Recommended Telephoto lens for Wildlife & Sports Photography

I currently own a Nikon D5000 with VR 18-55,VR 55-200 and VR 70-300 lenses. I am looking at buying a telephoto zoom lens for wildlife and sports photography. Any suggestions.

Since you have a telehphoto zoom, I'm guessing you are after a better telephoto zoom? My recommendation would be the 200-400 f/4, but it's not at all cheap. If you can forego zoom, the 300 f/4 AF-S (no VR though) is an excellent lens for the money with a TC1.4 or 1.7 even.

NaturesPhotos said:

I currently own a Nikon D5000 with VR 18-55,VR 55-200 and VR 70-300 lenses. I am looking at buying a telephoto zoom lens for wildlife and sports photography. Any suggestions.

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What is your budget? The Nikon 200-400 vr f4 is very nice. The Sigma 120-300 f2.8 is also very nice, faster and less money.

If you simply want longer and are on a budget which does not allow for the above type... the sigma 50-500mm is the best of the almost cheap long lenses, the newest one which is stabilized is the best of the lower cost bunch. The 150-500 OS is not as nice, but it is much cheaper. Neither is well suited to sports because your shutter speeds will be too low (the lenses do not have a small enough f-stop value)
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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

What do you find inadequate about your current lenses? Too short, too slow, too soft?

Sigma 120-300 F2.8 OS HSM EX + Sigma 2x TC

NaturesPhotos said:

I currently own a Nikon D5000 with VR 18-55,VR 55-200 and VR 70-300 lenses. I am looking at buying a telephoto zoom lens for wildlife and sports photography. Any suggestions.

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give us a budget and length plz

Its the zoom that i find inadequate.

My budget would be around $2000. I'm not very clear on the length part. I'm planning a trip to africa and i need a fast shutter telephoto zoom lens.

I have the Nikon 70-300 and also found it did not have enough reach.

I bought the Sigma 50-500 OS and I like it. Mine is sharper than the 70-300. After 300mm I need a monopod for sharp results. On a tripod at 500 it makes me very happy. I think on the tripod it is as sharp as the Nikon is at 300. The OS is effective but over 300 I can't hold it still enough for good results. I rented one and tried it before I bought it. That would cost you about $100. I think you should try it first before you buy.

Budget = ~ 2000
Goal = longer than 300mm & faster than f5.6

There is no such lens. The 70-300vr is a special lens. Nothing better costs close to that amount. Either longer or faster will set you back big bucks.

The closest you are going to get is the Sigma 120-300 f2.8 + 1.4c, but that is going to set you back close to 3000. It would give you a nice 170-420 f/4 for objects that are mostly in the distance. And a very fast 120-300 for closer in objects.

Option 2: Get a sigma 50-500 OS, and push shutter speeds as low as you can and ISO as high as you can. The problem with this solution, is I am told (I have never been to Africa) that many of the fun things come out at dawn and dusk and not so much in the bright daylight. And this lens is f6.3 at the long end. Still a brilliant piece of work for what it is.

Option 3: Get a Nikon 70-200vrI used and a Sigma 150-500 OS and a Kenkko 1.4tc, whole package within budget with a little careful shopping. Then your close in shots will be with a truely pro quality lens. The intermediates you use the same lens with a 1.4x tc (105-280mm), farther away you use the slower and less sharp Sigma.

Option 4: rent a 200-400 f/4 for your trip and buy the 70-200vrI.

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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

If you need more than 300mm, $2000 doesn't come close to getting anything fast. As already mentioned the Sigma 150-500mm could be an option, but it is not fast and really needs to be stopped down to beyond f8 for sharp shots. Good suggestion to consider renting for the trip...
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Lora

I've been on Dpreview since June 2006. Unfortunately, some posting history has been lost along the way...

Your best bet it to either rent the 70-200 VRII plus new 2.0 TC, rent the 200-400 f/4 VR, or buy or rent the 80-400 VR.

The 80-400 VR is well regarded for most photo tours of Africa.

