that. Any suggestions of lenses that suit this will be greatly appreciated. Again my budget is under £1000.

Cheers
Ev

 

[Owen Krout]

Hi Ev, I am currently using a 7D, but I do have both the Sigma 150-600mm & a Canon EF 400mm F4. The Sigma is a very good lens for the money. Not quite as sharp as the Canon EF 400mm f5.6 or f4, but close. I find that at least on the 7D the autofocus works better on the Canon, but I have gotten many great inflight shots with the Sigma. I am commonly using a 1.4 extender on the Canon 400 f4 that I recently bought used and it makes for a great lightweight, relatively compact birding lens. The only real negative I have with the Sigma is that it is a beast to carry around for an extended time. Heavy and bulky.

I originally did have a Canon 400 f5.6 and I would definitely say the f4 is worth the extra cost. At one point I had a Canon 100-400mm mk1 that I traded in to "upgrade" to the Sigma which I probably should have just kept or upgraded to the current version. I occasionally miss the versatility of having the zoom.

 

[leonardo_simon]

Hi Ev — how did the renting go? was that a useful exercise?

 

[Evan Atkinson]

Hi Ev — how did the renting go? was that a useful exercise?

It went really well, I still need to get my trip report posted but I managed some nice pictures with it (to my standard anyways) and I was able to AF with that lens setup on the camera body. I was wondering if the canon ef 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6l is ii usm with a 1.4x extender would AF with my camera body. The max aperture would be f8, would that work or not?