Helping My Mother buy A New Lens

Hi there, my Mother wants to play catchup with me and is looking for a new lens for her kit,
This is what she has so far
EF-S 15-85
EF-S 100 f2.8 macro
EF-S 55-250

She's not happy with her 55-250 after buying the 15-85, she loves the usm and wants a zoom with usm now,

She's currently on a "I want a photo of a hawk" buzz and looking for somthing to give her a bit more reach and better IQ, but I've warned her that even with my 100-400L i strugle to get good pics of birds and she might be dissapointed with the results she gets with a cheaper telephoto zoom.

So heres the options, she has around $1000NZ to spend but could push a bit further if need be.
Here's the options

70-300 f4-5.6 IS USM $700
70-200 f4 L USM (Non IS) $1100
100-300 f4.5-5.6 USM $700
Tamron AF SP 70-300/4.0-5.6 Di VC USD $630
Sigma 120-400/4.5-5.6 DG APO HSM OS $1260
Sigma AF 70-300/4.0-5.6 DG OS $650

I was in the same boat recently, but it was my mother-in-law looking for the longer lens. I recommended the Tamron 70-300 VC for her wildlife photography, and she has been extremely pleased since picking it up for her 60D. It is a very good lens at a great price.

I used to have the Tamron. Very nice lens. Maybe a little short for birds, but you can never get enough reach for them, and even a little more reach costs a lot more money. I don't have any experience with any of the others on your list, but the-digital-picture probably has reviews of them.

tell her to practice more...there's no significant point to upgrade to one of the 300mm zooms in my opinion...the 55-250 IS is just as capable of getting good shots in the right hands...

How far does the budget stretch? Planning on selling the 55-250mm to fund the next one or keeping hold of it?
http://www.trademe.co.​nz …non/auction-480980799.htm

Preferably get a nice long lens, but its a bit hard to do on a budget. 70-200mm f/4 are going for about the same money, worth getting one and saving up for a 1.4x later on?

The Sigma 150-500 OS is a nice lens. It will definately give her more and better
reach than the 55-250. But will be slightly over the $1000 that your looking for unless
you can find a used until. B&H show it at $969.00 US plus $83.15 for UPS worldwide
supersaver 3-5 business day shipping.

Do a quick seach here in the lense forum will show you lots of good examples from the
lens.

--Evan

$NZ

US dollar at the moment would put that at about NZ$1400 plus the duty once it gets over here too.

Lloydd wrote in post #14523224
$NZ

US dollar at the moment would put that at about NZ$1400 plus the duty once it gets over here too.

Yup. I know, but the exchange rates change, only a couple months ago it
would have been NZ$1200. But he's listing the Sigma 120-400 OS which is
only $60.00 less and isn't as good of a lens.

--Evan

Very true. Depends on the timeframe its wanted in too I guess.
Bit of a pain with shipping and duty costs, there are plenty of goodies that it would be nice to get here from B&H but the savings get killed pretty quick unfortunately

If you're restricted to those choices, then the 120-400 no doubt. Reach is number one in bird photography. If you can find a 150-500 for around the same price, then go for that instead. Forget the 70-200 and 70-300's for birding, they aren't enough.

In saying that, I just noticed one on trademe too. Non-OS though. And its on the North Shore too if you're planning a trip to Auckland any time soon.

http://www.trademe.co.​nz …gma/auction-480390088.htm

I know someone who owns the Sigma 120-400mm and is getting very good results. Since your mother is looking for more reach, that may be an option if she stretches her budget a little. Going from 250mm to 300mm is not much of an increase if she wants to start photographing birds.

It depends what she shoots. If she's shooting a lot outdoors, the 70-200 f4 non-IS is a great lens. If you want to spend a little more, a used 70-200 2.8 IS V I is about as good as it gets for around $1300.

My wife used to shoot with the Canon 55-250 IS as her longest lens but was after something with a bit more reach for wildlife etc. I have a Sigma 150-500 OS which she tried and found was a bit too heavy to be carrying around for long times, so she decided on the Sigma 120-400 OS. It's a fantastic lens, the IQ is excellent and the OS is brilliant. It's just a bit smaller and lighter than mine, but just about right for her.

When you mentioned birds, I voted for the only 400 on your list.

I'd encourage her to spring for the 100-400.