Sigma 100-300 vs. Canon 300/f4 vs. Canon 100-400 (1 Viewer)

[lfjj]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and need help to complete my purchase of a lens I will use for wildlife, birds and motorsports.

I have come down to the three in the title, and I am afraid of not having a zoom lens but the 300/f4 seems like such a nice lens, with a TC as well. The Sigma have gotten great reviews and I've looked on both Flickr and 500px for pictures and I am impressed by how sharp it is. If they weren't sharp it might be user fault so can't really make a decision on that.

Then there's the 100-400 which is the most expensive one and it also have good reviews, but alot of people complain it's soft at 400 wide open and needs to be stopped down to around f/8. Could be bad copies, could be user fault or could be that it's actually soft on some batches, I've read after 2007 or 2008 Canon fixed something on this lens.

My camera is a Canon 60D.

What do you guys suggest? Please post upon your experiences, I don't want to read posts where people say "well the canon should be better than the sigma" when they haven't tried the Sigma.

Thanks.

 

[postcardcv]

I have owned all three of these lenses and still have the 100-400 - in my opinion it is plenty sharp enough when shot wide open at any focal length. I would happily use a 300 f4 IS again, it is very sharp and the close focus makes it great for butterflies and dragonflies. Y 100-300 f4 was disappointingly soft wide open and needed to be stopped down for good results. Also the while the AF was fine in good light it was slow and struggled to lock on in low light.

 

[Tarsiger]

lfjj

I tried the 300 f4 and its a cracking lens but a fixed 300 just didn't cover my needs and I only had enough money for one lens, ostensibly for birding. I chose the 100-400 which is a great all-round lens. Yes, it's not as pin sharp as the 400f5.6 but is a lot more versatile. I've had pictures from this lens published (and I'm sure many, many others have too) so it can't be that bad!! The fact is that if this lens is not good enough for your needs then you will have to go to £5k+ L series lenses!

With the birding/volunteering I do I come into contact with many camera users and the 100-400 is by far away the commonest 'affordable' lens I see on a variety of Canon bodies.

My experience with short(ish) Sigmas zooms is only with people who have sold them on for either Canon or Nikon near-equivalents although I'm sure plenty of people will follow on here praising them.

If possible maybe try hiring lenses for a couple of days to take the guesswork out of your final decision.

Rus