Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG OS

[tahlia]

Hi All,

Im looking at buying my first zoom lens.

I dont have a big budget atm, and require a zoom lens for wildlife on an upcoming holiday - mainly moose, lynx, etc etc

I think a 400mm would be better, but I just cant afford it.

I've researched some of the 300mm and with the price, am I right to say that the Sigma 70-300mm DG OS (Latest 70-300mm) is prob a good starting point??

Has anyone got one?? what do the photo's crop like? Will I be able to crop, and get a better "zoom" on the picture, as if I was using a 400mm?? (sorry for prob incorrect terms)

And I have also read that on the APS-C camera's - which I think my 1000D is? that lens tends to have more zoom??? (I dont know how that works)

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Bercy]

I think for starting out this kit style lens is fine. I have the Canon equivalent but rarely use it now (but then I don't do a lot of wild life photography!). The apparent increase in range is because of the crop factor that occurs with the smaller sensor. This gives an apparent "magnification" of 1.6x. When dealing with a telephoto lens of this sort, the aperture will not be fast. You will have to record at faster shutter speeds to accommodate telephoto range, which means you will need lots of daylight to get adequate exposure, or crank up the ISO.

This is always a hard nut to crack, and why everybody starts to hanker for F2.8 tele's (of course they weigh lots!!) making the trekking hard. You just can't win!

Cropping in Lightroom or Photoshop is fine to a point, but to extract a little marmoset, that is a small part of the picture, does not seem to work too well. Always better the get the right picture in the first place!

Good luck.