500mm zoom lens for my nikon d5000

[jiminfife]

hi ive got a nikon d5000 and im looking to buy a zoom lens prefer around 500mm for bird watching and wildlife photography, i have been looking at a sigma 150-500mm lens on ebay for around £700, looking for a little advice on either this lens or if u can tell me another thx jim

[markgozz]

Can't advise you from personal experience but the Sigma you're looking at has some very good reviews on most of the usual web site's .

Mark

[wavemachine]

At that price point it is bargin and there isn't any other choice TBH unless you drop back 100mm and then I believe it is a sigma again.

It is a very heavy lens and not very fast in aperture terms so you will need to bump the ISO up to get fast shutter speeds but then Nikons noise handling is very good so that shouldn't be a major issue.

I would have a think though what maximum Zoom you are going to need as another consieration is the 120mm-400mm which is another very nice lens and is one stop faster at max zoom.

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by jiminfife

hi ive got a nikon d5000 and im looking to buy a zoom lens prefer around 500mm for bird watching and wildlife photography, i have been looking at a sigma 150-500mm lens on ebay for around £700, looking for a little advice on either this lens or if u can tell me another thx jim

Is that the OS version? If it is then it's a F5-6.3 so you need good light to get focus, on dull days it can't focus otherwise, it a cracking lens. A friend of mine has one and he's had some cracking shots with it.

[markgozz]

So jiminfife how did you get on ???

Mark