Deleted.

You are correct,  They are zooms.

I read the title and posted.  I will fix it for you I guess.

Sigma 500mm F4 Sports, also have the Sigma TC-1401 1.4x teleconverter for it.
Attached File

Some of my favorite shots with it so far, taken with a useless crop body camera.......

Common Nighthawk by Justin Springer, on Flickr
Morning Bugle by Justin Springer, on Flickr
Raven by Justin Springer, on Flickr
PBWS by Justin Springer, on Flickr
Valentine NWR Windmill by Justin Springer, on Flickr

Trying 1600 pixels on the long edge.  Mine don't hold a candle to RRTX's but I'll throw them out there.

400 f/2.8G on D850

1/800 f/2.8 ISO 560 - Rocky Mountain Elk - I was trying to "frame" the elk with the out of focus foliage in the foreground.


1/800 f/5.6 ISO 180 - Bobcat - RRTX, I got this one later in the evening while waiting for that darn owl to do something.  The owl ended up not moving until it was almost completely dark out.


600 f/4G on D7200 w/ 2x TC III
1/2500 f/8 ISO 1250 - Common Nighthawk - I normally don't like using the 2x TC, it just degrade the image quality too much and really magnifies the effects of the mirage as you can see in this photo.


600 f/4G on D850 w/1.7x TC II
1/2000 f/6.7 ISO 5600 - House Finch - I also normally don't use the 1.7x TC.


600 f/4G on D850
1/2000 f/4 ISO 7200 - Tufted Titmouse - A little Moire in the feathers on the back.


1/2000 f/4 ISO 450 - Rocky Mountain Mule Deer - The mirage is getting this quite a bit.


I will most often use the 1.4x TC III when I need a bit of extra reach on the 600.  I prefer not to use TCs at all and I will crop first before using a TC.  Since I mostly do bird photos I almost always end up needing to use a TC.

Obviously the equipment helps but it still is very hard to get perfect photos.  I tend to use higher shutter speeds and ISOs to compensate for my poor execution.  Also it is a total bear to lug all this crap around.

The House Finch and Tufted Titmouse were taken from a blind in my yard pretty close to minimum focus distance.  The Elk are used to humans where I took that photo.  The Bobcat was not concerned by my presence at all.  Obviously Common Nighthawks seem to like roosting on railroad tracks.  The Mule Deer was hanging out with another buck who had some visible injuries, they are used to people in this area.

@soncorn I sat out there for a couple hours after you left hoping that damn owl would move but the most exciting thing that happened was a stupid caterpillar stinging the hell out of my arm. Nice one of the bobcat, I keep getting glimpses of them but have never been able to get a photo yet.

All I have is low-class variable aperture zooms.



DSCN2043-D7100_Tamron600 by FredMan, on Flickr

300 & 600 with Hood by FredMan, on Flickr

Found a deal on a Sigma 500mm f4 for $2500 used in excellent condition. I’m very tempted but also not sure if I’d find enough use for it.

Is it their 500 f4 or the older 500 f4.5? I'd be suspicious of an f4 for that cheap considering that's about what the 4.5's go for used. The f4 has only been out for a year or two so they are pretty scarce on the used market and usually still in the $4500 range. The older lens isn't bad if you can find a really good deal, but the focus is known to be sluggish, the lens hood is made of steel and I've seen complaints that it isn't long enough to properly do its job, and it lacks any sort of vibration reduction. I very nearly pulled the trigger on one a couple times but always talked myself out of it at the last minute.

It is the 4.5. I think I have already talked myself out of it.

There is a 500mm f/4G on fredmiranda buy and sell asking $4200 US.  It is Canadian, but that probably won’t matter too much.  You could probably get 3rd party service.

They seem to be going for around ~$3900 since the new 500mm PF is out so you could probably negotiate that down to less than $3900 maybe even in the $3500 range.

Not much movement on the 400mm f/2.8G or 600mm f/4G.  When they do sell the seem to go around $5k.

You can get some of the f/4D Nikons down in the $2500 range from the big stores’ used departments.

This shot is from early June 2016 just after I retired.  The sow and her three cubs were about 1.2 miles away.   Shot at Yellowstone and I found them by just sitting in a roadside pull off and scanning with binoculars.  Once I started setting up I caused a mini bear jam.  Pentax K3 camera.  Lens was a Pentax D FA 150-450mm lens.  Added to that was an old Vivitar 2x and Tamron 1.4x teleconverter.  This gave me an equivalent 1890mm lens.  I figured that I may never see anything like this again so why not give it a try.  Turned out better than I hoped it would.

Just looking at those lenses makes my legs and shoulders hurt.

What are you using for the criteria of a large prime?  Focal length?  Fast aperture?

How about an old Ai-S 200/2 ED-IF?

Pretty sure a zoom lens doesn't qualify as a "prime" lens.

But yeah, what is minimum focal length requirement to be able to call it a big prime?  I used to have a 300 f/2.8 VR.  It was big and expensive, but only 300mm.  Darn good lens, though.

Yeah, I got that part.  

200mm?  300mm?  400mm?

A 300/4 isn't exactly a large prime.  A 200/2 is a large prime.

And it's fast, too.

Damn thing didn't move too quickly when I had it.  

Well, in that case...

As I mentioned above I had a Nikkor Ai-S 200/2 ED-IF.  Also had the 2x TC, minimal image degradation.  Capable of better IQ than I could produce, and I ended up selling it as I was not able to consistently focus and use it to its potential.  Beautiful lens.  Would love a modern AF version, but I really can't justify one.  If you have the skill to use one and have been debating - do it.  They're pieces of art.  IMHO and YMMV.






Issues with the following images are my lack of technique/ skill.


Quick grab shot, and cropped, with the 2xTC.


This was at f/5.6, really needed f/8 as some of the edges of a few petals are slightly OOF.

Gone, but not forgotten.

I'm too poor for this thread.

How are you liking it so far?

Hopefully you'll share impressions once you get a chance to wring it out.

I’ll be in my bunk.

Removed: missed the prime lens part. My bad.