Suggestions on 500mm

Xcom · 11-04-2009, 10:08 AM

I am looking for some suggestions on reaching 500mm. For under 1000. So far all that I have been able to find seems to be the 50-500 and 150-500 sigmas. From the reviews that I have been able to find the quality of the 400mm lenses leave a lot to be desired.

Lowell Goudge · 11-04-2009, 10:44 AM

I have 2 options, which I have posted lots of photos in the past. on the used market both will be less than your target.

option 1

SMC 300MMF4 plus 1.7x AF TC

Option 2

Sigma APO 70-200 F2.8 EX (first version not DG and not Macro) plus Sigma APO 2x DG teleconverter.

Both work very well, but with option 2 the zoom lens, bing quite fast on its own is useful for lot's of things

Photos from option 1
K7 in natural light at 1/40th of a second, 100% crop of much larger image

*istD with flash stopped down a couple of stops,

Option 2

K10D full image resized to post

K7 with flash

Ben_Edict · 11-04-2009, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Xcom

I am looking for some suggestions on reaching 500mm. For under 1000. So far all that I have been able to find seems to be the 50-500 and 150-500 sigmas. From the reviews that I have been able to find the quality of the 400mm lenses leave a lot to be desired.

Apart from Lowell's suggestion of the combo 70-200/2.8+tc (which I also have and love), I can also recommend the 50-500, which is a very capable lens, but affords some getting used to.

That you have heared, that 400mm lenses are less well reputed, takes me by surprise. For well under 1000 USD you will find a secondhand Pentax A 400/5.6 in good condition (at KEH perhaps) and this lens is excellent in any respect: super-sharp, high contrast etc. It is even handholdable, though you will get the best sharpness with any long lens from using a tripod or at least a monopod. Also the Sigma Apo 400mm lenses have a strong reputation, but I cannot comment from my own (lack off) experience on these. But for well below 1000 USD you could get the AF version of the Sigma Apo and that might be worth a thought.

Ben

Xcom · 11-04-2009, 03:19 PM

I was talking about the sigma 400mm lenses. Not pentax's.