wildlife lens?

This is more for my dad and I just don't have time to research it right now...what's a good lens for wildlife for a Nikon D5000 that will AF? He's looking for something that's less than $1000. Thanks!

WILDLIFE could be dance hall activities
or birding
or lions, tigers and bears

How CLOSE can he get to the wildlife?

Good wildlife photogs understand animals and may actually be able to get close enough to use lense in the 70-200mm range... longer isn't always better

What time of day?

Much wildlife is most active at the dawn and evening ends of the day, rather than mid-day bright sun... Higher ISO and/or wider open fStop help in lower light times

Look into renting or borrowing lenses to see if they meet the needs. I don't know of any NEW serious wildlife lenses within your price limits

Nikon 70-300VR.

Tamron 200-500

Sigma 150-500

sarisotta_21 said:

This is more for my dad and I just don't have time to research it right now...what's a good lens for wildlife for a Nikon D5000 that will AF? He's looking for something that's less than $1000. Thanks!

Click to expand...

28-300mm for $932.97 Nikon has gotten good reviews. It has VR, Autofocus, a good range even on DX (42-450 equivalent angle of view) since I don't think he would need the wide angle. It is a slow lens tho (f/3.5-5.6)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZSHNEA?ie=UTF8&tag=sengngo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003ZSHNEA

sarisotta_21 said:

This is more for my dad and I just don't have time to research it right now...what's a good lens for wildlife for a Nikon D5000 that will AF? He's looking for something that's less than $1000. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Try to find a used Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3...not the new OS one, but the old unstabilized version.

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D50, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
"Quantum Mechanics: The dreams that stuff is made of..."

I use the Sigma 100-300 f/4 and sometimes with the 1.4 converter. Then there's the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 AF-G, a 'best buy', but a bit short for wildlife. How about the 80-400 f/4.5-5.6D VR? Depends on how much weight you want to fling around. That's probably the best choice, but it means around 5 lbs plus tripod, if you use one and it's slow to focus, needs a focus motor in the camera.