Confused new lens

Hello to the forum,

I have been looking for a new lens for my Nikon D40, I would like to get a 70mm-300mm Sigma / Tamron.

I am on a very tight budget of £100.00 so have been looking on ebay for a good deal.

I found this link today http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lenses/telezoom/70-300mm.htm It says that all these lenses have built in motor but when I look on ebay items like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-DG-Macro-For-Nikon-AF-D_W0QQitemZ130334140669QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item1e588528fd&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

The seller says it dose not have motor built in to lens, I am very new to SLR’s but I love my little D40, and want to use it to take wildlife pictures.

If someone has the time could the have a little look on ebay and tell me what lens I should bid for as I am so confused as to which type of lens to bid for.

Many thanks
Shaney

The Sigma 70-300 does not have a built-in motor and will not autofocus on your camera. The Sigma lenses that will work have the 'HSM' designation (hypersonic motor).

There is a cheap but well-regarded Tamron 70-300 that has a motor in it for the Nikon D40 (about £135 at http://www.warehouseexpress.com ); or Nikon's own 55-200 will work (about £180).

Best wishes
Mike

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Mike

Thanks for the info, but as i said i only have £100, i have just found this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sigma-70-300mm-F4-5-6-DG-MACRO-NIKON-AF_W0QQitemZ220489044729QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item33562bd2f9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

the seller says it has built in motor but i am not sure.

I would be very greatfuly if you could take a look for me

I have now spent three evenings on ebay looking for a lens for my d40, so far all I can find in my price range is

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-DG-Macro-For-Nikon_W0QQitemZ150376380269QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item230321776d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

and

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sigma-70-300mm-F4-5-6-DG-MACRO-NIKON-AF_W0QQitemZ220489044729QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item33562bd2f9&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

They both say they have built in motor (have they been incorrectly listed) but I am getting conflicting info from other websites and now Mike tells me that I should be looking for a lens with 'HSM' designation.

LOL……now even more confused

Many thanks
Shaney

OK it looks like there is now a version of this lens that does have the AF motor for Nikon. It used not to. So if the seller explicitly says that it will work on the D40/D60, then it will work on the D40 and D60, unless he/she is deliberately lying. Go for it.
Best wishes
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Mike

Isn't it so that the Nikon camera's have an AF motor in the camera body?? If so, then a lens would not have to have a motor to be able to AF with a Nikon.

Searched and found this
http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/004N90
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All in my humble opionion of course!

(I might get a preposition wrong -or any other word for that matter-. English is a nice language, but it's not mine)

My confusion is that on some sites they say that the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro is not any good for the d40 as it has no motor.... But here it says that sigma have now made one with motor....

HERE http://en.kioskea.net/guide/562394638-sigma-70-300-mm-f4-5-6-dg-macro-motorised-tele-zoom-lens-for-nikon-d-series-digital-slr-cameras

I realy need to know if the DG lens has a motor, there is one on ebay that i want to have a bid on. The seller says it has motor and i have just emailed him to confirm his info.

Any help to confirm this lens has built in motor would be of great help.

many thanks

AdriaanMeijer said:

Isn't it so that the Nikon camera's have an AF motor in the camera body?? If so, then a lens would not have to have a motor to be able to AF with a Nikon.

Searched and found this
http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/004N90

Click to expand...

That dates from 2003...

The Nikon D40, and subsequently the D40x and D60 (and possibly others - I'm not up to date) were made without an in-body autofocus motor. The advantage was thatthis made them lightweight and kept the costs down, fair enough for cameras aimed at beginners. The disadvantage was, and is, that all older Nikon and Nikon-fit lenses that don't have a motor in the lens will not work properly on these cameras (i.e. manual focus will be necessary). Initially that meant that very few lenses would work on these cameras. Fortunately third-party manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron quickly made motorised versions of their more popular lenses specifically for these cameras, and of course Nikon quickly made motorised lenses too, so now owners of these cameras have a wide choice - but there are still many good Nikon-fit lenses that won't AF on these cameras.

Best wishes

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Mike

shaney said:

My confusion is that on some sites they say that the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro is not any good for the d40 as it has no motor.... But here it says that sigma have now made one with motor....

Click to expand...

Your question has already been clearly answered: see my second post above. This lens used not to have a motor in it, now Sigma has made a version that does have a motor in for your camera. How hard is that to understand? Just make sure you get the correct version.

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Mike

sorry mike703, i did not see your post....thanks for your help

Ask the seller for a clear photo of the model number off the lens. Compare this to the Sigma website.

Hello, I am pretty sure that you have made your purchase already, so I just wanted to ask you what your experience with this model is. I am currently debating whether to upgrade the kit lens on the D40 to the VR version, or whether to fork up money on a lens like you are buying in order to gain the zoom factor.

