It's happening again...300 f/4 + TC14IIE for Wildlife

[helmet155]

Was thinking Sigma Bigma or Sigma 80-400OS...

But after reading some opinions here the 300f/4 + TC14IIE may be the way to go...

More opinions welcome please...seems I am going to be forced to sell some stagnant stock to buy a new lens for wildlife soon..

My setup: D70, kit lens 18-70, 80-200 AF-S...I shoot a lot of motocross but want to branch out into wildlife, etc...

Thanks again for your contribution to lens lust, it's all your fault

 

[Kevin Scott]

Hey Brett, I have the 300 f4 AFS and a Tamron 1.4x. It's a great combo. I debated between this setup and the Bigma as well as others. I haven't been disappointed in my choice. My only problem now is continually seeing HarryB's 500mm shots. I may have to try the 1.7x since it's far cheaper than the 500mm! Check the Bird and Animal Galleries if you want to see some samples of my combo. Almost every one of my bird posts is with that combo!

 

[drueter]

Brett:

I also have the 300 f4, TC14EII and TC20EII. The 300 with the 1.4 TC is a wonderful combo for wildlife. The 2.0 TC slows down the AF too much for shooting anything that's moving, but is okay (although a little soft) for stationary subjects. There are a lot of posts in the Bird and Animals gallery by a few of us that use the 300/1.4 combo, so browse around and you'll see what it can do. My only problem with the combo so far is that I want even more reach, so LLD has struck on the 200-400 or the 500. I guess we're never satisfied!!

 

[cknight]

If you want to shoot moving targets, I would go with the 300F4 and TC. The AFS is a lot faster that the screw drives.

It just depends on what you want more, fast focusing or long reach.
Or take out a loan, sell the kids, and get the 500f4 or 600f4. evil:

If you want to look, most of my recent bird pic threads in the Birds forum are taken with the 300F4 and TC1.4

 

[bfjr]

Same with me all my wildlife shots are with
300F4 + TC1.4 just almost perfect till I can afford a 500 :biggrin:
One caveat you still got to work your game and get as close as you can, but for me that's also part of the overall thrill !! :wink:

 

[HarryB]

I've shot wildlife with the Nikon 80-400VR, the Nikon 300.f4 and recently the 500mm/f4.

Before I got the 500mm my main combo was the 300mm.f4 and 1.4 TC. The 300 is a sweet lens. The AF is not the fastest but it's not as slow as the 60-400. Combined with the 1.4 it gives you ok reach for wildlife shots and the pic quality is outstanding. I tried the 1.7 TC but I wasn't satisified with the AF speed. Also in good light the 300mm is very handholdable.

When I got the 500 I had to choose between selling my 300 or my 80-400 and I sold my 300. I kept the 80-400 for its versatility and it served me well as my main wildlife lens before I got the 300. But with the 500 keeping the 80-400 made more sense.

If you have the 70-200 I would say get the 300mm. With TCs they would give you the same coverage as the 80-400 (a little more in fact) with faster AF and slighly better image quality.

 

[helmet155]

what about a Nikkor 300 f/2.8 AF-I lens? I saw one in the local craigslist a while back, looking at my D70 user manual they are 100% compatible except for 3D color metering, which I'm not even sure I use with my AF-S lenses...

The AF-I lens also works well with a TC, but I will need some more info to verify functionality with the D70, TC and the 300 f/2.8 AF-I...

Thank you everyone for your input...and after looking at prices for the 400 and 500, I think I would have to be selling images to justify the cost!!

 

[Ibn]

The older AF-I 300mm f/2.8 is slower than the AFS version, especially on the D70, due to the motor on the body. Not sure which 300mm f/4 you're looking at, but I'm assuming the AFS one, considering how much faster it's at focusing. I really love the 300mm f/4 (AFS) with 1.4x TC combo on the D70. It's what I use for all my pictures in the other threads, except for the times when it's a bit too long (at which time the TC just comes off).

BTW, the 300mm AFS f/4 with 1.4x TC is slower focusing than without the TC, but the quality is retained. Just thought that I'd throw that out there.

 

[helmet155]

Ibn: Thanks for the info, I thought the AF-I 300 was still an internal focus motor, just the older style...the internal DC type...

Sounds like a resounding appreciation of the 300 f/4 af-s lens

 

[Vernon t]

I've been very happy with the 1.7 TC and AFS 300.4.
D2H/X focus is accurate and snappy.

The 300, amazingly, is sharper by a hair than my great 70-200. It took the D2X to find that the VR is sharper at f4 than at 2.8.
At 4.0 the sharpness is equal, adjusting for distance but the 300f4 may be a bit contrastier, if that's possible.
Get it , it's great.

 

[helmet155]

Does anyone have experience with the Sigma 300 f/2.8?

I was looking on KEH.com and saw they are available used, after I saw the price I was thinking that it would be another option, especially the fast 2.8...