Camera Labs

I currently have a d3100 and I went out and stupidly bought a sigma 150-500mm lens that I am not happy with. I bought it thinking it had an extremely long zoom which it didnt I tried shooting a squirrel across the road and thought i would be able to make it the full of the frame which it did not at all. My question to you all is what is a good lens to get that will get me really close to the subject without actually walking right on top of it. should i use a teleconverter? I will let you guys run with it. Thanks.

500mm is about the boundary for max "zoom", if you want to use a teleconverter you are speaking of 7000+ euro lenses to get more than 500mm. Can you show an example of this squirrel and how far away in meters you were?

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

I think i might have deleted the photo as I wasnt impressed i will have a look but I would have to estimate it was about 50 metres away and looked very small in the photo I will have a look for the photo to post it. thanks.

I do 15 meters maximum with birds at 300mm, so I can not imagine a frame filling squirrel at 50 meters with 500mm. I think you just overestimated your lens.

EDIT: The image doesnt show, and if I click says I am not allowed to watch, read the forum guidelines on how to post images please
see here

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

will do! but can u answer if the sigma is a good lens to use for birds or should it be used for something else entirely.

one other question is why does it say that the 150-500mm zoom range translates in to an equivalent of 225-750mm when use with a nikon dslr camera. That is what confused me in to buying it in the first place I read that information on B&H website could u clarify what that means?

its the cheapest one you can get without going mirror-lens if I am correct. So it should do well on birds. If you really need a better lens, the Nikon 300/4.0 comes to mind, which still be used with TC-1.4x and I think the 1.7x is just a little too much to keep AF (2.0x for sure wont correctly AF anymore). Besides that you have the 80-400 Nikon lens, which is outdated but not updated yet, or you need to dig deep and go for the exotics (300/2.8, 400/2.8, 500/4.0 and 600/4.0 or 200-400/4.0 )

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

The 150-500mm is when used on a Full Frame camera, like Nikon's digital SLRs D700, D3s, D3x. Because the lower end and older Nikons have a smaller size sensor (DX / APS-C) you use a smaller part of the total picture translating to a smaller field of view of about 1,5x smaller. So 150-500 x1,5 = 225-750 EQUIVALENT field of view.

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

so with my d3100 should the zoom not max out at 750mm cause i have used a superzoom with a 840mm lens which went way closer to the subject but photos got grainy and washed out. sorry if i sound amateur its because I am.

So yes, you have an equivalent to 750mm.

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

I'd just like to point out here that it often helps to know a little biology rather than walking around with lenses that could be used as RPG launchers. You can't expect to get closer to wildlife with a longer lens. For squirrels all it takes is a lens in the 200-400 mm range. Put out some nuts -- they can go bananas for a couple of peanuts. They are even known to eat out of hands.

Ernie you are so right about it.

And dude "Oops! You don't have permission to view this photo"

If you are an amateur why you jump with this at first place. I took some photos of a squirrel with my Canon powershot s5 which is not professional camera. For birds this could be right decision with this lens.

When I go to take pictures of wildlife I take a lot of patience with me too.

If 500 mm is not enough, I would focus on other things, as has been said in this thread. Biology, camouflage, sneaking. You could also use a remote trigger so you can get a closer shot without phycically being there.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

I think a stabilized (otherwise use tripod) 500mm on a DX is the longest practically usable lens. Otherwise go to one of the new superzooms and wait for good light (so that the ISO is down to their minimum (80 or 100).
Teleconverting a 500mm f/5.6/6.3/8.0 to a 750 or even 1000 f/11/16 is not a practical solution in my eyes.
The other solution is cropping of the DX shot (favourably from a D7000) which can yield amazing results and is often the better alternative at these focal lengths than anything else.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses