300m Lens needed or over

It arrived and I'm very happy with it. The zoom is significantly stiffer than my old lense, but that's not a problem.

Mind you, having to buy a new polarising filter for it is! I suppose I could've selotaped the 58mm filter from my old lense onto it, but I suspect that might not be satisfactory.

Andrew McP

Well i have been to see both the lenses the sigma zoom was very smooth and the auto focus worked a treat then he brought the tamaron out the first thing i saw was it didn't look and feel well built as the sigma they both appeared to do the same focus was better on the sigma eg speed plus it had all the original case and hood with it. the camera shop did say it was a entry level sigma but sigma was no longer making this but if i needed any spares they were easy to get then the tamaron ummmmm decisions decisions

If you buy a new polarising filter how about buying one larger than you currently need, and a set of stepping rings so that you can fit it to your current (and potential future) lenses?

That's probably a very sensible solution... though as I'm waiting for Sigma to get round to making/importing some more PK-fit Bigmas, which take an 86mm filter, that'd be quite a step up!

Anyway, too late now. Ebay is very good for relatively small, quick purchases, and I found a Hoya filter for under £20. Not the top end variety (nor the cheapest, which are suspiciously inexpensive!), but it'll earn its keep if the sun shines at all next weekend at RIAT... or tomorrow in Rochester, where I hope to use the new zoom to get deep into the Tour de France peloton as it heads towards me near the Cathedral. It depends how work goes tonight. I may mark this historic occasion by going to bed instead.

Thanks for the advice anyway. I'll certainly bear it in mind in the future.

Andrew McP

Even if autofocus works fine with it, would you really be happy with a maximum aperture of F6.7 at 300mm? And you have to wonder about the optical quality - which is more important than the build quality (as long as it's adequate).

F5.6 will be more useful sometimes in low light or for fast moving subjects, and it also makes the viewfinder brighter. Also check out what speed (max aperture) of the Sigma is at 200mm (I don't know). The Tamron is F4.5 - which is pretty useful.

You're unlikely to need any spare parts, and if the worst did happen, it may be cheaper and more convenient to replace the lens anyway than get it repaired - with whatever low-budget lens you get.