Attached Link: http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/lenses/telezoom/170-500mm.htm

Talking of blur and shake in another thread made me think...

I've been using a Sigma 70-300mm and it's nice, AF is fast and smooth etc etc. 
Needing a litte extra range, got a 1.4x teleconvertor from my local box shifter. 

Wether it was that or a fault, the 300mm started making loud scary wrenching grinding noises. The box shifter was no help whatsoever, intially even refusing a refund. Fortunately Sigma where good enough to repair the 300 for free, but I'm a bit wary of using another T/C in case the same problem happens again.

Now I see the box shifter is offering a new Sigma 170-500 (sony fit - link above) for £550, and the local Jessops has agreed to price match.

Question is what are these lenses like? I see the weight is around 5lbs. and about 30mm (a foot) fully extended, using a tripod is out and I'm not sure about a monopod.

I've read because of he digital effect the 300 becomes a 450, so logically a 500 would be like a 800. but what the effects of shake at that level ?

Also are there any other brands [I've heard of Tamrom] that would do the job at a similar price or level ?
 

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

if you are going that route i have heard that Sigma 50-500mm is a pretty decent lens... you need decent light at the long end, but the images are apparently surprisingly crisp considering what the lens actually is in terms of zoom.  I was considering dropping my 70-200 and 2x TC combo for it...

As for weight - well that is up to you really and what you can handle.  I would suggest that you need some sort of stabalisation above about the 300mm range... if not before, but then that depends on how well your cam performs at high iso.

Why is a tripod "out" and a monopod unsure? dont want to lugg one around or you dont have funds?

ETA - apparently there is a sigma 150-500mm out recently. might be worth a look (it has OS - sigma's version of IS or VR):

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3348&navigator=3

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography

Attached Link: Tokina

Sigma or Tamron, I would not bother with either.  I have owned lenses from both.  none have been great.  Have you considered Tokina? The AT-X 840 AF is brilliant! It may be 400mm not 500mm but you would get better optics unless you have a Canon L series lens.

 ecurb - The Devil

David - you are basing that on what lenses? the sigma i sold you was an old film lens - and i'm fairly sure you dont own any high end digital sigmas.  Have you had a look through the sigma 70-200?  Also the recommendation to me for the 50-500 came from a pro photographer who owns L-glass... (and incidentally the lens has a higher user rating than the tokina you recommended on the site i quote below). A sweeping statement of "dont use this manufacturer" isnt really productive or objective...

Anyway - besides personal experiences with lenses or manufacturers, for an objective look at various lenses look at this site for any further info on the majority of lenses out there - it has multiple user reviews, not a lone "expert" (which is basically all me and david are in this thread) - and is a good gauge of how a lens performs as two isolated and conflicting ideas about a lens' performance arent going to help:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

The 170-500 isnt on there but here is an interesting forum thread which probably you should take stock of:

http://forum.warehouseexpress.com/message.asp?FTopicID=1509

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography

Maybe not but I do own some canon L lenses.  I had a sigma 12 - 24mm ex lens that was rubbish compared to my canon 16-35mm L  I also have a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM

So I do have experience of the L lenses.  

 ecurb - The Devil

I wasnt talking about that...  everything is sub-standard vs an L-lens... (and that isnt an option here anyway - sony body...)

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography

Thanks for the links I'll check those out - do you have any recommended UK suppliers?  
Cheaper the better obviously :)

Why is a tripod "out" and a monopod unsure?

• Mostly for airshows and car/bike racing. I've tried 'tracking' aerobatic displays before with a tripod and I find it quite difficult to track well. Even after lubing the mount. Never tried a monopod.

The larger shows also keep the crowd way back from the action, and at even big places like Farnbrough you'll find a tripod gets in the way of people. I like to be considerate, unlike some of the hardcore spotters who use stepladders. 

