Originally posted by TTQ225 I am agonizing over the choice of a long tele lens to give me more reach than my 50-135 can provide. I do have M 200/4 which is a very good lens but it requires a lot of patience and preferably a static object to shoot. Forget birds in flight with this one. I love my two DA* lenses and want another one so the choice is between 200, 300 and 60-250. I was considering DA*300 but none of the stores in Vancouver stocks them at the moment and I want to buy it tomorrow. The 200 and 60-250 are available. I like the 200 because it is not too big and heavy, it is fast at f2.8 whereas the other two are f4, is has good IQ and, according to photozone.de, is a full frame lens despite its DA designation. I saw images taken by 60-250 posted here by Lance - they are truly amazing - but I am afraid this honking piece of glass will not suit me as I hate to lug my big Manfrotto around and prefer to travel light.
Thank you for the kind words.
The DA*60-250 is very easily hand held and none of my photos were taken with a tripod. Way too limiting when taking bird shots anyway.
F4 is plenty fast enough as I would rarely if ever want to go less than that because the DOF becomes way too narrow and therefore any slight misjudgement of focus is *very* noticeable.
The DA*60-250 is only 200gms heavier than the DA*200 and it a much more versatile lens. Having said that, the only drawback with the DA*60-250 is that at close Camera to Subject (CTS) distances and set at 250mm, the DA*60-250
is really only about 200mm. The distances I am talking about is from it's closest focusing and then gradually gets towards 250mm at the infinity end of the focus.
This is normal behaviour for a zoom, and to a lesser degree primes, they get shorter in focal length the closer the CTS distance. You may find that the DA*200 at it's closest focus is more like a 180mm, but you would need to check it against the DA*60-250 in store.
Quote: The DA*200 will fit in my Lowepro Toploader 70 bag so I don't have to buy a new bag. Also, if I go out with 16-50 and 200, I can take one lens hood to share between them as they both are 77mm. I have a side lens pouch attached to the bag but it is too narrow and shallow to accommodate the hood even when it's reversed.
One more thing. I have a Tamron TC AF 1.4x converter which works very well on my SDM lenses, so when mounted on DA*200, it will give me 280mm equivalent without much loss of IQ. Now, the price is being considered too. DA*200 costs CDN$1100 and 60-250 is CDN$1900 - quite a difference. So, what do you think? Which one would you choose?
I would choose the zoom, but that is me as it is much more versatile. This may shock you, but the DA*200 may actually not be as sharp as the DA*60-250. I know my FA*80-200 is sharper in the centre than the DA*200, according to Photozone, and I believe that the DA*60-250 may be a bit sharper than the FA*80-200. The DA*200 is has better sharpness edge to edge, but I do not find this as much of an advantage unless you have the propensity to shoot flat subject matter.
Of course, sharpness is not the be all and end all as the DA*200 does have excellent overall IQ, bokeh, colour balance etc, but then so does the FA*80-200 and the DA*60-250.
Quote: On Wed we are going on a trip to Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto and I am thinking of taking three lenses with me - DA*16-50 (don't leave home without it), DA70 Ltd and DA*200. Makes sense?