Saleavitt10 Loc: Maine

What would you pick for Wildlife and Birds in Flight. I see the Nikon is $400 off through today?

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

Already have the Sigma 150-500mm and happy with it .
The new Tamron 150-600 has shown lots of good photo's for close to the same price as the Sigma 150-500mm.
Pete

Saleavitt10 Loc: Maine

Thanks Pete. My dilema is when will the new Tamron be released with a Nikon mount?

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

Should be any time now from what I've heard, early to mid March was last I read.
Check Adorama or B&H 's web sites and see what they say.
Pete

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

I think the difference is AF. The 80-400 is extremely fast and absolute must for shooting wildlife. Some one did an online analysis of the two and thought about throwing the Sigma out the door.

The image quality of the 80-400 is exceptional. Exceptional lens coating to keep our flares. It s a professional lenses and you get professional results. Why would you go to incredible places, spend incredible amounts of money to get there to capture one-in-a-lifetime images only to come home disappointed? Why would you purchase a lens whose resale will likely drop to nothing in a year while the Nikon will retain its value for a decade or more?

Alois

Don't touch Sigma or Tamron, you can always resell Nikon if you don't like it, good luck selling the other two.

GULAJOE4

I have tamron 150 500. takes awesome shots. also 70 300 and same results. just good as Nikon. not putting Nikon down have many Nikon lenses to. keep hard to call.

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

You gonna throw in the extra $1300.00 for the nikon ? some of us don't have pockets that reach our ankles .

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

I don't know your experience or what you even call "just as good as Nikon". It's not just image quality which is better by most if not all professionals but also when you consider construction, lens coating, optics, AF, weather proofing, glass, plastic vs metal, vignetting, etc., Nikon and Canon and other high end lens just prove out over time.

I guess it comes down to what you want to do with your photography. Do you want to share and display? Print and frame? Perhaps even submit for competition. Or, do you want to keep them just for yourself? If you really want to see the value of a good lens, camera and post process, print out your image on a 16x20 or 20x30 print. At those sizes, very fuzzy, loss of detail and distortion is magnified a 100 fold. If you only print 4x6 or 5x7 with an ocassional 8x10, why would even bother with a camera with an interchangeable lens?

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

Many of the members here shoot for their own personal pleasure, to get away and enjoy the outdoors and share some of their favorites with the rest of us.
Not everyone is trying to be a professional nor sell their photos, they are keepsakes , so what if I don't own $2000.00 lens , big deal at my age my eyes sure as hell ain't as good as they were 35-40 yrs ago so the loss of some detail is almost like normal vision for me.
For me its all about the time i spend enjoying my hobby and now and then getting that wow shot,when my hobby becomes my job is when i will give it up.
Its my escape from reality, my quiet time and time to sit back and enjoy nature..
I'm just a rank amature and intend to stay that way, I don't even care to take photos of people unless it's a concert or special event.
And yes I have 7 different lens for my D3100 that include the 2 kit lens ( the least used ones I own )
Pete

Saleavitt10 Loc: Maine

Thanks for weighing in everyone.