recommendations, thoughts required please (1 Viewer)

[shrek48]

I have a Nikon D7200 and have just found out my Tamron 150-600 lens has died.
My ideal lens would be the new PF 500 but I cannot justify the expense as my birding now is very limited due to disability.
I now take a lot of pictures from my window of my feeder maybe 10 m away and intend to get a scooter to visit the odd reserve when pain and weather allow ;-)

I have looked and seen many lenses but what would i not be wasting my £1000 or under budget on??? Sigma has been recommended by an indy repair shop who does not sell lenses... so maybe worth a thought..

Nikon 200-500
Sigma 150-600 sport
Nikon 300
Sigma 400

All available at under or around my budget but which would be best ? do you have any other recommendations?
Would prob get a 1.4 tc too

TIA

 

[njlarsen]

Not an opinion but food for thought: at which zoom levels did you use the Tamron? If you have mostly zoomed in fully, then I would probably exclude the 300 unless you also add a 2x tc, simply because you would be missing reach. However, if most of your photos are around the 300 on the tamron, then the 300 would probably be fine and use the 1.4 tc for the remaining times.

Hope this helps
Niels

 

[shrek48]

Thanks NJ Larsen,
I rarely use anything other than 600 ... I thought about a 300 with a tc 2x or 400 sigma but wondered about image quality, some say it is not as sharp others say it is no problem.
Any thoughts on a 200-500 with a1.4 tc ???

 

[Chosun Juan]

Shrek - can I ask in what way your Tamron 'died' ? (The G1 I'm assuming ?)

I have heard of some focus issues (hunting) developing at the extremities (ie. @150mm and @600mm) after many years flawless service. I'm not sure how common that is, or what it costs to get fixed. One option I have heard of for that is to just operate it between 200mm - 550mm. This sharpens up the IQ as well.

Do you shoot in the 1.3x in-camera crop mode ? (mostly useful for action shots).

The PF 500 f5.6 is certainly a fantastic lens. Next step down is still the G2 Tamron 150-600 I feel. The Nikon 200-500, and the Sigma Sports are big heavy and/or expensive beasts.






Chosun :gh:

 

[shrek48]

Tamron died due to autofocus and fungus caused bt condensation, despite being in a "tuff" case with foam etc and well cared for, the quote was £560 + to repair, I can but another one for that ;-)
I will now strip it my self (nothing to lose) and see what I can do ;-) if it works, great, If it does not , then not lost anything ;-)

 

[Chosun Juan]

Tamron died due to autofocus and fungus caused bt condensation, despite being in a "tuff" case with foam etc and well cared for, the quote was £560 + to repair, I can but another one for that ;-)
I will now strip it my self (nothing to lose) and see what I can do ;-) if it works, great, If it does not , then not lost anything ;-)

Thanks for the info.
Perhaps before stripping it you could see what it would be worth as a trade-in on a G2.
One of the big improvements from the G1 to the G2 Tamron 150-600 was the weather-sealing and quality.
It is able to be fine tuned to your specific camera body at various lengths, and is purpose designed to take the Tamron 1.4xTC which will AF.
It is also a handy 0.3kg (2/3lb) lighter than the Nikon 200-500.



Chosun

 

[shrek48]

Thanks for the info.
Perhaps before stripping it you could see what it would be worth as a trade-in on a G2.
One of the big improvements from the G1 to the G2 Tamron 150-600 was the weather-sealing and quality.
It is able to be fine tuned to your specific camera body at various lengths, and is purpose designed to take the Tamron 1.4xTC which will AF.
It is also a handy 0.3kg (2/3lb) lighter than the Nikon 200-500.



Chosun

Thanks , excellent idea.