300mm lenses

[burgoid]

hey everyone i'm new here, i am getting a 350D within the next couple of weeks:D and was wondering what 300mm lens everyone would suggest. i can get a good deal on the canon 90-300mm USM, i plan to shot bodyboarding shots with it from the beach which will place me about 25-50m away from the subject. i have a budget of about $600AU beacuse i am just starting out and building up my kit. and i know i can always upgrade latter. anyway i was looking at lenses that are sharp quite (for my price range)and either USM or HSM with a max focal lenght of about 300mm.
Cheers Dave

[DocFrankenstein]

I don't know what bodyboarding is... Is this a day sport?

If it is, I'd get 70-200 f/4 L and a 1.4 converter

[burgoid]

lol bodyboarding is where you ride a board on waves like surfing heres apic i took to help you better understand, is the 70-200 a better quality lens?

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

It's a far better quality lens. The AF and sharpness of the lens is a lot better. Lacks on the range a little bit with a max FL of 200mm, but as Doc suggested that can all be fixed with a 1.4x t-con. Go to bhphoto.com and look up the tamron 1.4x t-con. The little black one is only 80 bucks and works pretty well from what I hear.

[burgoid]

i also really want to stary away from TC's as much as possible

[J Rabin]

No-No. Not the 90-300. It has a micro (crappo) USM that will not track an athlete!

Criteria = Cheap. Decent. Entry Level. Focuses fast enough to track sporting events = Canon 100-300 f4.5-5.6 USM.
It's Canon's ONLY zoom with rear element (fast) USM focus in its price range. Can be had used on eBay for about $150-$200 USD +/-. With the money you save, also buy a 58mm circular polarizer for shooting over water and a 58mm UV filter to protect lens element from salt spray. Salt spray likes to "cement" itself to lens elements. Better to use a cheaper lens than ruin a great one for starting out!

If you have lots more money:
do combo Doc F. above says Canon 70-200 f/4 L + TC 1.4x (about $850 USD),
or better, a used Canon 300mm f/4 (about $650 USD)
or Sigma 100-300mm f/4 HSM (about $950 USD)

Hope this opinion helps, J.

[burgoid]

thanks i will look into im off to work now. so if i dont reply till latter tonigh im not being rude ok. lol
-Dave

[condyk]

If you have lots more money:
do combo Doc F. above says Canon 70-200 f/4 L + TC 1.4x (about $850 USD),
or better, a used Canon 300mm f/4 (about $650 USD)
or Sigma 100-300mm f/4 HSM (about $950 USD)


The Sigma 100-300mm f4 is a truly great lens but not for swinging around handheld. If you're mounted on a tripod then beautiful choice. Well above budget tho'.

The 100-300mm Canon is a good, sound cheaper option but you take a substantial quality hit, as you will with other good cheaper options like the Sigma 70-300mm Apo Super II. These are both well within your budget which I think is around £250. I think one or the other will work short-medium term esp. if you get one second hand. Resale is good and you will lose little. You may even make some $'s on resale if you buy at a good price. I think this time I'd go for the Canon first.

The Canon L 70-200 f4 is a lovely lens and if you think 200mm is realistic for what you want then for handling and quality it is top choice. I dunno about the TCon option tho'. It'll work well only if you have good light, which looks likely in your situation. Well above budget tho'.

[burgoid]

the canon 100-300 does seem alot better then the 90-300 ill see wat kind of deal the can do for me if i get it with the rest of the gear ;)
thanks guys

[DocFrankenstein]

I have never seen the 100-300 canon lens, so I can't comment on that.

The reason I'm suggesting 70-200 is the overall piece of kit will be more versatile IMO. It's gonna work for bodyboarding, AF will be fast enough during the day with the converter... and you won't notice image degradation with the 1.4 converter.

You'll also have insanely sharp f/4 zoom for lower light levels. But you'll have to stretch your budget if you want extra quality :)

[Andy_T]

Also take a look at this thread:
Initial results from the 300 mm shootout (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=78099)

Doesn't show the 90-300, but the others.

Best regards,
Andy

[burgoid]

thanks guys know i just have to look around and see who can do it the cheapest for me. :)

[Mitcon]

I'd take the above advice, but the Canon 100-300 can be bought for around $650 aussie dollars. It's a hard spot to be in as you can buy several brand 300mm Zooms for under $600 here in Australia but they are all at the lower quality/consumer end of the market. I have one of the canon 75-300mm usm lenses and it works ok but I don't find it any faster than a standard lens to be honest.