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Catallaxy

Might check out a Tamron 200-500 with a Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX
This was without the Kenko
no PP either, I will be trying a new set up in a few days with the combo





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ABA DABA

ABA DABA said:

Might check out a Tamron 200-500 with a Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX
This was without the Kenko
no PP either, I will be trying a new set up in a few days with the combo

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The Tamron is well reguarded optically. But it is both slow to AF and also slow aperture (f-stop value), and so does not seem suitable to the OPs stated goals of fast focus, fast shutter speeds.
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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

Catallaxy said:

Your best bet it to either rent the 70-200 VRII plus new 2.0 TC, rent the 200-400 f/4 VR, or buy or rent the 80-400 VR.

The 80-400 VR is well regarded for most photo tours of Africa.

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I'm not sure the 80-400 would be at all useful to the OP. First off he has a d5000, and that lens is an AF-D. So on his camera it would be a manual focus lens. And, even on cameras where it does AF, it is known to AF particularly slowly. The Sigma contenders should meet is needs better if he opts for a lower cost slightly longer lens.
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See my plan (in my profile) for what I shoot with. See my gallery for images I find amusing.

In your price range, your only choice is to rent. If you do want to buy, the 70-200 VR II + a teleconverter is your only choice but it will run close to $3000. The 1.4x and the new 2.0x teleconverter extend the range but slow down the appeture.

Have a read of the following lnk
http://www.bythom.com/southafricaworkshop2.htm

Its a daily log of a photography tour in Africa.

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Nikon D40
Nikon D300
AF-S 18-55 f3.5-5.6 G ED II DX
AF-S 55-200 f4.0-5.6 VR DX IF-ED
AF-S 300 F4 IF-ED
Sigma 10-20 4-5.6 EX DC NIKON HSM
Nikon AF-S 35 F1.8
Series E 36-72 F3.5
Series E 75-150 F3.5
SB-400

I got myself a Sigma 150-500mm to capture surfers. Very pleased. 9 times out of 10 its on a tripod/monopod under very good light. But even when it was hazy and I was hand holding it, I got some good pictures. Maybe they aren't up to 'pro' standards or what people think are pro standards, but the surfers that I shot appreciated the photos so much that I didn't have to buy many drinks last summer.

Matt

Tried editing, that last shot looks terrible !! What did Dpreview do to it?

Here's a bigger shot.



Matt

NaturesPhotos said:

Its the zoom that i find inadequate.

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I gather from this statement that you are confusing zoom with focal length.

Zoom is a function of a lens that can give you varying focal lengths, working from the shortest focal length. ie. a sigma 50-500 ia a 10 x's zoom. 10 x 50mm = 500mm.
In comparison a 500mm prime is just that, does not have zoom.

For Africa which may be very dusty, a zoom may not be a good choice because they breath. This causes a lot of dust to be sucked into the camera as you zoom out as the barrel is extended.

As others have mentioned, fast glass costs money and fast long glass costs even more. There is no magic answer to your post other than maybe buying the 50-500 sigma and taking a cloth bag to keep it in and use when you want to zoom it out as a makeshift clean room.

I have heard of people doing this as well for changing lenses to reduce the amount of dust entering the body.
I am sure you will bring back many images that you will enjoy looking at
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Warm regards, Dave.
Australian NPS member
http://www.dksphotography.com.au
Cameras- D3, D300s,
Zooms- 14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 VR1

Primes- 10.5 f/2.8 fisheye, 50 f/1.4, 60 macro f/2.8, 85 f/1.4, 150 macro f/2.8, 500 f/4 VR11.
Teleconverters- TC- 14E 11, and TC-20E 111.
A bucket full of flash units.
Sony HDR-XR500 astounding little video camera!
http://www.sydneyuniversitycricket.com.au

If you are willing to consider a prime rather than a zoom, the Nikon 300/4 plus a 1.4x converter will get you a good 420/5.6. Adding 1.7x converter would also give you a not quite so good 510/6.8. Buying used might get you in under budget, I'm not sure of current prices.