Help! choosing between two lens'

[bubbie]

Hi all!! You have all been so helpful with my quest to find a camera and dive into photography. I have bellyflopped tho
I want to get a telephoto lens and I have narrowed it down to two (due to cost). I need your expert advise....

1. Sigma 50-200mm f/4-5.6 DC IF SLD OS lens with HSM

or

2. Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Marco Telephoto Zoom Lens

My ears perk up when I hear macro but everything else is foreign to me. I want to take pictures of the sky and things at a greater distance than my 18-55mm lens can do. I also like the idea of a macro lens, I think.

Please help

 

[bazooka]

Canon or Nikon?

 

[bubbie]

Canon Rebel t3

 

[tirediron]

Not being familiar with either lens first-hand, I would go with the 70-300 because I would prefer the longer reach, BUT be aware, despite what Sigma says, this lens is NOT a macro lens, in fact it's not even close. A macro lens is one which will reproduce 1:1. That is: a subject which is one inch long will be reproduced as one inch long on the sensor. The best this lens gets is 4:1, meaning that a one inch long subject will at best, be reproduced as 1/4" long. It should properly be called a "close-focusing telephoto" or something similar.

 

[bubbie]

Thank you so much!! I was confused with the "macro" telephoto lens label. It didn't make much sense to me but I am new at this so I wasn't sure. It's so much info and I want to KNOW what everything means - baby steps!

 

[WesternGuy]

I would agree with tirediron, go for the reach, however one of the reviews for the 70-300 suggest that it is not as sharp as it could be at the 300 mm end - Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO macro - Review / Test Report - Sample Images & Verdict - good reach with good quality glass is not cheap. If you can live with this, then it is still your better bet. With an APS-C sensor, it has the same field of view as a 112-480mm on a full frame. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy