Help with telephoto lens

[cabledog]

Okay so I'm starting a photo project soon that requires me to get a flexible zoom lens at least to 300mm. Here are the few I'm considering and if anyone has any suggestions let me know. What do you guys think of these?

1)Sigma dl macro super 70-300
2) Nikkor 75-300mm
3) Tamron 70-300mm macro

 

[Paul Howell]

Sigma made three 70 to 300s, the bottom of the line non APO, the APO red ring and VR APO versions. I have the non APO in Sigma SA mount, came as a kit along with a 28 to 80 and SA7 camera body, optically good, AF is very slow, small motors. I also have the APO version in Minolta A mount, and Sigma SA mount. The Minolta version is gear driven while the Sigma is micro motor driven. Both are very good with color, a little soft at 300, but ok up to a 8X10. The gear driven Minolta Mount version is fast on my Minolta 9 and 800Si and digital Sony A900, slower on entry level bodies. The micro motor driven Sigma SA mount is faster than the non APO, but not lighting fast. I do not have an VR model so can't comment. I assume you are going to shoot on a Nikon body. Don't know if you are looking at a gear driven or micro motor body, might make a difference with AF speed.

 

[narsuitus]

Are you also considering 100-400mm zoom lenses?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have used the Tamron 28mm to 300mm AF zoom lens since 2003 and within the same range it is indistinguishable from my Nikon 28mm to 200mm AF zoom lens.

 

[cabledog]

Possibly up to 400mm but I want to stay within $120 budget and nothing that is going to be super tough to lug around. The size of the nikkor is swaying me away from it but was my first choice. They will all likely be shot at max focal length to get candid shots

 

[cabledog]

I'm actually using all manual focus

Sigma made three 70 to 300s, the bottom of the line non APO, the APO red ring and VR APO versions. I have the non APO in Sigma SA mount, came as a kit along with a 28 to 80 and SA7 camera body, optically good, AF is very slow, small motors. I also have the APO version in Minolta A mount, and Sigma SA mount. The Minolta version is gear driven while the Sigma is micro motor driven. Both are very good with color, a little soft at 300, but ok up to a 8X10. The gear driven Minolta Mount version is fast on my Minolta 9 and 800Si and digital Sony A900, slower on entry level bodies. The micro motor driven Sigma SA mount is faster than the non APO, but not lighting fast. I do not have an VR model so can't comment. I assume you are going to shoot on a Nikon body. Don't know if you are looking at a gear driven or micro motor body, might make a difference with AF speed.

 

[Paul Howell]

My only experience with Sigma lens has been their AF lens. The 70 to 300 AF red ring has a large manual focus collar easy to focus in MF. But for the money I would go for the DL, AF speed is not so much of an issue.

 

[jimjm]

A friend used the 75-300 4.5/5.6 Nikkor as her "walking-around" lens for a few years, attached to an N90s body. She's petite but I never heard her complain about the weight/size. The lens seemed to be really well built - much more than a lot of the later AF zooms.

I scanned quite a few slides she took with this lens and was pretty impressed with the sharpness and image quality.

 

[ac12]

The Nikon 75-300 is a push/pull zoom. Mine is sticky on both ends, meaning that I need to use extra force to get it to move from the end positions. This makes it a PiA to use for sports. For sports, I want smooth with NO sticking.
I've only manually focused with the lens a few times, but it seems fine.

 

[cooltouch]

Cabledog, you mention a preference for manual focus. I am not aware of a Tamron 70-300 manual focus zoom. Did you perhaps mean the SP 60-300? If so, I can recommend it highly. I've used the 60-300 extensively. It has a remarkable macro function that gets down to 1.55:1. I'm not familiar with either the Nikon or Sigma. I do own a Nikon 70-300mm AF-D ED lens, which works well in manual mode. It's fairly compact for a 300mm zoom. I can recommend this lens also. Good thing about most Nikon AF-D lenses is they all seem to work well in manual mode. My favorite 300mm zoom is the Tokina AT-X 100-300mm f/4 SD. This is a very sharp lens, even wide open at 300mm. Yes it's a fairly large lens (because of its constant f/4 aperture), but to me it's worth it because it is just that good.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Sigma made a completely manual 75 to 300mm lens, Sigma Zoom II f/4.5~5.6 Multi Coated uses a 55mm filter thread. I know about this because I have one. It is an Ais indented Nikon mount, meaning it can be recognised by certain cameras of the era it was manufactured; late eighties. This lens has only been used on F3 bodies, hasn't been used for perhaps 15-20 years...

I wouldn't say it was a brilliant lens, but it is more than adequate for most purposes. Most importantly, it is reasonably small and light.

It is a single one touch rubberised zoom lens and has an inbuilt lens hood.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=709#imgrc=14n38jgWvFKlPM:

Mick.