300mm upgrade

Hi all,

Don't post here much but responses to threads I've started before have proved to be very helpful so fingers crossed this is the case again today.

Anyway, began as an amateur togger 3.5 years ago with a Canon 550d, 18-55mm kit lens & also got a non IS 70-300mm lens which was £99 at the time. This enabled me to tread the waters, learn the ropes & see if photography was for me.

A few years later & I'm still in love with it, people are liking my work & I'm starting to make some money from it too. I've since upgraded all of my original gear, so now shooting with a full frame Canon 6d instead of the crop, I'm using a 24-105mm instead of the 18-55mm as my workhorse, I've got a 90mm Tamron macro & now a 70-300mm Tamron.

I'm satisfied with all my lenses, with the exception of the 70-300mm which I don't feel is sharp enough (it might be sharp enough to some people, but it's not to me) & so I'm looking into the idea of trading it in & upgrading.

I tend to shoot wildlife with it (whether it's in the wild of in zoos) & aircraft. It needs to at least 300mm on the long end & it needs to have IS. I am not interested in a prime, I need to have that flexibility to zoom.

I'd like to know people's opinions about alternatives - what are the sharpest lenses which would tick my three boxes? Clearly the Canon 70-300mm would be an obvious answer, but I want to know whether there's anything else which runs that close?

I rented a 100-400mm twice last year & was bowled over by the quality, but the weight puts me off using that on a more permanent basis.

The new 100-400 is a fantastic lens but priced high as it's a brand new release. The old one is about the same weight and frankly neither are all that heavy in the scheme of lenses with that combination of reach and IQ.

There's also now the 150-600 options from Tamron and Sigma. All 3 from what I understand are pretty decent lenses, offering the sort of reach you would pay $15k for otherwise for around $1-2k (depending on the lens). All 3 I believe are heavier than either of the Canon 100-400s

smythie wrote in post #17465561
The new 100-400 is a fantastic lens but priced high as it's a brand new release. The old one is about the same weight and frankly neither are all that heavy in the scheme of lenses with that combination of reach and IQ.

There's also now the 150-600 options from Tamron and Sigma. All 3 from what I understand are pretty decent lenses, offering the sort of reach you would pay $15k for otherwise for around $1-2k (depending on the lens). All 3 I believe are heavier than either of the Canon 100-400s

The old 100-400mm is an option in that I'd expect it's price to fall now the replacement is out. Perhaps I'll have to "lump" the weight side.

Yeah the 150-600mm are I suppose the ones I'm interested in to see how close they run the likes of the 300mm/70-300mm/100-400mm Canon's, all going to come down to sharpness.