Monster Zoom...

Well, as soon as I thought I'd reached a gear-acquisition plateau (I know, perish the thought), I'm starting to think about getting a really long zoom. Something that'll reach somewhere out to 500mm or 800mm, and not one of the more cheesy mondo-zooms you find on eBay for $199.00. Something of reasonable quality.

Ideally, I'd like to look in the $500.00 to $1,000.00 range.

Suggestions?

Steve

Unfortunately it's going to cost alot more than that.

One thing I would suggest is the 300 f/4 for around $1100

[QUOTE=Steve Parr]reach somewhere out to 500mm or 800mm, and not one of the more cheesy mondo-zooms you find on eBay for $199.00. Something of reasonable quality. Ideally, I'd like to look in the $500.00 to $1,000.00 range./quote]

Tough to beat the Bigma. On a crop body, it's 800mm FOV, and with proper set up, you could get acceptable IQ even with a 1.4xTC (1120mm FOV). For under $1000, it's about as good as it gets.

[QUOTE=fStopJojo]

Yeah, that's what everyone seems to suggest: "Go Bigma" they say. The price is certainly right, I just wanted to see if there were any other suggestions that I may not have thought of...

Steve

Tamron has a 200-500 that is in your price range, but I have no idea what the optical quality is. Sigma also produces a 170-500.

I like my Sigma 50-500 because it has HSM autofocus that allows full time manual override. I use that often for telephoto work. Since I have not used the other lenses mentioned, I do not know how they compare.

I have to agree with Jojo and others, the Sigma 50-500 is easily the best quality lens you will get in that price range. The Tamron 200-500 is not too shabby but it's about the same price as the 50-500. The 50-500 still beats it as it's faster on the focus slightly, and goes much wider also. The only thing IMO better about the Tamron 200-500 is it's lighter. Very hard to beat the quality and value of the Bigma, to get anything better or bigger you have to start talking some serious cash.

I love and drool over thoughts of owning the Sigmonster (theres your 500-800) but it's out of each of my budget limitations, if you can get passed the size/weight/cost issue of this beast it is beautiful. Prime like quality images, maybe the best images I've seen out of any telezoom come from this lens.

As for the Sigma 170-500, not something I'd put on my list. Slow on focus and at 500mm needs to be stopped down to at least f11. Not the sharpest of lenses, for it's price I don't think it's good value but then I'm sure some other people like it/ think it's ok. I did hear of someone that was happy with it, but they bought it secondhand for a fantastic price and didn't expect too much from it. Each to their own though, IMO I'd not buy it.

Anyways, thats my thoughs. I'm going to go back to dreaming and drooling over CDS and Liquids Sigmonster and their images.

A Sigmonster would be great, but as long as I'm dreaming, I'll dream of this: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=126160

Go BIGMA... bought mine on Ebay for $600. I'm very happy with this Bigma since it was in excellent condition. Very sharp lense!!

I believe Steve started this thread not too long after seeing that particular thread that you mentioned.

Sigma's 100-300 f/4 is less than 1 grand.

480 FOV with 1.6 crop.
672 FOV with 1.4 attached at f/5.6.

So it gives you some options.

kwsanders wrote:
I believe Steve started this thread not too long after seeing that particular thread that you mentioned.

Hehehehe... Am I that transparent?

Steve

Bigma,. or Sigmonster,. the Tamron is the only other choice.. the "other" Sigma 500 zoom is pants.. not in the same league as the Bigma.

Here's my Sigmonster review..
https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=1016028#p​ost1016028


Of course there's allways the Nikon 1200-1700mm

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Nope... I just noticed the thread and it stuck with me, because I was thinking the exact same thing after seeing the 1200mm thread.