Motorsport/airshows

[NiceCupOfTea]

What's a good lens for this sort of stuff?

I have a Nikkor 70-300 which is very fuzzy at full reach. Recently bought a Nikkor 55-200 VR which is great, but will it give me enough reach for airshows and motorsport? Cropping isn't a great option as I only have 7MP to play with

[LaSarthe+Back]

Canon's 100-400 is grea... Oh.

Seriously, Nikon's equivalent, I guess, would be the 80-400 f/4.5-5.6

Not sure on IQ though. Try www.pixel-peeper.com for some sample pics.

Andy

Edited for spelling and blimmin formatting!

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Tuesday 22 January 21:55

Edited by LaSarthe+Back on Tuesday 22 January 21:57

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks! Looks good, but rather rich for my blood. I suppose I was hoping somebody would say my 55-200 VR would do the job

Wonder what the Tamron &c offerings are like...

[V6GTO]

How much is a Sigma Bigma?

[flat-planedCrank]

V6GTO said:

How much is a Sigma Bigma?

£728.99 on warehouse express




(its the 50-500mm F4-6.3 EX DG )


Cheers.

[CarMac]

NiceCupOfTea said:

I have a Nikkor 70-300 which is very fuzzy at full reach.

I use a Sigma 70-300 APO for motorsport/airshows etc and I've had some brilliant results with my D50. I can't believe the Nikkor equivalent is worse.

You have more pixels than me too

[LaSarthe+Back]

What about a 2x extender?

[flat-planedCrank]

LaSarthe+Back said:

What about a 2x extender?

I'm guessing you would lose 2 stops with the 2x extender ? With both of the lenses being f5.6 at their long end i'm guessing you would lose the AF as well...

There is a 1.4x also, normally only lose 1 stop with them.
Not sure of the subtleties of Nikon kit though I'm from over-the-fence



Cheers.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks guys - I reckon for this airshow "season" I'll see how I get on with the 70-300 with a little fuzziness and the 55-200 with some cropping and see how it works

Then if I need more lenses then so be it

[flat-planedCrank]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Thanks guys - I reckon for this airshow "season" I'll see how I get on with the 70-300 with a little fuzziness and the 55-200 with some cropping and see how it works

Then if I need more lenses then so be it

Is the 70-300 still fuzzy if you stop it back a bit ? might be able to trade a bit of grain for some sharpness


Cheers.

[Goldeeno]

Whats the f stop for the 70-200? Can you get away using a converter? x1.4 or x2?

[beano500]

Goldeeno said:

Whats the f stop for the 70-200? Can you get away using a converter? x1.4 or x2?

By the time you've gone for a 70-200 (which is f2.8 by the way) and extended it with a TC you are really in the big league - you may as well dream of a 200-400 !

But what about looking out a secondhand 80-200 f2.8 AF-S lens (there are plenty of non-AF-S around too) and then adding a TC 1.7 - that would give you good reach of up to 340mm and you can still work to an effective f4 (IIRC)?

[V6GTO]

Nicecupoftea...could the fuzziness at 300mm be due to too slow a shutter speed? Fir a non IS lens you'd be wanting 1/400 or higher to avoid camera shake.

Martin.

[spitfire-ian]

The flying pictures here were taken using the 70-300. These are exactly as they came out of the camera but if you sharpen them slightly in photoshop or something they look absolutely fine.

[NiceCupOfTea]

could be - I was basically given it as a "not very good" lens. I have some shots of the statue of liberty taken with it that came out OK, I'll dig them out and post them...

It's a Nikon Nikkor AF 70-300 1:4-5.6 G

The 55-200 is the current Nikkor AF-S 4-5.6 G ED VR.

[F308 MAN]

almost everyone above mentions zoom lenses .... have fixed focals gone out of fashion and (as per usual) i've not noticed ?

surely ff lenses will outshine the zoom lenses ?

d

[Famous Graham]

F308 MAN said:

almost everyone above mentions zoom lenses .... have fixed focals gone out of fashion and (as per usual) i've not noticed ?

surely ff lenses will outshine the zoom lenses ?

d

Yup - my mainstay has been a 400 L. None of these are cropped.









It is occassionally too long - such as Shuttleworth, where the flight line is very close, but for things like Fairford, it's just about perfect.

Edited by Famous Graham on Wednesday 23 January 18:12

[NiceCupOfTea]

I had considered a fixed but wondered if you lose a bit of flexibility when you have to "snap" and don't have the time or space to compose a shot.

Plus they seem to be just as big and not a whole lot cheaper than a zoom (unless I've been looking in the wrong places! )

[anonymous-user]

100-400L IS is what you need

With a slight bit of cropping

Oh.....and you need a Canon aswell

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 23 January 18:52

[Goldeeno]

Seeing above, makes me glad i opted for a 100-400L , not had a proper go with it tho, roll on summer .