telephoto zooms opinions wanted please

King Eric

Hey All
Just looking for opinions on the canon 75-300 4-5.6 MarkIII USM
and canon 70-210 3.5-4.5 USM (its discontined but ive found one second hand for 100 euro) and also the sigma 70 or 75-300 APO

Would love a 70-200 f4L USM or f2.8 but my budget cant stretch that far just yet, so either lens would be to do me for a while til i can afford something better if i really feel i need it

Any advice greatly appreciated

Thanks

Enda

rymus

I got a cheap, second hand 75-300 just after I got my 20D over a year ago now and I don't think I'll ever be able to part with it. I think it probably cost me just over a hundred quid but it's lovely and sharp. Focus hunts like a bastard sometimes when tracking moving objects but it's generally ok and always produces lovely sharp photos.

Redundo

In terms of telephotos Canon only offer either very cheap, poor quality lenses or extremely good, extremely expensive lenses. There is no middle ground with Canon for anyone wanting to get something in between crap and great.

Take a close look at Sigma, Tamron and Tokina as they often fill those gaps in Canons line-up quite nicely.

My first telephoto was a Canon 100-300 USM but I dislike that lens alot now and it is little more then a paperweight. What I use instead is a Sigma 135-400 lens and I love it. It's big heavy and has no USM, granted, but it is still far superior to Canons cheapies and i've had excellent results with it when shooting sports photos.

Borderfox

The Sigma 70-300 APO is a good starter lens.

Redundo

If you are buying 2nd hand be aware that the older Sigma 70-300 APO lenses might not be compatible with modern Canon dSLRs. I was thinking of that lens at one stage too so I tried it with my Canon 10d but all I ever got was an "Error 99" code with the camera.

rymus

Redundo wrote:

In terms of telephotos Canon only offer either very cheap, poor quality lenses or extremely good, extremely expensive lenses.

Normally I'd agree but there can be exceptions to the rule. I've been very lucky with my cheap 73-300. It was dirt cheap and it's done me so far. If it was cheap and crap I'd have gotten rid of it long ago.

Calina

Borderfox wrote:

The Sigma 70-300 APO is a good starter lens.

I'd agree with that. I got one a couple of months ago and use it primarily for action photography. I'm very pleased with it.

Borderfox

This picture was taken with the Sigma 70-300mm APO





You can get really good pictures from this lens...

Valentia

I have the Sigma 70-300 too. I don't use it much but it does give very pleasant results and it also does macro if we're talking about the same lens.

Borderfox

yeah that the one.

mtracey

Yep Sigma 70-300 APOII is a decent lens for good money