New Lens - Fao: Quad?

ChristopherP

ChristopherP

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Hullo

I am interested in buying a telephoto zoom lens for my camera, which you probably all know by now (due to me going on and on about it like an obessive kid) is a Nikkon D50.

At the moment i have a "Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G ED" which i got with the camera instead of the kit lens which was out of stock. I am really impressed by this lens and understand it retails at around the £200-£250 mark.

I am looking to buy a telephoto lens for shots where i can not get too close to the subject. I would like the image quality to be similar to the current lens - i'm no expert so don't know whether or not my 18-70 is good in the grand scheme of things, but i'm happy with it so something comparable to this would suit me down to the ground.

Price - i was looking at a Tamron 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Nikon Fit lens for £124.99 and really was wondering if this was any good? If not, what are my other options given a similar price bracket - i'm not going to be anal about a budget, if something for a tad more than that is REALLY worth buying then i'll save up my pennies. Nothing stupidly more expensive though :)

http://www.wokinghamphotographic.co.uk/prdtam70300nik.htm



Now as i said - i'm no expert here - so i dont know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys when it comes to lens makes - the only ones i know of are Nikon, Sigma and Tamron...

I just need a lens with as big a zoom as possible with good image quality and a decent price tag :)

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks all

Chris
 
Chris,

Given your budget you really do not have many choices. Increasing the budget even by 50% will not really give you many choices. The good quality lenses are very expensive, but at the same time, the resolution offered is beyond the capability of the sensor in your camera. When I say this, I mean that high quality lenses are more suited to pro cameras as they can use the full potential of the lens.

I personally would always like to buy the best lenses as any good lens is a good invenstment, the budget however, always comes in the way. Holding off for long periods of time just because you do not have the money now does not mean you cannot enjoy something today. Buy what ever you can afford and later when you have the dough to splash about, get yourself a good lens.

The Tamron you picked is a decent general purpose telephoto as well as having the Macro capability. Not much is written about this lens as this was introduced in the PMA 2006. The user reports will come up soon.

I personally like the Tamron brand more than any other independant lens maker. Tamron has a very good reputation of coming up with great lenses every now and then, they have good quality control and are favoured in Japan by professional photographers as well.

If you like it go for it!
 
I have been looking at this lens also << click

And some photos taken with this lens are here << click

To me, those images are fantastic. You might not agree because your knowledge of these things is far superior to mine.

There is no way i would be able to spend hundreds and hundreds on a lens - and i am aware that by not doing this, the quality of my photos will suffer. But i do feel, however, that i could learn new skills and take some good photos with an "average" class lens.

So it looks like it might be between the Tamron and the Sigma - i have read very good things about the Sigma... but you say you prefer Tamron. I trust you, so it still is looking like the Tamron.

I'm going to try and find some more reviews.

Thanks for your help Quad :) It is as always, much appreciated.




http://www.trekearth.com/photos.php?cat=lens&id=3452
 
Ha - certainly shall do.

I have been talking to the guys on the Nikonians.org forums - and reading what they have to say on the various lenses and aparently the Tamron and Sigma are the two best you can buy in that price range - with some professionals even using the Sigma.

I think they are hinting that the Sigma is the slightly better lens in this case due to the APO thing that eliminates Chromatic Abboration (or whatever that is...) and that puts it just in the lead, so i read.

I might order the Sigma - i think other than the APO the lenses are pretty identical.

I'll do me some more investigatin' then let you know what i ordered :)

Cheers
 
I was pushed in the direction of the "Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO" by the guys at Nikonian...

photo_70_300_apo.jpg


So i ordered this.

It was £169.99 inc next day delivery - which i chose as im going to stay on a farm Friday night, then meet some friends from the USA in Cambridge on Saturday and Sunday... and i figured it might be worth having it delivered by then.

A little more than i would have liked to spend, but c'est la vie, oui?

I'll post some pictures up when i have got it and learned how to use it.

Thanks for the help :P
 
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