Hi all,
I have an opportunity to purchase a Canon 300mm f/2.8 is I in the next couple of days. The seller is a local photographer who has fallen on hard times and is looking to sell some gear to get money for a car. He is asking $2500 for it, it seems to be in fairly good condition from the pictures. From all the reviews and such that I have read I understand that this lens is basically legendary for its IQ. Though I understand that there is an second version of this lens but I never really considered this lens do to the cost to purchase new. I would mainly use this lens for wildlife. My current wildlife setup is a 7dmkii with the tamron 150-600mm g1. I have never really been all that happy with the tamrons focusing and sharpness and have almost never used it at the short end. First question, is that a reasonable price for this lens? I know conditions vary and all that but he has all the accessories and it seems good to go from the pics (though I would of course make sure everything was good before purchasing). And my second question is for people that have used this lens with the 1.4x and 2X extenders. I have both and would be using them both frequently to get the reach I’m used to with the Tamron. Would the tamron be better at 600mm or the 300mm with the 2X? From where I sit it looks to me like this would give me a fantastic 300mm, a really good 420mm f4 with the 1.4 and pretty good 600mm with the 2X? From evaluating the way that I shoot, I see a trend of a lot of my wildlife pictures being either in the 300mm range or the 600mm range. I have through the weekend to decide.
Thanks
Matthew Harwood
I have an opportunity to purchase a Canon 300mm f/2.8 is I in the next couple of days. The seller is a local photographer who has fallen on hard times and is looking to sell some gear to get money for a car. He is asking $2500 for it, it seems to be in fairly good condition from the pictures. From all the reviews and such that I have read I understand that this lens is basically legendary for its IQ. Though I understand that there is an second version of this lens but I never really considered this lens do to the cost to purchase new. I would mainly use this lens for wildlife. My current wildlife setup is a 7dmkii with the tamron 150-600mm g1. I have never really been all that happy with the tamrons focusing and sharpness and have almost never used it at the short end. First question, is that a reasonable price for this lens? I know conditions vary and all that but he has all the accessories and it seems good to go from the pics (though I would of course make sure everything was good before purchasing). And my second question is for people that have used this lens with the 1.4x and 2X extenders. I have both and would be using them both frequently to get the reach I’m used to with the Tamron. Would the tamron be better at 600mm or the 300mm with the 2X? From where I sit it looks to me like this would give me a fantastic 300mm, a really good 420mm f4 with the 1.4 and pretty good 600mm with the 2X? From evaluating the way that I shoot, I see a trend of a lot of my wildlife pictures being either in the 300mm range or the 600mm range. I have through the weekend to decide.
Thanks
Matthew Harwood