Best place to buy Lenses?

[jagdpanther]

Well, my trusty old Sigma 70-300 APO lens decided to give up the ghost while trying to shoot some otters on sunday. I zoomed in a little when Woolleson and myself heard an almighty crack from within the lens...now it wont zoom.

You can push & pull the tube to extend and retract, but that aint no good plus the lens was more of a consumer lens so its time to upgrade.

Im after something with a little more backbone and Im giving some serious thought to investing in Sigmas "Bigma" 50-500mm F4-6.3 APO EX HSM lens, but this being my first time buying something of this ilk, I would like to know where you guys recommend purchasing from?

Any help is appreciated

[MonkeyHanger]

camerapricebuster.co.uk

Then there's Kerso on Ebay for Canon Gear. The Hong Kong dealers (Onestop Digital, DigitalRev, URGalaxy etc) are all pretty good too.

What's your planned use for the lens and what's the budget?

[jagdpanther]

MonkeyHanger said:

camerapricebuster.co.uk

Then there's Kerso on Ebay for Canon Gear. The Hong Kong dealers (Onestop Digital, DigitalRev, URGalaxy etc) are all pretty good too.

What's your planned use for the lens and what's the budget?

Ive used Kerso before so shall give him a look up and see if he has what Im after

Im looking at UR Galaxy right now as they have the two lenses that I want

Erm

intended use for lens number one: Motorsport, wildlife, airplanes, occasional moon shot

intended use for second lens: wide angle stuff including motorsport

The two lenses Im looking at are Sigmas 10-20mm and the Bigma 50-500

Budget will hopefully be just under a 1k

[MonkeyHanger]

jagdpanther said:

Ive used Kerso before so shall give him a look up and see if he has what Im after

Im looking at UR Galaxy right now as they have the two lenses that I want

Erm

intended use for lens number one: Motorsport, wildlife, airplanes, occasional moon shot

intended use for second lens: wide angle stuff including motorsport

The two lenses Im looking at are Sigmas 10-20mm and the Bigma 50-500

Budget will hopefully be just under a 1k

Used 100-400L ? You could have had mine for £600 a few months ago, but there are plenty out there for 6-700.

http://www.eos-classifieds.com/index.php?a=2&b...

Plenty of good used dealers out there too. MPB Photographic, Ffordes, Aperture Photographic, to name but a few

Edited by MonkeyHanger on Monday 25th February 17:14

[jagdpanther]

MonkeyHanger said:

jagdpanther said:

Ive used Kerso before so shall give him a look up and see if he has what Im after

Im looking at UR Galaxy right now as they have the two lenses that I want

Erm

intended use for lens number one: Motorsport, wildlife, airplanes, occasional moon shot

intended use for second lens: wide angle stuff including motorsport

The two lenses Im looking at are Sigmas 10-20mm and the Bigma 50-500

Budget will hopefully be just under a 1k

Used 100-400L ? You could have had mine for £600 a few months ago, but there are plenty out there for 6-700.

http://www.eos-classifieds.com/index.php?a=2&b...

Plenty of good used dealers out there too. MPB Photographic, Ffordes, Aperture Photographic, to name but a few

Edited by MonkeyHanger on Monday 25th February 17:14

Ive thought about a piece of L series glass and Im highly tempted

A couple of reasons why the Bigma is on my list is because
A: its a bloody good lens
B: I can buy one from UR for £530 with 7 yr warranty

This is pretty much the only deciding factor at the moment

I need to buy a lens that leaves me enough dosh to get my hands on a Sigma 10-20mm too

[Simpo Two]

Thsi any help?

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1...

[jagdpanther]

Simpo Two said:

Thsi any help?

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1...

Dayum you Simpo

[MonkeyHanger]

jagdpanther said:

I need to buy a lens that leaves me enough dosh to get my hands on a Sigma 10-20mm too

So that's £280-300 at UK prices.

£700 should buy you a decent used 1-400 or Kerso has them listed @ £819 new, but will discount them a bit more if you buy outside of EBay to avoid fees etc.

Be aware the 50-500 really needs a good monopod to get the best out of it.

[jagdpanther]

MonkeyHanger said:

jagdpanther said:

I need to buy a lens that leaves me enough dosh to get my hands on a Sigma 10-20mm too

So that's £280-300 at UK prices.

