Originally posted by richard0170 I find the Tamron Ad 2 SP 54B 300mm f5.6, meets all my needs at this FL. I paid about £75 for one a couple of years ago, which included a tripod collar, which is desirable as the lens is quite heavy. It focuses pretty close too, so is good for chasing nervous bugs
That is one I would suggest. Most of the ones in the market at present don't have the collar. I have a chance in next day or two to look at a 54B, so if I buy it then I will test it on Sunday, along with another prime that I will be looking at from same seller, M200mm/f4.
I have the SP 60-300mm zoom, and I think it's the sharpest 300mm in my kit, sharper than the Pentax 55-300mm PLM, but twice the weight. Macro is 1:1.55, which is pretty good, and you can keep far enough distance to not scare things. The zoom is a SP lens, so may be sharper than the Adaptall-2 300mm prime, and it is same max aperture at 300mm (unless you want to be really picky, then the zoom at 300mm is f5.4, the prime is f5.6)..