Nikon 70-300mm "G" zoom lens

[Grumpy]

At present I use a 18-200mm lens on a D80 anybody and am thinking of upgrading slightly.
Has anybody got any thoughts on the larger lens. It is to be used for bird and general photography. Also, is it possible to get conversion lenses for these zooms.
Would like a bigger one however the financial controller says no-way!

Tony :wheelchair:

[dmdigital]

There's also the Nikkor 80-400mm and the other lens to consider is the Sigma 50-500mm which also gets good reports.

You can use a Sigma teleconverter on the 50-500. I'm not sure if 70-300 or 80-400 Nikkors will work with the Nikkor TC's

The pick of the smaller zooms though is the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8. It will out focus any of the others you're looking at.

[Chucaro]

For serious bird photography you need a sharp 300mmm+ lens and the most economical and logical way is a primer lens where you can use a 1.4 converter withou loose the sharpeness in the image.
Money ways the Nikkor 300mm f/4 with a converter will be my pick.
Next step will be the Sigma 300 f/2.8 andd then the big money Nikon lkens.
The Nikon 70 300 will be soft over 240mm

[300+]

I'm looking for a similar upgrade. I have the Sony 75-300 which is an OK lens, but the aperture is not too hot at the long end.

I can't afford the fancy Sony lenses so I'm looking at sigma and there are a lot to choose from.

70-200 f2.8 (i would need a TC to get the longer range)
100-300 f4
120-400 f4-5.6 with stabilisation
50-500 f4-6.3
150-500 f5-6.3

The end result is I can't choose...

The 100-300 and 120-400 are looking like the faves this week. Not sure I can justify the 50% premium for the 100-300 as it is also an inch longer (which won't fit the bag I was planning on getting at the same time).

My father in law has an old sigma xxx-500 zoom. He has had it for 10 years and I'm not sure exactly which one it is. But I do know that it is so large & heavy that it is left at home a lot of the time. It does take nice shots though.

I want a 70-300 f2.8 that I can carry and afford...

Cheers, Steve

[CowsGoMoo]

I got a 70-300 G lens with my original D70s. Unfortuanatly I found it rather soft and slow. It got sold...

I replaced it with a 80-400 VR which I still have. I was much better than the 70-300 G but could be a little slow and still not "tack sharp".

I have since got the 70-200 VR f2.8 and 1.4 TC and I find it much better quality but still a little short for birdie pics (not that I take many).

I don't believe you can add a TC to the 80-400. I think the rear element will interfere with the TC (ie. crunching noises may result).

A mate of mine is very keen at bird and wildlife pics ( pretty damn good at it too) and started with the 80-400mm VR, moved to 300mm f2.8 prime with 1.4TC and finally a Nikon 600mm prime (very huge $$$$$$). I have watched the quality of his photographs change over time and I can see how much an effect the lens has on his pics.