Fast tele lens (sigma tamron or others?)

treynolds

Well-known member
So my brother-in-law is looking for a new lens to shoot the nephew. He wants something on the long end (thing 70-200) thats pretty fast but the budget is kinda tight. Macro capabilities would be nice but not required. He has the older canon 70-200 f/4-5.6 and its too slow for most of his shooting on the long end. My first suggestion was the canon 70-200 2.8 but the price point is a bit high for him.

I did some looking and found these other choices
http://www.tamron.com/en/photolens/di_hi_speed/a001.html
Found the tamron online for about $750
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/70-200mm-f28-ex-dg-apomacro-hsm-ii-sigma
And the sigma for $800
Anybody shoot on either of these lenses and have any input?

or does anybody know of another lens thats a cheaper choice than those?

He is up in Toronto so i dont know what the used gear market looks like up there but im scouring his local craigslist to see.

Thanks for the help guys
 
Tamron's AF is slow and noisy. Very sharp, comparable to an L lens.
Sigma's AF is fast and quiet'er. Not as sharp.

I ordered the Tamron one a few days ago, still waiting for it to come.
 
I've got the Tamron and the picture quality is excellent. I've never used the L version though so can't compare it to that.

I bought the Tamron because I planned to use it for video 99% of the time. If I'd be planning to use it mainly for stills, I would've got the Sigma instead due to the much better AF system.
 
I think you'd like this site (which confirms many of the tips from Anhyee):
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=4&APIComp=0
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=4&APIComp=0

if he doesn't need autofocus, I'd also consider vintage primes, for example a leitz elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8, or a carl zeiss jena sonnar 180mm f/2.8
(I have the czj sonnar; it's sharp, but not as much as I expected; bokeh is absolutely amazing; it's also big and heavy, though)
 
I would go the vintage prime route myself for sure but im not sure he would do the same.

thanks for the link it really does confirm the tamron is super sharp and for the price its a great deal.

Thanks for all the input guys.
 
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