I'm looking out for a super telephoto, prime or zoom (leaning toward a prime) and i have looked through the Canon and there is plenty good, but its expensive. I have concluded that if I'm to get Canon, its going to be the 300mm 4L IS.

but what dose the 3rd party market have to offer?

any one have stabilization on tele primes?

anything good that you can recommend? any duds i have to watch out for?

thanks in advance,

Mike

if you do some searches, there's plenty of discussion

what camera are you using, and what is your primary application?

Get this one...

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0703/07030805...500mm.asp#press

They neglected to mention that it's 2 feet long, more than 10 inches in diameter and weighs nearly 40 lb, but one could infer that by comparing the lens to the camera.

Mike.

hehe yah, that's a monster of a lens, and it comes with a monster of a price. Also, i don't have monster arms, so that thing is defiantly out of the question.

to answer what i intend to do: basically city birds, and other city dwellers mostly. I'm looking for something long, 300+ and whats cheap(er) (and i generally dislike zooms, because zoom + cheap spells unusable image)

i was looking at the Sigma sight, it has a few things (a 300, and a 500), though i cant get a hand on the price of them.

Tamron or Tokina? no clue

and figuring out discontinued 3rd party lenses is impossible! (or im just not very good at this whole google thing)

The Sigma 300mm f2.8 receives a good review here and a simple comparison test of quite a few 300mm lenses can be found here.

I used the Sigma 300 2.8 for the better part of a year or so. Nice lens, probably not quite as good as the canon version might be but still very sharp and fast focusing. Focused faster than my 70-200 2.8 IS. I would recomend it, though the lack of IS is a pain.

There are many options for reaching longer focal lengths, but you need to offer a bit about your intended use. I am a nature generalist and shoot primarily from a tripod. IS/VR offers me very little unless I am shooting from a moving platform. While I own and shoot the 300 f4 IS, it is rarely used. I prefer my 400 f5.6L (canon) for birds and mammals that do not reside in front of distracting backgrounds. Because the max aperture is f5.6, the bokeh is not pleasing if there are branches, twigs, etc... in the fore or back. This lens can be acquired used for about $900... although it is an old design, the simplicity results in outstanding sharpness and consistency.

When I want to isolate my subject and am searching for flexibility, I reach for my Sigma HSM 120-300 f2.8. This is a one of a kind optic with surprisingly good sharpness at 300 f2.8-f4. I was once a skeptic about this lens, as I am a prime type of guy. When comparing my Sigma to my Canon 300 @ f4, they are the same. However, it is important to note that the Sigma is more like 280-285mm when set at 300mm. This lens produces equally beautiful images w/ the matched 1.4x. The sigma runs between $1800-$2200 used and closer to $2600 new. See attached images from a recent excursion to Costa Rica... please note the challenging light and contrast in the Howler Monkey images.. the Sigma exhibited no CA and handled the contrast range surprisingly well.
regards,
bruce

CapuchinMonkey

HowlerMonkey.com

That's a baby compared to this lens
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0610/06100101zeiss1700f4.asp

The little box on the end is a Hassleblad!