My Next Lens

Hi After using a cheaper lens (70-300mm Tamron) I've decided to go for a better lens and am debating about what to go with my Canon 10D (it'll be mainly for Wildlife) my thoughts are for the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 or 100-300mm f4 lenses (though I've heard Sigma lenses have a problem on Canons where AF doesn't work!) or Canon's 200mm f2.8 or 300mm f4 lenses. Does anyone have any thoughts on this dilemma. I'm aware I've gone for 4 choices but being a dizzy female its the way I am. I will be buying TC's as well whether one or 2 depending on lens.

thanks

Welcome to the forums, of the lenses you listed, the 300 F/4L IS is the best of the bunch

I haven't heard of any new Sigma lenses having their AF not work - old ones may require re-chipping to be compatible with some new cameras but if you buy one new you shouldn't have any problems.

cazray wrote in post #2133605
Hi After using a cheaper lens (70-300mm Tamron) I've decided to go for a better lens and am debating about what to go with my Canon 10D (it'll be mainly for Wildlife) my thoughts are for the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 or 100-300mm f4 lenses (though I've heard Sigma lenses have a problem on Canons where AF doesn't work!) or Canon's 200mm f2.8 or 300mm f4 lenses. Does anyone have any thoughts on this dilemma. I'm aware I've gone for 4 choices but being a dizzy female its the way I am. I will be buying TC's as well whether one or 2 depending on lens.

thanks

I think 200mm is too short, even for a crop body. I have the Sigma 100-300 and their 1.4x TC and they work really well together. There's a bit of softness out past 390mm or so, but the images are still very good. I've not experienced any focus issues with my copy.

question is, when you use the tamron, what lengths are you at mainly? if it's 250-300, go for the 300 prime. if it's 70-200, go for the 2.8, else, 100-300 is a good matchup. with the 300, a 1.4tc is good, maybe the 70-200 as well. 100-300 you will loose AF unless it's a dumb tc, in which case you'll have to worry about other problems.

Because you are doing lots of wildlife, you might want to think about the 400 f/5.6L which is known for its very fast autofocusing and IQ. Although its slow and lacks IS its a great wildlife lens (especially for birds in flight) and is probably my next purchase.

basroil wrote in post #2133639
with the 300, a 1.4tc is good, maybe the 70-200 as well. 100-300 you will loose AF ...

Autofocus works fine with the 100-300 and 1.4x TC.

No current Sigma lens has AF problems on a Canon body.

Why not the Canon 100-400 IS?

Thanks for the help, just to answer Mr Clean, a lot of photography is in low light (foxes) and other half has 100-400 and it has the obvious speed problems. Hence my looking at f4's or 2.8's.

How about a Tokina 80-400? It won't have quite the sharp IQ that a Sigma 70-200 or any of the Canon primes will, but you absolutely can not beat it for the price.

For wildlife, and depending on your budget, I'd recommend you go with either the Bigma (Sigma 50-500) or the Canon 100-400L or the Tamron 200-500 or the Tokina 80-400 or the SigMonster (300-800). Okay, I threw the last one in for fun.