f4 zoom lenses at 300 or 400mm ??

[astroNikon]

Well it's sports season again. And I'm looking at my lenses.
Last year I added a 80-200/2.8 which I use on my d7000
I love the lens, but I'm curious what other lenses are out there that are a zoom up to 300 or 400mm and f/4.0. The f/2.8s are way out of my price range.

I'm somewhat searching (prices may ax any purchase) of 3rd party lenses, Tokina etc and I come across on a couple that fit the bill.
I was wondering if I'm missing something ... are there very little to choose from for a zoom like 100-300/4 ?

fyi, I do have a 75-300/4.5-5.6 lens and it works great. Just looking for something a bit faster especially on the long end.

Thanks

 

[D-B-J]

Why not the 80-400? Or the 300 f4? Or an older 300 or 400 D lens?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Derrel]

Sigma used to make a 100-300mm f/4 EX HSM zoom. I still have one in F-mount. It's pretty handy for some sports, the 100-300mm range is nice. Constant f/4 is handy too; that allows you to shoot in Manual mode if you want to, and zoom in, and not go from f/4 to f/5.6 and lose a whole f/stop!

I know where there's a 200-400mm f/4 AF-S VR-G Nikkor for $3750...

 

[astroNikon]

the nikon 80-400 is on my short list
I also noticed Tokina had a 80-400 too, and much cheaper.

I'm looking for zoom for soccer, so a fixed 300 or 400 is not within my expertise as of yet. I find myself stepping back on certain shots at 80mm on my crop d7000.

Derrel,
the Sigma 100-300/4 looks like a good option
whereas the 200-400 is not a good $$$ option LOL

I've never bought anything except Nikon (& Meade) so I'm unfamiliar with Sigma, Tokina, et all
except for a Tokina 17mm MF but that I had initially from 15 years ago or more.


with more liberal use of Auto ISO, I might be tempted to get the 80-400/4.5-5.6

fyi, I don't really know what options are out there other than what we just listed already.
or the goods or bads

 

[astroNikon]

Derrel,
I noticed in another thread you allude to the different color renditions of Sigma vs Nikon vs Tamron lenses.
WTx is that all about ?

 

[TheLost]

Most older Tamron's are horribly slow to AF.. Make sure you do your research.

If your lens is the 80-200 AF-S you could get away with a teleconverter.

I've used the older 80-400 for field sports and i wasn't a huge fan.

I've got a Tamron SP 150-600mm on pre-order i have high hopes for.

 

[Derrel]

Derrel,
I noticed in another thread you allude to the different color renditions of Sigma vs Nikon vs Tamron lenses.
WTx is that all about ?

Here's some explicay-shun!!! Nikkor Lens Assessment by Thom Hogan

"Every company that makes lenses has different design tendencies (goals) which often come from different decision making processes. Some of these things show up in ways that we can easily distinguish, some don’t. For example, Sigma lenses tend to use a glass that’s a little warmer in rendering colors than Nikon. Tokina lenses tend to be a little more magenta/cooler in rendering than Nikon glass. Yes, the color of the glass and coatings used in a lens is yet another factor we have to consider. Each company has its own sources for glass and its own recipe for coatings, and those factors influence what they can do in lens designs, too. One reason I don’t tend to use many third party lenses in my own kits is that they don’t always mix well color-wise. I once had a Tokina lens I really liked (it was wicked sharp), but I could spot every shot I took with it on the light table looking at slides simply from the color shift. Professional photographers use discipline to seek consistency, so I disciplined the Tokina by selling it into prosumer slavery somewhere in Michigan."

**************************************end quoted passage***************

A great quote, and one that agrees with my own personal experience: I have bought and used a few Siggy's in recent years...18-125, 80-400 OS, 180 f/3.5 EX-HSM Macro, 100-300 f/4 EX-HSM..all of them were very "yellow" compared to Nikon-made lenses.

