Advice on telephoto lens

[SoonRah]

What i am now looking for and would love to get some advice from you is, my wife is now wanting to be able to take closer images of people further away, ie surfers in the waves as she is on the beach. Kids sports day images from grandstand.

Obviously this would be a telephoto lens, we have a nikon D90 and would love any advice or suggestions on what you would suggest. Unfortunately we do budget so we are looking at something for under 1K.

With this in mind we are open to something second hand? Any suggestions for or against this? Maybe grey import?

ANy advice would be well appreciated.

Rah and Soon.

[kiwi]

What have you now ?

[Kym]

Surfers and sports from a grandstand need a decent length. typically 500mm or even more.
Getting as close to the action always helps.
300mm (shorter) can be ok if you get on the fence depending on the sport.
Kiwi will have more advice

[SoonRah]

We have an 28-200 Tammy
a 50mm Nikon Prime and a 90mm Tammy Macro
Cheers

[Wobbles]

For that price range I would recommend either Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM or Sigma 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 APO DG OS HSM. Both will give you the extra telephoto range requested. The 120-400 is smaller, lighter (may be important for wife) a bit 'faster' and cheaper. The 150-500 obviously has longer reach and reportedly slightly better optical performance. Both are well built and perform appropriately for the price bracket. A number of AP members have the 150-500 in particular so may be able to give further specific advice/experience. Both lenses are around your price limit, buying grey will definitelly get you one under $1k.

Cheers
John

[ving]

being a sigma 150-500 owner i can recommend this lens. it does a great job and while heavy isnt unbearably so. if she is lightly built maybe a good tripod to go with it would be in order.

[kiwi]

Yip, seems best option.

[reaction]

70-300 is a reasonable option, if you don't want to go the ultra heavy lenses.