julie_t

Of course I want sharp photos, but I want to get more focal length too. I've been fairly happy

with the 80-400 but I understand that a TC won't work well on it.

That's the drive behind thinking of getting a 300 and a 2x TC. I would like to keep autofocus

though. One option is to keep my 80-400 and buy a used AF 300 f4 for a couple hundred

and a TC. And if I lose AF with the TC, I'll still have my other lens. I can't afford to get a 300

f2.8 without selling my 80-400, at least at the used prices I've seen them (cheapest I've seen

recently is $1200).

Thanks! I'm new to the forum, and I appreciate all the thoughtful responses. I'm a little

concerned about not having AF, so I have some thinking to do.

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Right now, I found a used 300/f2.8 which is beat up on the outside, but the glass is clean

and mechanically works fine. It's priced $1200. I'm very tempted to get it. I haven't seen

any used stuff at 400mm or 500mm, but I've just started looking.

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I've been to to Palo Alto rookery. It is the best SF bay area rookery I've seen. Can't get

closer anywhere else that I know of. I rented a 600mm lens from Keeble and Shuchat for

the weekend and went out there. Probably could have come out with some good photos

with the 80-400mm too, but what a lens! The photo below of the snowy egrets was taken

there with the 600mm. I attribute this one to pure luck :)

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Yeah, my budget is not that big. I mainly only have a budget if I sell the 80-400mm. I could

maybe top it off a little bit from there. That is why I say used 300mm. I've seen them for

about $1500-2000, and I think if I sell the other lens, I could afford that.

600mm is way out of my price range. I imagine so is a used 500mm, but I haven't seen prices

on that recently.

I've done some bird photography with Nikon's 80-400mm lens, and I'm pretty happy with it for larger

birds, but I could use a boost for the smaller guys.

I'm wondering if I should sell my 80-400mm for a 300 f/4 (or potentially a used 300 f/2.8) and a

teleconverter. If I've got it right, I lose autofocus with a 2x teleconverter on the 300 f/4?

Any suggestions?