[paulc1]

I am thinking of getting one of the following lenses after chrimbo for my d70, either an 80-200mm f2.8 af s ed and a 1.4 converter or a 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM on its own.(its for birdies etc)
Has anyone been down this road and if so what did you decide?

paul

[Pink Fairy]

Hi Paul
If you're going to be shooting larger birds in flight or you are able to get up really close to a bird, then a 200/2.8 + tc is a good way to go, especially with AF-S... the 70-200/2.8 vr is probably the one to go for. You can easily use a 1.7x or 2x tc with these and still retain good AF.

If smaller birds are a priority, then you will need every bit of focal length you can get, so a 500mm is the better choice.

Another big factor is whether your are going to be handholding your gear or prepared to use a tripod... a tripod will be pretty much inevitable with a 500mm and maybe the case with a non VR 200mm+tc.

[paulc1]

Thanks Andy,
It will mainly be handheld for the smaller birds, but also the odd zoo visit, not sure if I can stretch to the vr lense , I see that Sigma have just released a new 170-400 and a 170-500, I wonder if the 170-500 will be less weildy than the Bigma.

Thanks for the advice

[Peakoverload]

I used to have the Sigma 50-500 and it is a very good lens in that its often the only lens you need to take with you and is pretty sharp and nice to use. The keyword though is that I USED to have it.

For shots of animals in zoos the Bigma is generally ideal but for fast moving wild animals its performance drops significantly.

The lens is heavy, not so heavy that it cant be hand held, it can, but it does require fast shutter speeds if you wish to do so. If you are at 500mm then you will have a max aperture of f/6.3 which makes achieving a shutter speed of 1/500th of higher very hard unless you whack the ISO up considerably thus introducing noise. You can of course use a monopd which does allow you to use slightly slower shutter speeds but you loose some of the physical speed you need to capture birds in flight.

As I say, I used to have this lens but sold it and now have a 70-200 f/2.8 and a 2x TC this gives me a very fast and sharp lens up to 200mm (better than the 50-500 could achieve) and then still a reasonably fast and sharp lens up to 400mm. Okay I loose 100mm to the Bigma but I gain a stop of light Bigma = 500mm @ f/6.3, 70-200 +2 x TC = 400 @ f/5.6) and at that focal length 100mm is the equivalent of a couple of steps forward so no big deal.

If you can afford it then the 70-200 + TC is definitely the way to go IMHO.

[paulc1]

thanks for the reply peakoverload, I am already leaning towards the 200 f2.8 and a tc.