zoom lens suggestion?

[erakepio]

Hi All,

just got back from some extended leave and started looking at some new gear. I've just picked up a 7D (from a 550D) and was looking at getting a good zoom lens to go with it.

I've got my 70-200 f4 L which I've been using a fair bit of recently and probably my favourite of all my lenses, however I've started doing a bit of work for the autocross/beach racing club over here and finding I need something with a bit more range

any suggestions? a friend of mine has a Sigma 150-500 for his Nikon so I looked at the canon alternative, but it's bleedin' heavy and I'm not 100% convinced on it. Took a few test shots and it seemed to lose Focus quite easily.

 

[ruuneos]

70-300 F4.5 - 5.6L, good scouting lens.

 

[msdarkroom]

Not sure what the budget it, but here are some ideas...

100-400: http://amzn.to/Lu1KNo
70-300: http://amzn.to/LaFaDH
x 1.4: http://amzn.to/KCvT7Y
x 2.0: http://amzn.to/JKnHaA


-MS

 

[erakepio]

thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated.

Not considered any of the extenders to be fair, I'm guessing you lose image quality when you get to the top end of 2x extender?

 

[Forceflow]

Well, since you already have the 70-200 I would suggest against 300mm lenses. Yes you will get more reach, but it's not going to be that much more.
Sigma's 150-500 is certainly going to give you the most reach that is realistically affordable for the average joe. I have not heard much good about that one however. Lensrentals rated this one with a failure rate of 45% before they took them out of their service. Normally I am a fan of Sigma, but in this case I did not go for it.

I recently purchased Canon's 100-400 4.5-5.6 L and absolutely love it. I find it's an extremely versatile and fast lens and while it's certainly not a lightweight it is considerably lighter than Sigmas 150-500 monster. It also works with a teleconverter and actually does produce some really nice images with it. (Be aware though, at the long end you'll have a maximum aperture of 11 and no AF throughout the whole range) This is what I recently captured with my Sigma 2x converter:

(See larger version here)
Yes you might loose some IQ, but less than what you would get when blowing up the image by a factor of 2. (Though it is of course not useable at all when trying to capture action)

If you really need the reach you might want to look into Sigma's 50-500, this ones seems to be a bit more reliable. (But even heavier and more expensive than the 150-500)