£700 should buy you a decent used 1-400 or Kerso has them listed @ £819 new, but will discount them a bit more if you buy outside of EBay to avoid fees etc.

Be aware the 50-500 really needs a good monopod to get the best out of it.

Having looked at the DPReview thanks to Simpo Two, I might be swaying more towards the L series glass

I'll drop Kerso an email and see what hes got to say

[Simpo Two]

jagdpanther said:

Having looked at the DPReview thanks to Simpo Two, I might be swaying more towards the L series glass

No worries, for once I have no opinon I just did a Google image search for 'bigma' to see what it looked like.

[jagdpanther]

Simpo Two said:

jagdpanther said:

Having looked at the DPReview thanks to Simpo Two, I might be swaying more towards the L series glass

No worries, for once I have no opinon I just did a Google image search for 'bigma' to see what it looked like.

Its a bloody good lens the Bigma, but at 500 it looks to be a little soft

[Piers_K]

But as the Canon doesnt go to 500.. or 50 for that matter..

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?for...

Edited by Piers_K on Monday 25th February 18:44

[Simpo Two]

The old rule of wossname is at work: 'The more a lens does, the less well it does it'.

[jagdpanther]

It would be nice to get the Bigma for the airplane stuff when I head down to the Mach Loop, but is it worth losing quality for the extra 100-200mm?

I supposed I could always buy a 1.4x TC to slap on a 70-200L or a 100-400L

Ive already got a Canon 50mm prime F1.8 MkII which is a corking little lens so not much use for anything in that range so......

Edited by jagdpanther on Monday 25th February 18:55

[Piers_K]

Tell old wossname.. "the more a lens does the more use it is"

Its a trade off.. slap a TC on the 100-400 and you gain an extra 60mm over the bigma.. but the IQ goes down..
Are you ever going to print something that is blown up to 100%? A4 max? Would you notice the difference.. Dont get caught up with pixel peeping..

For what its worth.. I looked at all 3 and went with the prime.. but its sharpness was only a part of it.. focus speed.. weight.. color rendition

[Simpo Two]

Piers_K said:

Tell old wossname.. "the more a lens does the more use it is"

So you bought a prime

[jagdpanther]

Simpo Two said:

Piers_K said:

Tell old wossname.. "the more a lens does the more use it is"

So you bought a prime

Right,

I would like a prime just because of the IQ, but it doesnt give me the flexability that I need for the motorsport stuff which is why Im debating between 70-200, 100-400 and 50-500

I like the 70-200L, its a corking lens, light and very versatile not to mention a damn good price so thats leading the pack at the moment

I very much would like the 100-400L but the price is significantly higher, but it gives me that little more range that I would need for airplane photography although that being said, Im confident that I could use a pod, connect a TC to the 70-200L and still get a good range, just not quite upto the 400mm mark

The bigma is still in the running though, mainly due to the price and the availability...I know where there is one for sale on the cheap which could be a good buy, but I really want to think this through before throwing my money at someone

On the printing front, I do like to print my shots if possible and I am planning on doing a lot of printing above A4 all the way upto A2 and bigger if I can

[Rude Girl]

I was pretty certain I was going to buy the Bigma, but I took a body and CF card in to a shop and put a range of lenses on and took some shots and immediately changed my mind. I bought the 100-400, and the OH bought the 70-200 1.2IS. For what it's worth, the 70-200 is heavier than the 100-400.

[jagdpanther]

Rude Girl said:

I was pretty certain I was going to buy the Bigma, but I took a body and CF card in to a shop and put a range of lenses on and took some shots and immediately changed my mind. I bought the 100-400, and the OH bought the 70-200 1.2IS. For what it's worth, the 70-200 is heavier than the 100-400.

Oh its bound to be at that apperture

Due to the price and range I need to cover, unless a 100-400L comes along cheap, Im going to be going for 70-200F4L non IS (dont need it) and probably a Sigma 10-20mm couple together with either a Sigma 24-70 or a Sigma Macro

[Piers_K]

Simpo Two said:

Piers_K said:

Tell old wossname.. "the more a lens does the more use it is"

So you bought a prime

Of course.. Are you mad? Have you seen this http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1...