 

[astroNikon]

ewww

All my lenses are Nikon .. 50, 85, 80-200, 18-35, 35-70, 75-300, 24-85 for my d7000/d600 .. no sense in adding a yellow shifted lens to it unless specialized like the 150-600.
Sooner or later I might actually notice it.

I might just stick with the Nikon 80-400 then . .AF-D, AF-S or AF-S-II ??
I've read the 80-400 AFD has some slow focusing .. but then I've managed to do really well with my push-pull 75-300 AF screw drive & 80-200/2.8 2-ring AFD on low flying fast airplanes & kids running around a soccer/baseball field. So I think I have a good technique for slower focusing lenses ... so far, though it may be the slowest Nikon lens (Rockwell review).

 

[coastalconn]

I don't know, does my Sigma have a yellow cast? Astro, my lens is about 2K refurbished, only Sigma makes 120-300 F2.8... I see older non OS version sell for 1200-1300 sometimes...

 

[bigal1000]

I use an older Nikon AF 300 f4 the IQ is fantastic a bit slow to focus but it has a focus limiter,which will speed things up quite a lot.......

 

[bc_steve]

I don't know, does my Sigma have a yellow cast? Astro, my lens is about 2K refurbished, only Sigma makes 120-300 F2.8... I see older non OS version sell for 1200-1300 sometimes...

Your Sigma lens was the first thing I thought of, I'm glad you commented.

I'm not sure I get the appeal of the 80-400. At the 400 end, which is what most people would buy it for, it's kind of slow. That's okay for the 70-300 at about $400 but I would have a hard time justifying paying over $2000 for an 80-400 f/5.6.

I don't think it would be a whole lot more for a used 300mm f/2.8D. The newer 300mm f/4 seems like it'd be a nice lens too. And you could use a TC with either.

 

[astroNikon]

I won't be getting a fixed lens.

The attractiveness of the 80-400 is of course the 80 on more closeups, and the 400 on the reach. doing kids sports, such as soccer it really comes in handy.

Right now I'm using my crop d7000 with my 80-200/2.8
I also have a nice 75-300/4.5-5.6 which is very sharp

But I'm going to now use my FF d600 with the 80-200 & 75-300 and them compare which ones I like better.

I already know I'm going to like the 80 better on the FF as I won't have to take so many steps back as I have to on the crop for close up action. I'll be able to be closer to the sidelines. But on the long end the d600 still has some advantage - more cropping ability (24mp vs 16mp) and overall better bokeh.

I'm going to hold off first to determine if I like my FX vs DX better. Then decide on a long term lens strategy. who knows, maybe I add a used d4 to the mix instead of the D7000.

 

[Derrel]

Astro, Have you tried the crop-mode on the camera for soccer??? I have assigned the FUNC button on my two Nikon bodies to allow me to press the Func. button and click the rear command wheel to go between full-field and cropped-down image capture...it's been something I have been doing since 2005...for "me", shooting cropped-down makes something like an 80-200 a lot more-useful for sporting situations, usually where it also 1) speeds up the frmes per second rate and 2)hugely increases the buffer size and 3)makes the files smaller, so they can be written to the card faster.

 

[astroNikon]

Astro, Have you tried the crop-mode on the camera for soccer??? I have assigned the FUNC button on my two Nikon bodies to allow me to press the Func. button and click the rear command wheel to go between full-field and cropped-down image capture...it's been something I have been doing since 2005...for "me", shooting cropped-down makes something like an 80-200 a lot more-useful for sporting situations, usually where it also 1) speeds up the frmes per second rate and 2)hugely increases the buffer size and 3)makes the files smaller, so they can be written to the card faster.

Nope. I haven't used my d600 for any sport shows yet. Never thought of using the crop mode on it. I've read of it, know it's there but never thought of doing that for soccer.

hmmmm :scratch:

You're costing me money Derrel ... pretty soon I'll sell my d7000 for another FF and I'll probaby end up getting a d700 (or d4, 800) for a replacement.
I'll send you the bill

 

[astroNikon]

FF in crop mode ... that's makes way too much common sense !! lol