It's also not the sharpest either, If you want something 300mm and tack sharp you may just have to save longer and pay a bit more. The 70-200 f4 L is around $1,400-$1,500 and the Tcon around $300 in Australia. Maybe look around 2nd hand if you want something for now till you can afford better. I've seen the slightly older 75-300 IIusm 2nd hand for under $200. As said the usm in these is the micro usm, which doesn't give you FTMF either. Also I think the newer 90-300 has a plastic mount also.

[burgoid]

arrrrggggggg guys why do you have to make this harder then it already is. lol.:)
i would really like the 70-200mm L, and if camera house can give me a good tax free price ( as im going overseas soon) i would seriously consider it but if not it is out of my budget. as i am new to DSLR i am happy to go with the 100-300 and upgrade latter on if i need to.
ps. just checked out the 70-200 on ebay and theres a couple for $900 icl. shipping might look a bit more into that.:)

[Roy P]

I have the 100-300 USM and I found that I had to stop down to around f11 for optimum, if light levels allow fast enough shutter speed it could work for you. Found focus speed to be fast no problems there.

[ron chappel]

I'm the guy who did the 300mm zoom shootout linked above.
Forget the 90-300.I owned one once and it was pretty lousy,it gave even softer pics than the cheapo canon 75-300 lens.

J-rabin and others above got it right. About the only lens that fits all your criteria is the canon 100-300 usm.There are other consumer 300mm zooms that are as sharp but none have very fast focus you'll need for bodyboarding.
I've only done bodyboarding once -coincidentally with the 100-300usm:)- and even it's high speed focus doesn't allways keep up (this shot is abit rear focused because of that)-
http://members.dodo.net.au/~l8r_ron/pages/ef%20100-300%20usm%20%5B94k%5D.html

The sigma 70-300Apo is very nice (IF you can get a sharp one :( ) but the focus is kinda slow.
The tamron 70-300 LD is very sharp at the long end but the focus is just too slow.

The other option of course is a 70-200/4L Pro lens with a 1.4x extender added as others have recommended ,but this will completely blow the budget (it does even without the extender).
One very good option not discussed much is the sigma 100-300/4 EX .it's about as good as the Pro canon lenses but is also costly.

If you can't stretch the budget to one of those then the canon 100-300usm is your best choice.
By the way-don't pay australian retail price for it! shop around abit or buy a perfect mint secondhand one on ebay for about au$350<

[burgoid]

thanks for that ron. i see you are around noosa you wouldnt happen to have on of those mint condition second hand ones would:-o as i am in buderim;). buying off ebay is there anything i should be aware of, hiw do you tell if the lens is in mint cond.
cheers dave

[burgoid]

hey ron i was checking out your albums, you have a few rodeo pics got any of Joe natoli's ride. lol

[Keiffer]

Ron that's a great shot with the 100-300, I didn't realize they were that sharp.

[ron chappel]

Not sure who Joe Natoli is Burgoid. I don't really do rodeo seriously,it's just abit of fun for me :)
If you want a good shot of Joe there is a pro who does all the local rodeos.Her name is jenny Dyer .Nice lady.You can find here at cooloola colour graphics of gympie.
Sorry no, i have none of this model lens at the moment.
Generally when buying this model secondhand they are reasonably consistant -they don't vary much from example to example.Electronically they are pretty much super reliable (like all modern cameras and lenses ).
So that leaves cosmetoics and age.Try to find out the true age of the lens you are buying because this one has been made unchanged since 1991'ish .
Buy from a seller that has good clear pics and decribes the lens honestly! When new or in mint condition this lens will be extremely clean and glossy looking.
Actually there is no problem at all in buying one that has small marks on it but you can easily afford a perfect one so you may as well :)


Keiffer -that shot has lot's of medium size detail in it-pics like that allways tend to look sharp even when they aren't.The same thing happens with hair when taking pics of humans,cats and dogs,etc
So it's not really a good representation of what the lens can do -allthough it is a good example of what it will be like with bodyboarding









edit* Just had a look on oz epay and there is only one lens there.Just a few weeks ago there were heaps of them ! (just as i was selling mine, lol)

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4687&item=7529101013&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[burgoid]

ron joe natoli is the maroochy shire mayor who broke one of his vertebrate doing a publicty stunt at one of the local rodeo's. if you live on the coast i dont no how you couldnt know about it. lol

[burgoid]

hey ron with that shot how far were you from the subject and what was the focal lenght

[ron chappel]

Hahaha,good one about the publicity stunt :)

Just roughly -i think i was about 20 meters back ,likely standing in the shallow water(?)
Also i'm sure i cropped it abit too so it's probably not usefull info-too many uncertainties...:(