Telephoto/Zoom Lens Options

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291
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8/6/2009
Location
Keene, NH US
Edited Date/Time 7/29/2014 12:25am
Vital friends, I come to you once again for some insight!

I have been putting in some serious keyboard time trying to suss out a solid advanced intermediate telephoto/zoom lens.
For a hot minute I was looking at the Tamron 55-200 , but after reading up on it, lost a bit of interest. The glass I'm looking to get will be an investment, so a little extra cash will go a good ways, I know.

I'm shooting on a 60D, which I'm enjoy a lot. Not quite in the pro-shooter realm, but it ain't too shabby. So, with that said, I took a peek at Canon's options, and found the 70-200mm f4 to be quite appealing. $600+ is a bit tough to look at (I'll do it though), but I'm also very willing to buy used or refurbished pieces if the price/quality is right.

So, people of the web and bike world, what do you think? Reviews? Comments? Dingy bar banter? Other alternatives?
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k.shiz
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372
Joined
7/24/2009
Location
Los Angeles, CA US
2/14/2012 5:16am
The Canon 70-200 F4 is a great lens and if they are going for $600ish these days, I'd think you will be hard pressed to find a better performing lens for the dollar than that. It's way lighter than the 2.8 so carrying it around isn't such a big deal and if you're shooting mountain biking with it, chances are good you'll be shooting outdoors and with plenty of light so paying a bunch for the extra stop of the 2.8 isn't really a big plus.

Tamrom and Sigma lenses might not be significantly less sharp or have worse color or other optical deficiencies but they will have slower focus and that does certainly translate to less good shots at the end of the day.

Shop around for used ones, they do pop up a fair bit. The market should be full of them with the F4 II that came out fairly recently. Adorama often has good prices on refub canon stuff and they do get lenses like the 70-200 f4 every so often.
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291
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2/14/2012 10:09pm Edited Date/Time 2/14/2012 10:09pm
Ordering the Canon 70-200mm f4L tomorrow. Seemed like the most logical choice. Reviews and photos soon. Thanks k.shiz, again, for your help and insight - always appreciated.
2/25/2012 10:30pm
i had this same issue a while ago i ended up getting the sigma 18-200mm 3.5 and I'm loving it plus they retail alot cheaper than the canon and quality is on par plus it cos its 18-200 you can still do easy close ups with it rather than taking another lens sigma 18-200mm hope this helps
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2/26/2012 12:15pm
Here is a recent shot with the Canon 70-200mm f4L:
IMG_1389
Getting better and learning more each day with the lens.

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