Has it worked for you? What do you think about the quality of the lens?

the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6Di LD MACRO 1:2, Model A17N II has a built in motor for Nikon. The cost runs approx $120.00 US. While many people are critical of the focus at the high end, i'm please with it for the cost. I'm just getting back into photography after 20+ years and can't afford alot of $$ so starting on the inexpensive end. I hope this helps.

Clint

Well thank you for the advice one and all,

I got a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 Macro DG Lens - Nikon Fit (new) here http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-macro-dg-lens-nikon-fit/p1008570

I now see how important a tripod is..lol

I got the lens this morning and have taken a few hundred pictures already, this may not be a high end lens but being a newbie I am very pleased with the results. Still having a few problems getting the macro shots right but midrange shots are great and long range is great as long as I get a steady shot (best results with tripod and remote).

I am mad about ferrets and run a small rescue centre and website for them, my favourite animal is the stoat, a cousin of the ferret. This is the reason I got the new lens so I could try and take some pictures of them in the wild. My sister-in-law has seen them running around near were she walks her dog, unfortunately this is maybe just out of the 300mm range for close-up shots.

I have had a little look on the forum concerning x2 lenses and it looks as though you have to spend quite a lot of cash to even reasonable results. But I figure if I can get a x2 real cheap I may just get the shot I am after. I have started my ebay hunt again and have found this x2

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nikon-Autofocus-Fit-2X-Converter-Lens-DOUBLES-LENS-SIZE_W0QQitemZ260486469442QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN?hash=item3ca6341742&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

does anyone know if it will fit my sigma. If not is there a budget lens that maybe worth a try. I am not after miracles, hope someone can help.

shaney said:

Well thank you for the advice one and all,
I got a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 Macro DG Lens
I am very pleased with the results.

Click to expand...

My brother shoots with that lens and swears by it. He is gifted in holding a lens still (I am not), so he shoots hand held 300mm without a tripod and they are nearly as sharp as my nikon lens with VR.

shaney said:

I have had a little look on the forum concerning x2 lenses and it looks as though you have to spend quite a lot of cash to even reasonable results.

does anyone know if it will fit my sigma. If not is there a budget lens that maybe worth a try. I am not after miracles, hope someone can help.

Click to expand...

Your lens is not fast enough to take a doubler and get reasonable results. The f-stop at 300mm is 5.6. If you put a doubler on it, it would be f11.2. Your camera would probably not autofocus and the image would be rather dim and hard to focus manually. Photos taken would likely be dark and mostly out of focus.

Lens with longer than 300mm focal length tend to be very expensive. The lowest cost option is probably the 150-500 OS (stabilized) from Sigma. It is not fast (5.6 to 6.3). The IQ (image quality) is not super duper, but it is pretty good. Very good given the zoom and the price. But, price is typically $1000.00. You might score a bargin on ebay.

When looking at lenses on ebay, do not even consider ones with f11 or higher. You can not focus them reliably. There are occasionally these low-end telescopes with camera mounts. Mostly all manual. IQ tends to be not so good.
Mirror lenses are the same class, well may be just a little better.

Agree - I wouldn't put a teleconverter on a cheap f/5.6 zoom... much better to use the lens as it is and just crop the picture. You have 6MP to play with and 3 - 4 MP is enough to make a good 10 x 8 inch print at a print resolution of 200 dpi. You won't be able to make huge prints with a lot of fine detail but don't be afraid to 'zoom in' by a factor of two by cropping out 50% of the frame (gives you an effective focal length of 420 mm, i.e. 300mm x square root of 2). The results will be much better than if you had used a teleconverter.

Best wishes
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Mike

Thanks for the advice, I will try cropping to start with and see how it goes.

I will be out very early Saturday morning, the early bird catches the stoat. Will let you know how I get on.

There are also very cheap 500mm lenses on ebay made by Opteka, how bad are these lenses, I am thinking that they cannot be very good at all for this sort of cash.

shaney said:

Thanks for the advice, I will try cropping to start with and see how it goes.

I will be out very early Saturday morning, the early bird catches the stoat. Will let you know how I get on.

There are also very cheap 500mm lenses on ebay made by Opteka, how bad are these lenses, I am thinking that they cannot be very good at all for this sort of cash.

Click to expand...

They are rather well known bad lenses. They do take pictures. If the alternative is not making the shot, then it is an option.
The sigma I mentioned is pretty much the cheapest 500+ mm that is good.

Sigma makes two consumer-grade 70-300mm zooms. One is an APO lens, the other is not. IMO, the non-APO version is OK at best. The APO version is much better and worth the extra cost.
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My humble photo gallery: http://ntotrr.smugmug.com