I've no experience with the FA 400mm, but reports are that a crop from the DA 300mm is sharper. Wouldn't a DA 300mm with HD 1.4x TC be a better bet for an f5.6 lens around 400mm?

Generally I think it is a good lens, particularly when stopped down to f5.6-8. I have been a bit dissapointed with it at 18mm though (even stopped down). And wide open mine is a bit flaky across most of the range. Still a useful lens in good light.

Looking forward to hearing all about that 560! Welcome!

Yes, this is a good point. I mostly shoot static subjects, so I haven't really evaluated this with the new 1.4 TC yet. Mike inspired me to take the 50-500 out this evening (even though I felt like I was carrying a TV camera ), there's a couple of shots at 500mm on my flickr stream here.

I didn't realise you already had the new 1.4x TC, that makes things interesting! There's no perfect option really, you'll probably not use the TC with the 150-500? Maybe the 60-250 is still a little short for you and the DA 300 doesn't zoom. Unless you can find a sigma 100-300 f4 somewhere (I never have)! That TC is begging for a DA* though A second hand 60-250 is not a million miles away from a new 150-500.

I agree with all the above, but I thought I throw a couple more into the mix. I have some experience with the Sigma 50-500, DA 60-250, DA 300, AF 1.7x TC and recently the new 1.4x TC. All three lenses are capable of excellent results, I actually got more shot to shot variation due to handholding and bad technique than due to lens differences.

Assuming you're going for maximum reach and have enough margin to crop to a similar subject size, I'd rate the image quality as (best first):

1. DA 300+1.4 TC (@420)
2. 50-500 (@500), DA 300, DA 300+1.7 TC (@510) (all on a par)
3. DA 60-250+1.4TC (@350)
4. DA 60-250 (@250)
5. DA 60-250+1.7 TC (@425)

DA 300
As everyone has said, a superb option if you're always at the long end and don't need to zoom. Sharp from f4! And the 1.4 TC seems to work very well it.

DA 60-250
This lens completely blew me away when I first used one. I couldn't believe it was a zoom. Very sharp, and really not all that far off from the DA 300. A bit soft at f4, but only needs to be stopped down to f4.5 to be very usable. It's maybe a bit short, but it works well with the 1.4 TC and I think makes a very flexible and viable combination for larger wildlife. It's also a light weight when compared with the sigma.

Sigma 50-500
This is a big and heavy lens and, I think, a full frame lens, so bigger and heavier than it needs to be for our cameras. It needs good light, but stopped down to f8.0 produces really excellent results at 500mm, in my opinion on par with a crop from the DA 300. It doesn't have the pixel level sharpness of the DA60-250 and 300, so you lose a bit of "croppablity", but I didn't notice any significant degradation from 400-500, so it is possibly better than the 150-500 in this regard. AF is fast and I liked the optical image stabilisation too. It seems quite expensive compared with the sigma 150-500, but I think is still pretty good value compared with a DA*+TC.

Overall it depends what you're shooting and if you want the flexibility to zoom or need maximum reach. For me now the 60-250+TC makes a good all-round travel option.

Thanks Mike, that's good to know. I've been weighing up whether to go for the 1.4x TC or a K3 to get some extra reach on the 60-250mm.

Steve you beat me to it!

The DA* 300 doesn't autofocus when used with the 1.7x AF adaptor. The adaptor does all the focusing (the adaptor doesn't have the SDM contacts, so the lens essentially becomes manual focus). Because the focus range of the AF adapter is limited you have to focus the lens to approximately where you want it and then let the AF adaptor fine tune it. It sounds a bit cumbersome, but it actual works quite well, as you basically have a focus limiter. I get pretty good results with the 1.7x adaptor and the DA* 300. It's not quite so good (at least for me) with the 60-250mm.

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