Buying the Tamron 150-600 seem logical for only 2 months?

Daughter started her first cheer season which is 2 months long. Currently longest lens in the bunch is 200mm. The only way to get head on shots is from across the field. Severely short changed on the length here. I'm willing to invest around 1100 for a lens to use for a few months.

Options:

100-400 ~1250
150-600 1069 new
rebuy my old kenko 2x (decent copy) for 120 from my friend and use it on my 70-200 (cheapest option)

After the season is over I won't have the need for long so I would just offload the lens. Even if I took a 200 loss on buying the tamron new it's still a cheap rental and gets me what I want: closer shots of my daughter. I'm thinking since it's static shots... ALL the games start in the morning = good light. DOF won't be an issue at 600mm. I'm thinking the Tamron is the way to go but what are my other options here???

Here is a 200mm example of this morning from across the field:

and off topic... the 6D's 4.5FPS kills it's use for sports.

The only other options you are missing are:

Sigma 50-500 OS (good match to the 100-400 and 150-600)
Sigma 150-500 OS (a bit less IQ but also lower price)
Sigma 120-400 (but I would just get the 150-600 then)
Canon 70-300L

(the last is my choice simply due to its very stable price, virtually no loss in funds when you were done, IQ the best out of the bunch I believe so cropping will render more detail for resizing/post processing, lighter and smaller than all the others, but depends if 300mm is enough)

Unfortunately I dislike the sigma OS. After multiple failures on my old 70-200 it's left me with a salty taste.

I actually passed on a 70-300 for 1050 only a year old. Just feel it's too short.

My daughter is a softball player. Every year for the past 8 or 10 years, I bought, on the used market, a 100-400L lens prior to the season and sold it when the season was done. I have not once lost money. Good lenses, appropriately cared for, keep their value. This year I bought a Sigma 150-500 as it was significantly less money and I am in the midst of unemployment. I have compared pictures from the Sigma with ones I took with the 100-400 and, without knowing from being the one who actually took the pictures, I would not be able to tell you which lens was used. In my opinion if you aren't doing extreme cropping, most people can't tell the difference. Poor copies notwithstanding.

maybe a used crop body, and a 1.4TC?

i feel like you're also going to want some sort of shallow DOF to blow out all the distractions in the background...at least i'm always wanting to do that when i photography my nephews sports

I think the Tamron 150-600 is a good option!

also another thought on this...when do you need it? i'm not even sure you can find the tamron anywhere right now, so if it's an immediate need you may be out of luck...

DreDaze wrote in post #16726651
also another thought on this...when do you need it? i'm not even sure you can find the tamron anywhere right now, so if it's an immediate need you may be out of luck...

or rent it for 60 days.
That will run him < $500 for 60 days. Not very economical but..

DreDaze wrote in post #16726651
also another thought on this...when do you need it? i'm not even sure you can find the tamron anywhere right now, so if it's an immediate need you may be out of luck...

ewww. you suck.

first day was today. every saturday for next two months. wanted to order by monday. DOH!

Talley wrote in post #16726591
Unfortunately I dislike the sigma OS. After multiple failures on my old 70-200 it's left me with a salty taste.

I actually passed on a 70-300 for 1050 only a year old. Just feel it's too short.

Then the Tamron won't be much/any better really. They are quite close from the comparisons. My copy is quite good, and matches the IQ from 2 other 100-400Ls that I have purchased in the past and compared side by side.

I picked up the 150-500 for the same reason. I have a few wildlife oriented trips coming up, but renting multiple times was going to add up really quick.

I decided to buy the Sigma 150-500 to keep for about 6 months, then sell it after. I'll keep it if I end up using it a lot, but I figured it's better to have it anytime I want and then sell it vs spend a bunch on rentals and have to return it all the time.

But I'll echo what others have said - the Tamron is pretty darn difficult to find; I bought the sigma after not being able to find the Tamron, and the review are all pretty darn close anyways between all of them.

I may end up picking up a local 300mm 2.8 IS V1. go big or go home right.

Talley wrote in post #16727043
I may end up picking up a local 300mm 2.8 IS V1. go big or go home right.

Nice!

Talley wrote in post #16727043
I may end up picking up a local 300mm 2.8 IS V1. go big or go home right.

If you have the money, spend it! No point compromising!