For the racing, got a mate who's a marshall and sometimes you're not supposed to be there :) 

Talking of shows - Goodword aero club is up this weekend sunday/monday. Small and friendly.  

dont want to lugg one around or you dont have funds?
I've got a couple and the ever usefull gorilla-grip thingy. But yea sometimes lugging stuff is a real PITA. Like this year, I'm ditching the laptop and taking a Jobo Giga.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

I hear ya :) Tho if money is no boundary you might look into some of the heads which Wimberley make:

http://www.tripodhead.com/

Well - OneStopDigital - isnt UK, but will pay your VAT if you get landed with it (guaranteed):

http://www.onestop-digital.com - i got some stuff from there before with no trouble.

But if you want to look specifically for UK try these two second hand dealers - sometimes you might get lucky - tho the second hand market tends to be dominated by canon and nikon in my experience of these sites:

http://www.t4cameras.co.uk/
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/index.php

Bristol cameras tends to pop up a lot when i look for decent priced lenses so you might try there as a retailer:

http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/

Otherwise google is your friend... hit the "Products" tab and fire away with model names :)

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography

I have several Sigma lenses and all have perfomed very well.  My first was a little zoom from 18 to 110mm of the lower priced bunch. It does well but the higher quality versions are much better. I have a 30mm prime which is outstanding in all aspects.
 
As for telezoom, I have the full frame version of the 100-300mm. And, it does very, very well. It is f/4.0 which is good enough for me most of the time. I use a 1.4 Sigma teleconverter with it and although this makes the largest aperture 5.6, the set works very well with no slowdown in auto focus or in continuous focus mode.  I generally use a tripod and manual focus with the converter but it works very well either way.   I believe there is a "for digital" version out and I got the full frame before that happened.   In the better quality Sigma, I have found the results very good and will recommend highly.  Saved a few bucks, got a lens I could not find in Nikon and am happy with it.   Sorry, I have only one lens with stabalization and it is not a sigma, it is a Nikon 18-200.

As for crop effect, you are going to get the magnification the lens provides. That is it. Figure as with binoculars, 1x is normal.  7x is seven times magnificaltion.    About 50mm is one magnification, meaning 50mm is one to one and 150mm is 3x, 500mm is 10x.  Even with binoculars, 10x needs some steady rest for most of us.   The camera will crop the image and it will appear larger. Actually, you are getting the same magnification but in a smaller frame.  Think of a larger picture frame on the same field of view...then use a smaller picture frame..that is what the ratio means...it is a crop, not a magnification increase.    Now, you do get the entire smaller crop with all the pixels the cam will allow..so it is workable as a larger image and not as a crop of the larger image.   You still get the same magnification...only a smaller part of the field of view compared to 35mm and all the pixels devoted to the smaller crop.

Yikes, I have run out of words and likely that is ok with most here.   : )  Tom.

The majority of ther images in my gallery were taken with a Sigma 50-500Hsm($999.99). It is heavy but it is the best lens I have used in the last 30 years. Most shots were handheld.

Addendum:  My choice of the Sigma over the Nikon lenses of the same quality was not made by $$ constraints, it was made after actually testing both lenses.
Now that I have converted from Nikon to Canon, the 50-500 will be the first lens I purchase for the Canon system.

All great info - thanks everyone.

I'll definately chase up on those links and truth be told probably have to aim based on price, and also whats about I have noticed doesn't seem to as a wide a choice for sony [minolota] as muich as canon/nikon.

The 70-300 got a good test today in pretty overcast conditions and perfomed quite well.   
Pictures on my 2nd machine, I'll post one tommorow.

A chap nearby had a 400 on a new canon and we swapped for a few seconds there didn't seem like there was much difference, though the canon had the edge at 10 FPS over the sonys 3FPS.    

At the same time I'd lent my Fuji FD6500 to a friend who was at another show, that has a 300 fixed  which says 135 equiv, the shutter lag on that is bad, but in the shots he got you could definately see the difference.  

What I did see today was something strange, a lens with a diameter the size of a stereo - about 2-3 foot long on what looked like two tripods. There was what looked a rocket storage crate nearby. The SLR on the back looked tiny in comparison. I didn't speak to the guy but it looked it would be quite tricky to try and track something fast. 

BTW - also tried the jobo mega 1 today, and if you need a way of freeing up memory cards it's a lot nicer than lugging around a laptop. Not particulary fast but effective.  

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.