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Suggest a cheap(!) telephoto zoom for four-thirds

  • 04-10-2011 11:23am
    #1
    peckerhead
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,383 ✭✭✭


    Hi all,

    I recently bought a secondhand Olympus E-510 with two kit lenses, the 14-42mm and 40-150mm, which are both very good for the money I paid for them. I'm moseying around for a longer telephoto for certain kinds of work — wildlife in particular — but haven't much of a budget. In any case, I won't be using this terribly often and, much though I'd like one, can't justify forking out for a 'proper' Zuiko ED 70-300mm... :o

    I suppose I've two questions in my mind, although I'm open to any suggestions.

    (a) I see a fair few positive mentions of the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6, and I'm tracking a few on eBay to get an idea of prices. To my surprise, it seems to fetch better money secondhand than, say, the Nikkor equivalent. I'll be needing a four-thirds adapter in any case, so from that point of view it doesn't much matter which brand/mount I go for; focus and exposure will be manual. Would anyone venture that the Sigma is a better lens than the Nikkor? (I'm talking about the older AF "G" series, not the ED or the new VR ones, the arrival of which seems to have pushed down the resale prices of the older ones considerably)

    (b) For the kind of use I'm talking about — largely static, on-tripod shooting — is it worth my while trying out a cheaper legacy lens from the likes of Tamron/Vivitar/Cosina/Tokina/Miranda (see this or this, for example). Or am I bound to be disappointed? Will the optics be complete muck?

    I'd thought for a while about just getting a fixed 300mm lens (35mm equiv. = 600mm on the E-510), but (a) most of the cheaper/older secondhand ones are no faster than f/4, and (b) I could find myself needing to pull back a little bit to frame a shot, and getting up and backing away 20 yards sometimes ain't an option. IQ mightn't be as good as with a fixed lens, but I can live with a little softness around the edges.

    A mate of mine has an old Sirius 60-300mm blunderbuss he picked up for €30 on eBay and he seems to get some pretty good results, with a little care. OK, at the far end of the zoom range I imagine it's very hard to avoid shake/blur on anything but a very bright day, but one of the advantages of my E-510 is that the built-in IS works even with manual lenses (like my €20 Zuiko 50mm f1.8 :)), so that might help matters a bit. I'm tempted to take a punt for that kind of money.

    TIA for any pointers.


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