500mm f4 mk1 - any alternatives?

413x · 20 Apr 2015 at 13:52

Right. I'm gonna go for one of the long primes

More and more I'm finding I'm at the long end of my sigma 120-300mm
Also don't seem to be getting to any sporting events
Thus I'm thinking maybe I should get 70-200mm and a super tele and sell the sigma

The only one I can justify seems to be used canon 500mm f4 any thing more is far too heavy and expensive
I can't really justify mkii

The 200-400mm 1.4tc again is bit much

Plan is that I would hope such a lens would take 1.4x easy (potentially a 2x) and with my 70d be looking at effective length of over 1000mm (taking canon 1.6x into the equation)

Any views on this idea and particularly real world experience with such a lens?

I understand it's 3.9kg which is my main concern for those hand hold pics, I can manage that with 2.9 sigma ok)

Bottom line is.. Its this lens hand holdable?
I'm not sure if it's workable if not

413x · 20 Apr 2015 at 16:17

Fair enough and good point regarding hand holding and keeping still as I do find that tricky with 120-300mm + extender and thus this may well be impossible

Sounds like I need to get used to a tripod

One good thing is that weight isn't really an issue in that case.
Anything over is just not going to happen. The logistics and cost make it prohibitive for hobby
Anything over f4 again falls under same

Yep I also forgot about the minimum aperture with 2x tc. I suspect 1.4 is max in all regards. Still that more than doubles the focal length of my 120-300mm f2.8 + 1.4tc (which is debatable as to if I was even tolerate a tc on mine)

413x · 20 Apr 2015 at 18:51

Yes exclusively.

Will have to check if mine can cope with the weight

413x · 20 Apr 2015 at 20:06

Oh yeah. If I could justify the cost I would. But it 7k (and that's import too) and the 500mm is 4k used
That's nearly 2x the cost.
Cheaper for me to keep both 120-300mm and get 500mm
It means I can't even sell the 120-300mm and get the 200-400mm as I'd still be down 2k
I'd say if it performs as well as it does (and ability to just flip the TC) then I can see why you got it and it is indeed worth it.

Alas it is just too much.

I still don't know how much use I'd get out of 500mm if I'm honest as it's very much niche