Best longish lens for under £400

As it says in the title.

I'm looking to get a longish lense - I know there's a number of xx-300mm zooms out there but I was wondering what you lot thought.

I've got in the region of £400 to spend. Ideally I'd like upwards of 200mm and the quicker the better (strictly speaking ideally I'd like the Sigma 300mm f/2.8 EX DG ..... but that ain't gonna happen!), as I intend to use the lens for motorsport/rugby etc.

At the moment the 28-300mm Tamron looks alright, just looking for some input....

Cheers.

A 28-300 wouldn't be top of my list - I'd rather have the Sigma 70-300 APO Macro than one of those.

Top of my list for a new lens would probably be the Sigma 135-400 F4.5-5.6 DG APO (warehouseexpress list it at £410 in Pentax mount).

I have a Pentax 200/2.5 and a 300/4 in the classifieds at the moment if they are of interest.

Kim

What about the sigma 170-500 f5-6.3 APO they go for about 320quid

You might want to try this one at FFordes:

80-200 f2.8 manual focus (probably not KA?) - £99


https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm

The Sigma 135-400mm APO DG is a very good lens for about the kind of money you are wanting to spend. It's a bit faster than the 170-500mm too so will better suit your sports requirement.

Long and fast lenses of the kind you see on the touchline at premier football matches are not cheap. Some cost several thousand pounds and on a budget of £400'ish, the Sigma I mentioned above is about your best option.

I have a 135-600mm 1:6.7 lens which is ideally suited to sports photography . . . if you have the muscles (4Kg + the body) and the room to wield it. If your are seated on the terraces, forget it. It'd be good for motorsport though.

Cheers for the input, I might just go with the Sigma 70-300 APO Macro ... that was one of the lenses I was already thinking about.

The Sigma 135-400mm APO DG is tempting ..... but given the price difference between the two I'd be tempted to to save the cash and grab another bit of kit with it.

My usual long lens is a 80-200 F2.8 with or without a 2x TC but as it's big and heavy I bought one of the Sigma 70-300's (2nd hand - there are usually plenty about) for when I wanted to travel a bit lighter. I've been quite happy with the lens, including at the long end and for macro, considering it's price etc.

I use the sigma your considering more than any other lens at present and cant fault it for the money.

Definitely not KA. I ebayed one of those for about £80 a month or so ago. Not a bad lens at all, but front element turns when focusing, and a bit of vignetting wide open.

And it's heavy.

Dan

If you're considering the Sigma 70-300mm I'd suggest taking a look at the Tamron 70-300 as a possible alternative. I've tried both and found the Tamron to be better. That it is better is of course just my opinion, but certainly the Tamron is at least as good, and costs less.

Plus Sigma are just being cheeky calling theirs "APO".