Forum > The Fruit Stand (Photography)
Budget Zoom Lens Upgrade
Mrtambourineman:
I have a Canon Rebel T3 body. I'm currently using a 75-300 zoom (first generation without IS or USM). I am frustrated at the poor quality of shots and the number of shots I miss because of the slow focusing. I was initially thinking about upgrading to a Canon 70-300 but then I read about Tamron's SP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di VC USD. The reviews sound pretty good. I mean I'd love to go with something better, but I think I could swing this and it sounds like a significant upgrade from what I'm using.
Anyone have experience with this lens? Are there others I should consider?
The Turtle Whisperer:
Does dropping back and going 18-300 blow the budget?
I had a couple of the cheaper nikkor 70-300's that were OK.
I've had great luck with third party lenses. I bought a sigma 18-250 for a trip where i wanted to basically travel with one lens. I ended up with an incredible copy of the lens and I got some great shots with it.
Still, I don't use much of the longer end of that lens and it's the real weak spot in my lens line-up. Every time I buy a 70-300, I sell it with in a year. OTH, I have a few zooms under 20mm and am currently thinking about buying a sigma 8-16mm. I mostly shoot wide angle.
I do like trying to get a fun moon shot every now and then and the 300's on a crop frame can do pretty well with that.
Mrtambourineman:
I've thought about going with a travel style lens, but I do a lot of sports shots of my kids and I do some wildlife as well so I'm shooting in that 200-300 range a lot and would hate to lose that extra reach. For me the only compensation would be if I was able to get a much faster lens - like an f2.8 through the range. My long range thoughts are to upgrade the 18-55 lens as well or maybe to buy a Canon 24mm pancake lens for fast general shooting using the manual zoom technique. I also have a nifty fifty in my bag which is great for portraits on my crop sensor, but not much else.
The Turtle Whisperer:
You can actually get more range with the 18-300's... http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-18-300mm-F3-5-6-3-Macro-Cameras/dp/B00NJ9K52W/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1455977265&sr=1-1&keywords=sigma+18-300mm+cannon
But, they are probably several hundred more.
Mrtambourineman:
--- Quote from: The Turtle Whisperer on February 20, 2016, 09:10:22 AM ---You can actually get more range with the 18-300's... http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-18-300mm-F3-5-6-3-Macro-Cameras/dp/B00NJ9K52W/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1455977265&sr=1-1&keywords=sigma+18-300mm+cannon
But, they are probably several hundred more.
--- End quote ---
Well, my 18-55 appears to be crapping out so I test drove (so to speak) the sigma 18-250 today. It gets pretty good reviews, feels so much nicer than my 75-300 too. I'm going to download the shots I took today and take a look at it. I'm also thinking about buying the Canon 24mm f2.8 pancake lens to replace my 18-55 as local camera guy says its not worth getting the 18-55 repaired, $ are scarce at the moment and the 24mm pancake is highly regarded (and really cheap!). Any thoughts on that idea? I test drove the 24mm pancake today as well.
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