annie blossum Loc: USA

I'm looking at a D7100 Nikon sold at Walmart. It comes in a bundle deal with 3 lens and all of the accessories for $1,635. The 500mm lens is a telephoto. I'm taking pictures of eagles and need a more powerful lens than my 300mm. Can you tell me the difference in a 500mm zoom and 500 telephoto lens. As you can see this picture is highly cropped and I still can't get a sharp photo especially the eyes.
Shot with a 300mm sigma zoom lens at ISO 500 f6.7 direct sunlight.

Taken with Nikon D80 with 300mm sigma zoom lens at the Guntersville Dam in AL

terry44 Loc: Tuolumne County California, Maui Hawaii

what kind of lenses are in the package that may make the deal. Agood 500mm is expensive the mirror type are cheap 125-300 or more they do ok for so so shooting but are not sharp like a good 500 would be. the D7100 is an awesome camera but can be had for much less and if you wait you may be able to get the next version which from what I hear has some nice bells and whistles.

annie blossum Loc: USA

BUNDLE NIKON D7100
18-140 VR DX LENS NIKON
55-300MM VR DX AF-S VIVITAR 500MM TELEPHOTO
BACK PACK
64GB SDXC CARD
SPARE BATTERY
CASE FOR 8 MEMORY CARDS
PD SD/SDHC MICRO SP READER
CLEANING KIT
72" MONOPOD
T MOUNT
67 MM UV GLASS FILTER
REMOTE
Thanks for your interest and a fast response. My D80 has been sold but I'm using it until I get a D7100 so I would like to get it within the next few days.
I NEED AN AF FOR SURE.
REMOTE.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Anything longer than "normal" view, about 35mm on your D80 is a telephoto. A zoom lens covers more than one focal length, e.g., 24-70mm, 55-200mm, 150-500mm, etc.

A Nikon 500mm telephoto lens costs $7500.

There are also 500mm "mirror" lenses, about $150 like Terry said. They're short and fat, about as wide as they are long. Forget these for wildlife. The are very touchy in focusing and do not give good resolution.

Moving from a D80 to a D7100 is a tremendous idea that won't disappoint you. But I'd look carefully at that bundle. Chances are two of the lenses are the "kit" lenses, and you may have something similar already. The D7100 is at a terrific low price point right now. Body only is about $1000 and refurb is about $750. Add to that a Sigma 150-500mm (price has dropped from $1070 to $870 since the new 150-600mm's came out), and you're all set. OK?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

The D7100 is an excellent choice of cameras for this purpose. It can resolve finer detail than virtually any other DSLR currently available!

A 500mm lens is by definition a telephoto lens. That just means it has a long focal length. A zoom lens is one you can change the focal length. Two different things that aren't really related.

What you need is a relatively decent 500mm focal length lens. There are lots of 500mm lenses around, but they range from very poor to very good. And in lock step that absolutely is from inexpensive to very expensive. You can almost measure the quality by the price. Perhaps two that are close might be inverted, but you can bet that any lens with a price half of another is half as good too.

So... If you want to go whole hog, look at Nikkor 400mm f/2.8, 500mm f/4 and 600mm f/4 lenses. You'll need to break a few piggy banks too.

The next step down might be a Sigma fixed focal length, or one of their longer zooms. These are still expensive, as well as big and heavy.

The closest thing to economical are the Sigma and Tamron 150-600mm zooms and the Nikkor 80-400mm zoom. (I would not suggest any of the older Sigma zooms, such as their 150-500mm or the 50-500mm. By comparison the other three are significantly better.)

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

I see now the 500mm is a Vivitar. They make both a 500 mirror lens and a 500mm non-mirror lens, but I would still run from either of those.

I don't know why you put REMOTE in caps at the end, but those can be had for $5. Please note that the other bundled accessories are non brand specific and will probably disappoint you.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

HEY! You logged out while we're talking to you! Now quit clowning around. :lol:

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

terrible bundle, don't even think about it.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Yes, my wife does that all the time to me too!! :lol:
SS

glgracephoto Loc: Arlington, WA

I find too often that bundles like this are full of low quality stuff you'll end up needing to replace anyway, The Nikon lens is a lower end kit lens, and the Vivitar 500 I am not too sure of beyond its likely to be pretty low quality

any really good 500 is going to be very expensive, but there is the at least reachable Sigma 150-500 which is servicable and usable...cost more but at least you'd not end up throwing it away. Your filters are probably cheap glass, monopod or tripod likely really weak and wobbly, and as for a good camera pack, far more likely to wanna shop around as it seems many of us buy several before we're satisfied.

meanwhile I got e-mail today that Nikon is having another sale/rebate program, and I saw a D7100 with the very usable 18-140 lens for a lower price

Here is a nice bundle with more good stuff and less junk you'd throw away at Adorama:

http://www.adorama.com/INKD7100K2.html

also a refurbished D7100 for only $699
http://www.adorama.com/INKD7100R.html

Here are all their D7100 deals

http://www.adorama.com/l/Cameras/Nikon~Digital-SLR-Cameras?sel=Model_Nikon-D7100

glgracephoto Loc: Arlington, WA

By the way I LOVE my D7100, you'll be happy with it, but I think that Walmart bundle stinks

annie blossum Loc: USA

Sorry I didn't know I logged out when I went to look for more information on lens.

annie blossum Loc: USA

Your right in the drop in price on 500mm. Here was my thinking. If I spend the money on the camera plus the sigma 500mm lens I'm going to have a $880 + lens and a $1000 camera because I want to go with a new one. If I don't buy the 500mm sigma plus the money I got for my other camera I will have around 1,300 to spend on the bundle. The way it looks if I get the camera and the 500mm lens I will be spending close to $1900 on those 2 items. I sold my Nikon D80. So considering the fact that I no longer have my old camera 55mm and 300mm lens I'm not in very good shape. Since I wanted to upgrade to a newer camera I thought this would be a good way to do that. I will have a newer model camera and lens I need to shot song birds and eagle pictures. I will have the camera, lens plus the other things I posted. My camera case went with the other camera. The remote I know is not expensive but it is part of the bundle. Some of the other thing I don't really need. What has my attention is that I'm here with a borrowed camera which is fine with my friend and a borrowed 300mm sigma lens. I would like to purchase the camera in the next few days and I knew with all of the professional knowledge this was the perfect place to start. I first looked into adding a 2X converter to the 300mm. I was advised to go with the 500mm instead. I guess not knowing the difference in the 500mm zoom and the telephoto lens has me questioning the bundle. I read about it on the internet but I didn't seem to understand the details. I don't want to buy something I won't be happy with. The price of over $2,000 won't work with my budget. So with this jumble up information I hope it is clear enough to follower. Thanks for your help but I will need to log off soon.

annie blossum Loc: USA

So if I go with the 500mm telephoto it won't zoom in and out to get the correct focus like my 300mm AF did. How would or would AF work for this type lens.

annie blossum Loc: USA

I was being lazy and I thought all the text was in caps.