Photography Thailand Forum

[Paul Whitehead]

I wonder if anyone has any experience woth big glass (500 mm) and can offer me any advice?

I use Nikon, and wanted something with a bit of reach for birds and that would work well with teleconvertors (this put many zooms out because the AF would be slow with the TC).

I looked at the Nik 500 and 600. The 600 offered considerble reach but was just too big and heavy fo my uses. The 500 was nice, no "IS" but the price is exhorbitant.

I then looked at the canon 500, in the states its 5200 US (costs 2000 US more in Thailand) - thats considerably cheaper than the Nikon, has IS and I could just about buy a good canon body with the price difference over the nikon 500.

But my upcoming trip to the states got cancelled. So I looked at prices in the region (HK and Sing) but nobody could get near the US price.

At the moment I thinking of the Sigma 500 HSM because its a) available b) has a nearly (not quite) equivalent AF speed and sharpness and c) is cheaper and available.

Can anyone offer any advice on 500 primes and buying them??

[Chris Savery]

I can't help you myself Paul but there are many sports shooters over at fredmiranda.com (in the sports or gear talk forums) who use these lenses and I've often read through their posts. Usually lots of good info there from people who seem to know about that stuff.

Chris :)

[antonie]

I understand Nikon will be releasing a 500mm F2.8 VR shortly

[Paul Whitehead]

Thats intersting. They need to bring out something as canon has romped away in this area (as in many others). Still it will be ridicuously expensive i am sure.

I plumped for Sigma at 164,000. Sill 86,000 cheaper than the "old" nikon. You never know, if anyone is interested, my sigma may be for sale at 120,000 if Nikon hold the 250k price on the new one.

[Regis Madec]

Paul,

f2.8 lenses will be expensive.

In Hong Kong
Nikkor 500mm f8 is 5300 HKD but certainly too slow for birds.
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BCCV

Maybe you can consider AF-S 300mm f/4.0 IF-ED (7000 HKD) and use a teleconverter.

Regis

[Gary Dublanko]

Paul,

Have you considered the Nikon 200-400 f/4.0 VR? I looked at this lens at Niks a few weeks ago. It's a superb lens, has great reviews and costs about 230 K. I'm planning on picking this lens up while in Canada in June where it is available for 198 K. I'll be using it with a 1.4 teleconverter.

[antonie]

Gary, you are correct that this is a great combination, I have seen many positive reviews on it.

[Paul Whitehead]

Many thanks for all the advice, it is VERY much appreciated.

I did look at the 300 but plus the 1.4 and with the D2x crop factor it did not give the me reach I truely wanted. The 200-400 was high on my mind but it was a tad expensive for what I wanted. I say this coming from the 80-400 (which has frustrated me greatly for this particular use) which does not compare but the "400" part was causing me serious limitations on the reach I wanted.

I also seriously considered the Sig 300-800 but was wary of its physical size.

I put a 50% deposit on the Sig 500 today after carefully reviewing a lot of shots (on the web) taken with it.

Saying this I will be 100% honest and if my trip to the states had come off, considering the prices and the pound exchange rate (I am a Brit for all my sins), I would have plumped for the Canon 500 f4 IS and a 5d (for the lack of noise at high ISO even though the cop factor would not have been ideal for me). Buying the 5D in Thailand and the 500 in the States.

I also wanted to wait to see if Nikon brought out anything I could afford but in the end I thought better to jump now than wait.

It could be an ultimately costly mistake but I am very much warming to the way Sigma is heading and reading about their quality of late.

I am still not 100% sure I have made the right choice but I promise to share the results with you all irrespective of the outcome.

[antonie]

great, love to see the pics

[antonie]

Paul, have a look at this link;
http://www.outbackphoto.com/reviews/equipment/Nikon_VR_80_400/Nikon_VR_80_400_TC_14A.html
Regards
Antonie

[Paul Whitehead]

Have been out of Thailand for a while and having now returned have just had my first couple of mornings out with Sigma 500 and so far I am really happy with the choice although I would be the first to admit, my long lens technique needs a bit more work and polishing.

Its surprisingly easy to manipulate considering its size and I have hand held it already, including with a 1.4 teleconvertor. Working off a tripod and a bean bag are easy but carrying it all (tripod, camera, lens and head) around is NOT easy and a 5 km trek with it all had me wondering if I would be hospitalized before the end of it. The will be NO more treks with it!! The autofocus is crisp and sweet, even in low light and mounting with a Nikon 1.4 telecon shows no noticable difference in speed. Adding the 2x was another story - I could not get a focus lock at all.

here are some samples (not great as I am still toying and learning)

Handeld (with 1.4x) example: http://www.whiteheadimages.com/stock/v/Birds/thailandjunexyz11.jpg.html

Bean bag (with 1.4x) example: http://www.whiteheadimages.com/stock/v/Birds/birdsofthailand3411.jpg.html

Tripod example: http://www.whiteheadimages.com/stock/v/Birds/birdsofthailand349.jpg.html

The tripod example when cropped shows a crispness that is not in the other two but this is a technique issue as there was a hell of a lot more light for the shot that the other two.

I will be off for a longer, more indepth, practice this weekend and hopefully get something a little nicer

Note: images updated on June 13 because of changes to my website urls

[antonie]

Paul, great pictures, as you say the challenge is carring such heavy kit around. I must say that some of them are really stunning especially the colour.
Thanks
Antonie

[Paul Whitehead]

Yes, colour is quite vibrant - I was a little worried about this as some of the older models (according to what I had seen on net pics) seemed quite washy.

One nice little extra about the sigma is the drop in filters (UV and Pol) are supplied with the camera. The polarizor is excellent but can only be used in bright light (i.e the grey heron shot). Its quite interesting to be adjusting the polarizor as part of the lens (ie its built into the camera next to where the aperuture ring is).

[Paul Whitehead]

Well now I have had time to play with the lens and get my technique down pat. IMHO this lens is as good if not better than the current nikon offering. If I were a Canon user, the canon has IS, so its better, no discussions necessary.

But as a Nikon user, over 3000$ less than the nikon product, and I cannot fault it, technically, in anyway.

Antonie - I own the 80-400 so I took the advice of the link and tried it with the 1.4 last week, and it would not AF unless conditions were perfect (and then only slowly).