 Penny |
Which Sigma lens for my D80 I have a Nikon d80, love it. I want to get a tepephoto lens that goes to 500. (well actually I would love a bigger one but my pocket book won't let me) The 2 I am looking at are the Sigma 50-500 and 170-500. The 170-500 doesnt come with the HSM. Will not having that reduce my focasing time by a lot? Will the bird fly away before my camera focuses? From what I read Sigma seems to be pretty good. Am I right? Thanks!
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Pete H |
Hello Penny, Might I suggest TWO lenses that might cover the range you are interested in. I have yet to see ANY single lens that will cover such a wide excursion and give pleasing results. I'm sure others will chime in and probably agree. My fav analogy: It's like installing bias ply retread tires on a Ferrari. Question for you. Why do you need or desire anything beyond 300mm? Optically poor glass (lenses) are 9 times out of ten the chief reason many photographers are unhappy with their images. Case in point: I recently purchased the Nikon D-300..what a great camera! I bought a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 prime several months ago for 110 dollars. IT BLOWS AWAY THE 18-200 hands down insofar as sharpness, contrast and color accuracy w/o abberations or distortions! So, my advice?..Look to lenses with less focal length excursion. Not sure what your lens is now, but I'd bet a lunch that if you make the minimal investment in Nikon's 50mm; it will renew your interest in photography and impart to you a whole new understanding on what a great lens is capable of...it's as though you have new glasses and seeing 20/20. Remember; no one lens can do it all. all the best, Pete
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Todd Bennett |
Penny, I can't tell you which lens is the correct one for you. All I can do is give you my experience with one of the lenses you mentioned. I have the Sigma 50-500 for my D70S. It has gotten good reviews. I don't feel this lens is made with "optically poor glass" as Pete is alluding to. It is very sharp throughout the full range of zoom. You might want to look up both lenses on dpreview.com and Ken Rockwell's site to see if they have reviewed these lenses. I must say I love the lens. The biggest thing you need to think about with the lens is that it weighs 4 lbs. You won't be doing a lot of handheld shots with it. At minimum you will need a monopod. And a tripod needs to be used whenever you can. The weight is also a factor when walking around, hiking through the woods, etc. The only trouble I have had with the lens is the creep lock broke and the lens wouldn't zoom in or out and it had to be sent off for repair. Now to make sure that doesn't happen I first make sure that the lens is full retracted before engaging or disengaging the creep lock. Hope this helps.
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John G. Clifford Jr |
The Sigma 50-500 'Bigma' is a pretty sizeable hunk of glass, although it is pretty sharp. I dunno if I'd want to lug one around with me, although I know a very good photographer who pretty much uses only this lens... and puts up with the weight and bulk for the flexibility he gets with it. What he gives up for that focal length range is an open aperture... f/5.6 as a max aperture is pretty limiting. However, based on his images the 50-500 is a pretty sharp lens, certainly much sharper than the Nikon 18-200 VR (as well as Sigma's 18-200 OS). A D80 has an APS-sized sensor, so a 500mm lens on it provides the same relative magnification as an 800mm lens does on a full-frame 35mm film camera... or about 16x magnification. That's a lot of magnification. Really, that long a focal length is suited only for special circumstances. Look at my gallery, and note that the first two images were taken with a 300mm lens... the baseball image was taken from over 100 yards away, while the second image (the Thunderbird pilot) was taken from about 50 yards. You can see that there isn't a lot of room for error there. In short, I think a 300mm lens on an APS sensor-equipped camera is sufficient for all but the most specialized use... and you can add a 1.4x teleconverter to get a 420mm f/5.6 lens for $150 more. BTW, my 300/4 lens is tack-sharp, and I got it for under $300.
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