Nikon 300mm F4 with 1.7 Teleconverter or Tamron 150-600 Zoom?

Radioactive

Hello,
I have a Nikon D610. I am looking for a general use wildlife lens/lens combo. Price is not an problem in comparing these two lens/combinations. I any case I can't go over $2000 dollars. I know the Nikon combination does not have VR and the Tamron does but is this enough difference to get the Tamron? Image quality is a concern as well as the speed of the lens/combo. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

manhattanboy

Figure out WHEN you shoot wildlife.
Is it at dusk or dawn with poor light?
If so, then go for the Tammy or buy a used 300 2.8. There is no VR on the 300 f4 meaning that you will have to keep the shutter speed too high in poor light if you use it for these situations.

If you have good light, then I will give you a suggestion but you are probably not going to like it, and that is get the 300 f4 and a refurb 7100. In good light shoot with the 7100 and the 300 f4 bare lens using 1.3 crop mode to extend out to 600mm. IQ will be tack sharp at 100%. I employ a dual combo like this using my 7100 for reach and stick either a zoom like the 70-200 or 70-300, or a smaller prime on the FX for shots with background or close up. It works well, but you have a bit of weight to carry.

Radioactive

Thank you for the info.

tcole1983

I bought my 300 f4 as a wildlife lens. I rarely shoot in the morning evening or poor weather conditions that would make for bad lightning. I haven't had any issues with it but you really have to stay aware of the shutter speed to get sharp pictures. So VR would be useful I think but if something is moving even just a walking animal you need a faster shutter speed. I think for wildlife vr has a limited use.

I am on the fence on what I would recommend. When I had my 18-200 with VR I could handhold and pan shots at 200 mm using VR like it was nothing. The 300 F4 can be difficult at times, but when used correctly it is awesomely sharp and has the best bokeh out of my lenses. I would never have recommended a Tamron before, but I have seen some great shots from them on the PAD. If you get the Nikon invest in one of the second party tripod collars...it will be the next thing I buy.

I don't know what they older 300 F2.8 VR lenses go for now, but it might be worth a look to see if they are in your budget. I would just realize that shooting FX 300 really isn't THAT long. Equal to 200 on DX and I always wanted more with 200 mm...actually I often want more with 300 mm.

tcole1983

These aren't with the TC, but some examples of the 300 F4.

Photobug

Hello,
I have a Nikon D610. I am looking for a general use wildlife lens/lens combo. Price is not an problem in comparing these two lens/combinations. I any case I can't go over $2000 dollars. I know the Nikon combination does not have VR and the Tamron does but is this enough difference to get the Tamron? Image quality is a concern as well as the speed of the lens/combo. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Welcome @Radioactive. I sold my Tamron 200-500 early this year and waited to see test results on the new Tamron 150-600. Pictures seen here and on the local Camera Club Flickr account back up the data its a sharp lens.

I have money allocated to buy the Nikon 300 F4 or the Tamron next year. I strongly recommend that you add the cost of the RRSLC-A10 collar + foot package, $195 to the cost of the Nikon 300mm F4. Don't forget to figure in cost for a quality 77mm UV filter too. Here is the RRS link:
http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/s.nl/it.A/id.3216/.f

This combo package replaces the light duty collar Nikon ships with the lens and provides a shoe that will fit your Monopod or tripod ball head. The combo package saves you $5.

If you buy the Tamy lens you still need to allocate $$$ for a RRS lens plate so you can mount the lens to your monopod or tripod ballhead.

Right now I am leaning toward the Nikon 300 f4 + RRS LC-A10 collar & foot package + $125 for a 77mm filter.

Hope that helps.

jjb930

I was in the same predicament earlier this year.

I ended up going with the Tamron 150-600mm, but I also see the value in the 300mm f4 to this day. Overall, I am quite pleased with the Tamron. It has a relatively solid feel to it and the IQ can be impressive.

That being said, what kind of wildlife do you plan to shoot? Specific time of day? The Tamron can do BIF pretty well, but you'll need to use auto-iso and minimum shutter speed settings to compensate for f/6.3 on the long end (and typically shooting at f/8 or f/11 for optimal sharpness).

The VC is really strong in the Tamron and will allow you to get some nice spontaneous shots. However, you generally won't have VC enabled when using a tripod or monopod, so the benefit of VC is actually quite limited. I use a FotoPro NGC-75 carbon fiber monopod with a Manfrotto 234RC head and it is a fairly decent combo. I hiked through a hilly area yesterday morning for about 1.5 - 2 hours and I definitely noticed the weight of the Tamron and monopod as I carried it. I guess you can't really get away from that kind of issue with such a big lens. And that goes to my last point. The lens is physically huge. You will want to make sure you have room in your existing bags and/or cases. It barely fits in my Kata bag and prevents me from putting a lot of gear in my bag.

Here a few samples:

Coastalconn

I have the 150-600, and I have shot with the 300 f4(I purchased last year and returned it). At 300 I would give the IQ edge to the Nikon. At 420mm it is a toss up. I did not shoot it with a 1.7x, but I think the edge would go to the Tamron. I personally really like the Tamron. I only shoot handheld, so VC is very important to me. I shot it for a week with the D600. Here are some samples.. My fine tune was a touch off and there is a little bit of back focus... https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastalconn/sets/72157644890515852/
My primary camera is the D7100 and here are some of my favorites with the 150-600 https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastalconn/sets/72157645413231013/
If you go directly to my page, ignore the ones in the beginning as I just got a D800 yesterday and I am in the process of fine tuning it and trying to find birds with some light on them, lol...

Radioactive

Thank you all for your responses. I very much appreciate
them. I will be shooting throughout the day, morning, noon, and evening. It is still a tossup for me on what to get, I have a couple of months to decide. Thank you again for your help.

manhattanboy

Thank you all for your responses. I very much appreciate
them. I will be shooting throughout the day, morning, noon, and evening. It is still a tossup for me on what to get, I have a couple of months to decide. Thank you again for your help.

You could rent them both from Lens Rentals for a weekend and see how you feel with each, but it isn't cheap to do so.

Photobug

+1 manhattanboy on renting both for a weekend. That really is the best way to go.

henrik1963

@manhattanboy: I have been thinking about using a D7100 as a TC 1.5 and would like to know how it works compared to using TCs on a D800.

dissent

Here's Nasim's view of the use of Nikon's TC's -

http://photographylife.com/image-degradation-with-nikon-teleconverters

I don't think he's a fan of pairing the 300/4 with the 1.7 TC.

Radioactive

Thank you again for your answers and views. They are all appreciated. I will rent both setups and see what I like the best, or perhaps buy both and return what I don't like.