nazir200_200 Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 dear friends ... i am going on vaccation to india coming june.as a serious amatuer my current longest lense is 70-300 mm.af nikkor af.D.ED.my friends told me that this one is not enough to reach birds and wild animals to achieve good close ups.i am on budget so nikkor 80-400 VR or any other nikkor IS out of question now. is there any one have experience with this lense and how it works with N80.mainly i will use manual focus so sluggish af usually found with this type of zoon lenses does not bother me.the purple fringing at longest focal length with wide aperture also a matter i am considering.please share me your experience with this lense.is there any better option from third party manufacturers with the same price? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel_blacher Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 You might consider the Sigma (Tele Macro version) or Tokina 400mm 5.6 prime lenses. They are nice performers optically and you can use them with a 1.4TC (I use the Kenko Pro) and still get very good results. You'll have to find them used though because they are no longer in production. I've never used the Sigma 135-400 zoom, but I imagine that the primes will produce higher quality images. Perhaps someone else can verify or counter this. Have a wonderful vacation; it sounds like a great destination. Will you be going to the Ranthambhore Park wildlife preserve to see the tigers? I've always dreamed of doing that myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nazir200_200 Posted May 21, 2004 Author Share Posted May 21, 2004 joel... thank you for me to thinking towards prime(actually i like the primes..but the money is the only obstacle) ranthambore is a unique area to watch tiger but very far from my native place.there are some un official or quite uninformed places near to my village in kerala(southindia)where u can see elephant,bison,and if you are lucky the tiger and leopards also. grass land shola forests above nelliyampathy hills, karashoori near anamalai reserve are some examples.the nilgiri tahr -a kind of wild goat- near to extinction also there in the grassland sholas..(when i was a student i had taken a snap of this rare mammal around 30 metres away .with my minolta ps). these are all out of the list of official wild life spots . but dense green vegetation and unique landscapes... )(sorry for writing things unconcerned in nikon forum) regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas_greenberg Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 I have no experience with the 135-400mm. zoom. Clearly, this would give you certain advantages, i.e., being able to use a variety of focal lengths. But ultimately I agree with the poster who suggested the 400mm. prime lens, as this will give you superior images at 400mm. definitely, AND will undoubtedly perform better with a 1.4x teleconverter. I have used both the Sigma Tele-macro and the Tokina ATX SD-AF 400mm. lenses, and I would recommend the latter: optically it's really just as good as the Sigma, and it's more compact and autofocuses a bit faster (largely because of its small size). It doesn't focus quite as closely, but how often do you need to use your 400mm. lens at five feet for wildlife photography anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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