Telephoto Lens for A77

[TooNice]

I've pulled the trigger on the Sony 50mm 1.4

Now I would like to go back to the original question of "telephoto lens". Could someone explain what the prime purpose of say, the previously suggested 70-400mm?

Not that I am in a hurry to spend more on lens. The reason I am asking is because I need to decide whether to go for the Series 2 or 3 of the Gitzo tripod and I'd like to take future lens purchase into account.

I do not do any bird watching (in particular), I do occasionally shoot people from afar (e.g. in street festivals). But it's opportunistic, I doubt that I would carry a 70-400mm and a complementing (heavier) tripod all the time.

I would be interested in shooting fireworks, shooting stars etc. Especially for fireworks, I can prepare in advance, so the question is whether the 70-400mm is significantly better than, say a 70-300mm for such purpose.

[riegal]

Because it's too big and heavy to really be a walk around lens, I think it's intended primarily for wildlife and sports.

I don't think there's any particular advantage to shooting something like fireworks with the 70-400 vs 70-300. I guess in some ways it'd depend on how close you are to the fireworks. If they're like on the other side of the city or something like that, then 70-400 would be an advantage. Closer, perhaps not. When I've shot fireworks I've used my 18-200 usually set at about 85 or so.

The extra 100mm on the 70-400 over the 70-300 really comes into it's own when shooting wildlife. When I use mine it's always set at 400 and at times wishing it had even more reach. And I've considered a prime at 400 or greater, but the cost and weight are prohibitive.

[Peekayoh]

Tripods are used to provide a steady platform, right? My advice would favour the heaviest and most stable one you can afford, well even if you can't afford it. There is a case for a lightweight version if you are hiking as anything is better than nothing but you still need a "real" one.

As riegal said, if you're not interested in Wildlife photography, I suspect the 70-400 is not for you as that's it's primary use. Whilst it is significantly better than the 70-300, you can't really use it handheld whereas you can with the latter and it's not at all bad and a lot less money to boot (2 pics below).

For Fireworks just use what you've got, I used a 24mm (36mm equivelent) for the image below, the face was shot at the same time but layered in. FL is not that critical but a tripod definitely is.

I would say to think hard about a future lens choice and then buy as good an optic as you can possibly afford. There's nothing worse than having to upgrade later, buy right and buy once.

COMMON GULL

A700 * Sony 70-300mm * 300mm (450 equiv) * f/5.6 * 1/1000sec * ISO200

MUTE SWAN

A700 * Sony 70-300mm * 300mm (450 equiv) * f/5.6 * 1/1250sec * ISO200

FIREWORKS

A77 * Minolta 24mm (36mm equiv) * f/14 * 6sec * ISO100

[TooNice]

Wow, those are some really lovely pictures

I will be hiking Mt Fuji in August and I heard you can see shooting stars at night. From my research (feel free to correct me), it seems that I do not need long lens for that either, and in fact my 50mm is quite suitable. So I guess that I will not worry about needing a tripod to support the 70-400mm in the foreseeable future (or the cost associated with acquiring the lens *laugh*).

I have no intention of skimping on tripods cost wise (hence I am looking at those painfully expensive Gitzo), but keeping in mind that I have some serious hiking planned this year (Mt Fuji, and another project involving 1200km walk over several weeks) weight and more importantly bulk is something I am concerned with. So now, I have to decide between the Series 1 and Series 2.

[Peekayoh]

I don't think there's a "one size fits all" solution and many of us end up with two tripods.

[TooNice]

I have decided that to go with a Series 1 Travel tripod. I figured that a travel tripod that I can take anywhere will see more use, and it will be miles better than hand held in any case.

The next big question is, does anyone know which tripod plates are compatible with the A65? Preferably one which which is compatible with RRS's B2 LR II.