Tele Lens for starting wildlife photography

[Prasun Sur]

I have nikon D90,just starting photography about 6-7months...want to buy a tele lens for wildlife...so,now which is the best tele lens for me? plz help me to take decision.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Hi Prasun,

Welcome to IndiaWilds..!!

Can you please tell us your budget, so that we can suggest a good lens based on that.

Thanks,

[Prasun Sur]

Hi Mrudul,

My budget is around 50,000-65,000/-....& also suggest a good binocular for birding around 5,000-6000/- ,& if any teleconverter need for that tele lens,so plz also suggest that...Thx u.

[Prasun Sur]

Hi sabyasachi da,

what is the price of sigma 150-500mm...now?

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Prasun,

Since you are using Nikon, you have less lens options in that budget range. Canon has got a good 400mm f5.6 L lens in that range.

I am more conversant with the Canon pricing. So exact pricing of Nikon in India needs to be confirmed.

The AFS Nikkor 300mm f4/D ED IF Autofocus lens is about 1200 USD in B&H. Normally the India price is a bit more. So you need to check. Add the price of a 1.4x TC. I am told that the 1.7x TC also works well. Not sure about it. Our Nikon users need to chime in here.

If you want to go for reach and sacrifice a bit of quality, then there is the Sigma 150-500 f6.3 lens. Due to the narrow aperture of 6.3 at the tele end, you lose out on shutter speed.

People take two different approaches. Some buy the Sigma and then ditch it and upgrade to a better lens later. Others buy step by step but the best. I prefer that approach, as you lose less money as well as get better images if the subject is within your focal range. Check our some of our members who are using the Canon version of the 300mm f4 lens and doing fine.

And there are ofcourse the third group who are never ready to agree that the 150-500 Sigma quality is no where near the Canon and Nikon lenses. That's another story.

So you need to decide for yourself.

Sabyasachi

[Prasun Sur]

Thx u .....sabyasachi da

[Bhargava Srivari]

Prasun

If i were you and cannot wait any longer to buy a tle lens, the nikon 300 f4 with a 1.4x TC would be the obvious choice. I know a few friends who shoot with this combination and they are happy If required, I would be glad to direct you some of their posts on other fora.

However, you need to ask yourself whether you can be comfortable with a lens without image stabilisation. If you don't mind waiting for a month or so from now, I've heard strong rumors about a replacement of the 80-400 VR being announced as early as this month

Regards

[Prasun Sur]

Bhargava,

Thx u very much for information about nikon 80-400mm & plz post some pics what is take with 300mm/f4,1.4x TC...thx u


Prasun

[Sabyasachi Patra]

If you are continuing with Nikon, then I would strongly suggest not to buy the 80-400.

[Bhargava Srivari]

I share Sabyasachi's opinion about the current 80-400 lens of Nikon. However, nikon fanboys are hoping that they will leave no stone unturned to make the next generation 80-400 lens better than the current canon counterpart!

[Prasun Sur]

Thx u Bhargava...