BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="wavering" data-source="post: 1488869" data-attributes="member: 67056">Good guess! Next door ...I am a little (OK, a lot) disappointed to discover that the expensive lens I have just bought is measurably worse than using the TeleVue-85 as a "digiscope". On the other hand, using the TeleVue-85 is very slow as you have to use manual focus and exposure and it is fixed - there is no zoom.Still, the Sigma 50-500mm is in turn measurably better than the Panasonic FZ28 (and damn well should be as it costs ten times as much) and is easy to use. It was bought to take photos of ships off my balcony using a tripod and it will fulfill that function.Actually, on reflection, the TeleVue-85 is a very high quality piece of kit (it costs more than the Sigma lens) and in general a fixed lens is always going to be better than a zoom because it is optimised at just one focal point rather than having to perform over a large range of values. So, the TeleVue ought to be better and it is!So, knowing what I know now would I still have bought the Sigma? On balance, yes. A fixed lens never really works with large objects like ships (birds, maybe) unless thay are several miles away (otherwise you get half a ship) in which case haze is a bigger factor than lens quality. So, Sigma 50-500 zoom it is ...</blockquote>