D70 300mm tele and firmwire query

[Crouching Tiger]

Hi guys, I've not been in here for a while :wave:

I've not upgraded the original firmwire on my D70 yet. Should I bother ?


Also, I'm off on safari next month and could do with a zoom lens that goes to 300mm. What do you think of these two.

Sigma Lens for Nikon AF - 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO Macro Super II (£139) 7DayShop (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php^QS^mid=530^QA^gid=6083^QA^id=30372^QA^p=http%3A//www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php%3FcPath%3D777_4_409_40911%26products_id%3D99573)

Sigma Lens for Nikon AF - 70-300mm F4-5.6 DL Macro Super II (£101) 7DayShop (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php^QS^mid=530^QA^gid=6083^QA^id=30372^QA^p=http%3A//www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php%3FcPath%3D777_4_409_40911%26products_id%3D99574)


Are there any other that won't break the bank ?


I know this has been discussed before, several times, but products and prices change regularly.

Cheers

CT

[Radiohead]

The APO, without question.

[Boink!]

Yarr, the APO is the best for ye, at that price range mehearty. Arrrrr!

[johndavis0]

I'm with these two on this one, the APO

[Flip Martian]

APO - I have one, its pretty light and does the biz really well for the price.

[Crouching Tiger]

When did Boink! become a pirate ?

Are there any other options under £200 ?

Is that the best price for the APO ?

What about the firmwire ?

Why aren't you lot down the pub ?

[Radiohead]

Pirates - shiver me timbers

Under £200 - new? Not really, unless you're ok with 200mm.

Price - pretty much. Onestop are a bit cheaper but you won't get it as quickly.

Firmware - yes. Better and faster AF, improved menus and accurate reporting of RAW shots left on a card.

Pub - because I have a 2 year old who has had me up since 5.43am.

:D

[Boink!]

me = nightshift = whole weekend = lack of sleep = delusions of plundering the Spanish Main = :nuts: = :help:

xxx

[Flip Martian]

Price is about the best - unless you do what I did and find one on eBay (immaculate, a few weeks old for 106 quid incl del) but I had the time to wait for one to come up.

Under £200? What RH said.
Firmware - ditto (I still haven't got round to it yet though. The changes aren't gonna make a whole lot of difference).

Pub...back early as g/f came down with a bug. So why weren't you down the pub then? :D

[DeadKenny]

Are there any other options under £200 ?
Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED - £190 from OneStopDigital (remember warranty is provided by OSD not Nikon).

Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G - £80 from OSD.


If you can afford it I'd recommend the ED for the build quality and the single ED element to reduce CA, but neither of these are particularly sharp, especially at 300mm.

Probably the Sigma APO is better value for money though not sure what the build quality is like compared to Nikon's ED lens.

Alternatively see if you can get a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 second hand off ebay for around £200 if you're really lucky. Will be a vastly superior lens (though heavy). Not 300mm, but it will still be far better than the cheapy 70-300s which are not much good at 300mm anyway, plus being f/2.8 it's a fast lens and you might be able to use a tele-converter with it with some success (wouldn't recommend a TC on the cheap 70-300s).

[Crouching Tiger]

Thanks guys, I think I'll check out the APO @ OSD. Usually out of stock at that other place.

[wseed]

Where are you going on safari CT? I'm well jealous. I was hoping to go to Kenya this year but unforeseen expenses have put that right out of my mind.

[Darren A]

Well all this talk made me go and order an APO from OSD and it shipped today.

[puddleduck]

Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED - £190 from OneStopDigital (remember warranty is provided by OSD not Nikon).

Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G - £80 from OSD.


If you can afford it I'd recommend the ED for the build quality and the single ED element to reduce CA, but neither of these are particularly sharp, especially at 300mm.

Probably the Sigma APO is better value for money though not sure what the build quality is like compared to Nikon's ED lens.

Alternatively see if you can get a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 second hand off ebay for around £200 if you're really lucky. Will be a vastly superior lens (though heavy). Not 300mm, but it will still be far better than the cheapy 70-300s which are not much good at 300mm anyway, plus being f/2.8 it's a fast lens and you might be able to use a tele-converter with it with some success (wouldn't recommend a TC on the cheap 70-300s).


I'd go for the Sihma APO version without question.

I owned the Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 but sold it - I didn't find the weight vs image quality / range to be worthwhile and couldn't see a huge difference image quality wise between that and the 28-200 AFG-DX Nikkor lens. Would be good with a TC giving a 280 f/4.0 lens though.

[Crouching Tiger]

Where are you going on safari CT? I'm well jealous. I was hoping to go to Kenya this year.......We're off to South Africa and Swaziland on a Zulu tour. See here (http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4818964&postcount=28)

We went on safari to Kenya in 1991 and had a great time.

Is this the Sigma lens at OneStop Digital (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http%3A//www.onestop-digital.com/catalog/product_info.php%3FcPath%3D24_28%26products_id%3D115) ?

Has anyone got a review that compares it to the Nikons suggested above ?

[emeyedeejay]

Some test shots I did when trying to decide which 70-300 lens to go for on page 2 of one of my threads here ...

http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=375061

[Onestop-Digital]

Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED - £190 from OneStopDigital (remember warranty is provided by OSD not Nikon).

Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G - £80 from OSD.


Actually, they both come with Nikon international warranty.

[DeadKenny]

Actually, they both come with Nikon international warranty.
Cool :thumbs: