[noah]

toying with the idea of one of these secondhand. they go for about £300 and people seem to rave highly about them being one of nikons best lenses. i'm not sure about my use of it you see. the only lens i don't like in my collection is the sigma 70-300 apo dg, and the only reason i don't like it is the focusing. i hate the noise, speed and the fact it rotates my polariser all around the place. the reason it's hard to justify is that the sigma is nice and sharp from f8 if a little slow. also being an f2.8 lens i presume i can use a 1.4x or 2x converter on it?


has anyone got any experience with it or can someone make my mind up for me please.

[Dave]

Hi Noah.

I would think people who buy prime telephotos have a very specific need for that focal length. Whether its for portraits, specific sports etc. Would you feel happy being stuck to that range ? If yes, then it seems you have made a good choice of lens.

Ref 1.4x & 2x convertors, yes they will work & give you different combination of focal length, but note you will lose light. See post #17 on this thread where Steve goes into more detail on teleconvertors

Have you considered the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 ? I've been very happy with shots so far & the likes of Dod give very good recommendations of the lens ?

One step that might help you decide is to take your current zoom & go out for the day & shoot at 180mm only. If you decide you would want the equivalent of the 1.4x convertor, take the lens off the camera, change to the correct focal length & then put back on camera. Do same again if yuo want to experience 2x convertor option, or switching back to normal 1x. I know it sounds anal but it will give you a true feeling of what it would be like to be stuck to a prime telephoto, with teleconvertors.

Last point to note is the image quaility from a prime should always be superior to zoom, so according to how important that is, may help you decide

Hope that helps & let us know your decision.

[MickB]

Sounds sensible advice Dave

[noah]

sensible advice dave, thanks

but i bought it anyway

i would likea 70-200 f2.8 but seeing as i'd only really use the longer range in my experience and this seemed a good buy. i paid £180 second hand in the end which is half what the sigma 70-200 goes for so suits me well it's also much smaller than the zooms, esp the nikkor.

anyway, i'm very pleased so far...

100% crop


image from the park this afternoon, little fill flash to get me a catchlight

[Sonsey]

Nice one noah, congrats on the new toy

Seems like a nice sharp copy, and a nice price too if they normally go for £300sh as you stated in the first post

[Dave]

Well that's an awesome lens for the money & that 2nd shot really shows off how good it is. Think you've bagged the deal of the year