Can I even afford a wildlife lens

[Soocom1]

What is your budget? Some of the old superzooms have been superseded but have acceptable image quality and should be avalible at a knock down price if you shop around. If that's still too expensive and old manual focus lens might be an option.

My max budget would be about $500.00 but i would rather only spend $300.00-400.00, i have looked at older lenses on Ebay but alot of them have bad reviews.

Look at KEH.
The inventory changes constantly and the prices are highly reasonable.
The "Bargain" stuff is IMO pretty high in quality.
I have had only one bum steer from them that was fixable.

The "Ugly" stuff may have some issues but Bargain level is what I point at.

There are other outlets as well.

 

[Raw photographer]

What is your budget? Some of the old superzooms have been superseded but have acceptable image quality and should be avalible at a knock down price if you shop around. If that's still too expensive and old manual focus lens might be an option.

My max budget would be about $500.00 but i would rather only spend $300.00-400.00, i have looked at older lenses on Ebay but alot of them have bad reviews.

Look at KEH.
The inventory changes constantly and the prices are highly reasonable.
The "Bargain" stuff is IMO pretty high in quality.
I have had only one bum steer from them that was fixable.

The "Ugly" stuff may have some issues but Bargain level is what I point at.

There are other outlets as well.

Thanks I will check it out.

 

[Fujidave]

When I had my Canon 70D the one lens that I thought great for wildlife was my Sigma C 150-600mm and got some great shots with it, but in the end it was too heavy.

 

[Raw photographer]

When I had my Canon 70D the one lens that I thought great for wildlife was my Sigma C 150-600mm and got some great shots with it, but in the end it was too heavy.

My neighbor has that lens, i have tried it. Great for a tripod but handholding is a different story.

 

[Derrel]

Find a model, then find an affordable sample of it. Might take a few months or more.

 

[weepete]

You might be pushing it towards the top end of your budget but a used Sigma 50-500mm "Bigma" (which largely kicked of the wildlife superzoom craze) might be within reach, and while it's pretty much been superseded in reach and IQ by the 150-600mm versions that are more popular now it can give you resonable budget wildlife lens.

 

[zombiesniper]

My neighbor has that lens, i have tried it. Great for a tripod but handholding is a different story.

The 150-600mm is very easy to hand hold. It's at least 5lbs lighter than my rig. With the VC you can even hand hold down to 1/320th quite easily.

 

[Fujidave]

When I had my Canon 70D the one lens that I thought great for wildlife was my Sigma C 150-600mm and got some great shots with it, but in the end it was too heavy.

My neighbor has that lens, i have tried it. Great for a tripod but handholding is a different story.

Thought I still had some, hand held full 600mm zoom 1/250.

Robin by Dave, on Flickr

 

[RowdyRay]

My neighbor has that lens, i have tried it. Great for a tripod but handholding is a different story.

The 150-600mm is very easy to hand hold. It's at least 5lbs lighter than my rig. With the VC you can even hand hold down to 1/320th quite easily.

Very true. I've hand held mine since getting it in March. Heavy at first, but now I can throw it around like nothing. You get used to it. 1/320th is doable now.

 

[RowdyRay]

Seriously, a clean used first version of the Tamron or Sigma 150-600mm is a good wildlife lens bargain buy. Got mine for 606.00 out the door. No regrets.

No one has mentioned the Sigma 150-500mm. They're going for a good price now.

 

[zombiesniper]

Agree with the 150-600mm.
You have to be careful and test out the 150-500 from Sigma. Some of the older copies will not work with newer cameras. I had one and it would throw a communications error. When I sent it back to be serviced I was basically told they'd have to rebuild the electronics to function with my T5I.
I got lucky that our local shop offered a full refund.

 

[RowdyRay]

Agree with the 150-600mm.
You have to be careful and test out the 150-500 from Sigma. Some of the older copies will not work with newer cameras. I had one and it would throw a communications error. When I sent it back to be serviced I was basically told they'd have to rebuild the electronics to function with my T5I.
I got lucky that our local shop offered a full refund.

Thought it was new enough to not be an issue. But after looking at it, it has more contacts than usual. Hmmm... Interesting.

I know what you're referring to. Found an older Sigma 400mm in a pawnshop a couple years ago. Got to test it first. Kept giving me errors. Turns out it's for an SLR film camera. Same amount of contacts and it will mount right up. But USUALLY one of the contacts looks different. Almost like a "T". I guess at one time, you could send it back and have the innards replaced to work with a DSLR, but that time had passed.

 

[Raw photographer]

Thanks for all the help everyone, it has helped alot.

 

[RowdyRay]

In 2005, Sigma made a 50-500mm and a 170-500mm that were optimized for digital. Those are going for bargain prices right now. They don't have OS/IS, but not a deal breaker. Great way to get started on a budget. In fact, there's a 170-500mm on the local Craig's list. Trying to get my buddy to nab it. 225.00. They're going for about 325.00 on Ebay.

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