want advice re 400mm or 500mm lens for Nikon

I have a Nikon D70s, with a Tamron 18-200mm.

I am looking for for a lens in the neighborhood of 400mm or 500mm.
500mm might be excessive for many purposes, so a zoom would be good.
400mm seems to be just about right.

I am looking for something that will cost me less than $400 or so.
Second-hand is okay, as long as it's in good condition.
At the same time, aftermarket lenses are okay ... as long as they are good.
I'm seeing lenses by Tokina and Phoenix that would fit my needs,
and I think I've seen some by both Tamron and Sigma as well.

AF would be preferable (given my eyesight), but manual would be okay,
as long as it known that the lens will mate with the D70s body.
(Usually I would be using such a lens at infinity anyway.)

Likewise, a lens designed for the digital sensor form factor would be nice,
but a lens designed for film would probably be okay, too.

Would folks be willing to chime in on the pros and cons of these brands
and their offerings in this focal range?

~ Scenic Man ~

"scenic_man" skrev i meddelandet
news:ea36h.884$xD.298@trndny08...
I have a Nikon D70s, with a Tamron 18-200mm.

I am looking for for a lens in the neighborhood of 400mm or 500mm.
500mm might be excessive for many purposes, so a zoom would be good.
400mm seems to be just about right.

I am looking for something that will cost me less than $400 or so.
Second-hand is okay, as long as it's in good condition.
At the same time, aftermarket lenses are okay ... as long as they are
good.
I'm seeing lenses by Tokina and Phoenix that would fit my needs,
and I think I've seen some by both Tamron and Sigma as well.

AF would be preferable (given my eyesight), but manual would be okay,
as long as it known that the lens will mate with the D70s body.
(Usually I would be using such a lens at infinity anyway.)

Likewise, a lens designed for the digital sensor form factor would be
nice,
but a lens designed for film would probably be okay, too.

Would folks be willing to chime in on the pros and cons of these brands
and their offerings in this focal range?

~ Scenic Man ~


If you are satisfied with your Tamron then go for the
Tamron SP AF200-500MM F/5-6.3 Di LD (IF)
A zoom that is worth the money but you also need to buy a tripod.
http://photo.net/equipment/tamron/200_500_Di/

Pepe

"Pepe" wrote in message
...
|
| "scenic_man" skrev i meddelandet
| news:ea36h.884$xD.298@trndny08...
| I have a Nikon D70s, with a Tamron 18-200mm.
|
| I am looking for for a lens in the neighborhood of 400mm or 500mm.
| 500mm might be excessive for many purposes, so a zoom would be good.
| 400mm seems to be just about right.

If you're willing to settle for not only manual focus but also manual
exposure, you can't do much better than the Nikon 500mm mirror lenses for
sharpness, size and weight.

If you're really strapped for cash, there are ~$120 "Korean" mirror lenses
available too. Some of them are half-decent (but that means half indecent
as well).

Norm

Norm Dresner wrote:

| I have a Nikon D70s, with a Tamron 18-200mm.
|
| I am looking for for a lens in the neighborhood of 400mm or 500mm.
| 500mm might be excessive for many purposes, so a zoom would be good.
| 400mm seems to be just about right.

If you're willing to settle for not only manual focus but also manual
exposure, you can't do much better than the Nikon 500mm mirror lenses for
sharpness, size and weight.

How does this work?
I thought exposure took place in the camera body, controlled by the
shutter(s).
Are you referring to aperture?
Do you mean that in such a lens one can manually control aperture,
or that the aperture is fixed?

Thanks,
~ Scenic Man ~

"scenic_man" wrote in message
news:SSl6h.2769$dz.1571@trndny09...
| Norm Dresner wrote:
|
| | I have a Nikon D70s, with a Tamron 18-200mm.
| |
| | I am looking for for a lens in the neighborhood of 400mm or 500mm.
| | 500mm might be excessive for many purposes, so a zoom would be good.
| | 400mm seems to be just about right.
|
| If you're willing to settle for not only manual focus but also manual
| exposure, you can't do much better than the Nikon 500mm mirror lenses
for
| sharpness, size and weight.
|
| How does this work?
| I thought exposure took place in the camera body, controlled by the
| shutter(s).
| Are you referring to aperture?
| Do you mean that in such a lens one can manually control aperture,
| or that the aperture is fixed?

In a mirror lens the aperture is fixed. Most "professional" Nikon bodies
(N90, F100, IIRC D200) will allow using these lenses in the A-mode
automatically but all of the Nikon "amateur" lenses (D50, D70, D80, etc)
allow only M(anual) mode use of them. For a digital camera where you have
"instant" feedback it isn't that awful if you ever learned to estimate
exposure in your head when you were still using film.

Norm