The Great Sports Lens Review
For the amateur deciding which lens to buy, the price difference from budget to high quality should be justified by a resultant shift in picture quality. The trouble is how does one actually compare lens quality. We took all the lenses an amateur may consider buying for big field sports photography and field tested them at a local cricket match. To make it a true-to-heart comparison, we even enlisted amateurs to shoot the pics and used entry-level camera bodies - Canon 400D, Nikon D60, Sony A350. From Canon we tested the 75-300mm USM lens, the 70-300 DO IS USM lens and the 100-400mm L IS USM lens. We actually requested the popular 70-300mm IS USM lens from Canon as it was a more appropriate pro telephoto upgrade choice. Nikon didn’t have a budget lens that entered the 300mm focal length range, so we only tested the pro telephoto 70-300mm VR lens and the pro super-telephoto 80-400mm VR. There is actually a higher quality pro super-telephoto lens available from Nikon, but at a price tag over R80 000, it is not a likely choice for amateurs. From Sony we used the 75-300mm lens, the 70-300mm SSM lens and the newly released 70-400mm lens. Rather than describe the lenses, we let the pictures do the talking. Below are the series of pictures reduced in size followed by a comparison of the same pictures enlarged to 100% and cropped. The 100% crops allow you to see the actual level of detail and quality captured that isn’t evident in a reduced size picture.
| The Budget Lenses | |
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Canon EF 75-300mm f4.0-5.6 III USM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R3500
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Sony DT 75-300mm F4.5-F5.6 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R2900
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| The Pro Telephoto Lenses | |
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Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R18900
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Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R6000
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Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R9500
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| Super-Telephoto Pro Lenses | |
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Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS USM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R19700
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Nikon 80-400mm f4.5-5.6D ED AF VR 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R19700
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Sony 70-400mm f4-5.6 G SSM 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Price Not Available Yet
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| The Budget Lenses | |
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Canon EF 75-300mm f4.0-5.6 III USM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R3500
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Sony DT 75-300mm F4.5-F5.6 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R2900
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| The Pro Telephoto Lenses | |
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Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R18900
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Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R6000
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Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R9500
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| Super-Telephoto Pro Lenses | |
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Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS USM 1/500th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R19700
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Nikon 80-400mm f4.5-5.6D ED AF VR 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Current Price: R19700
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Sony 70-400mm f4-5.6 G SSM 1/800th f5.6 ISO 400 Price Not Available Yet
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None of the photos in the Great Sports Lens Review opens. I have refreshed the page on various occasions with no success. Please assist as I wish to purchase a lens. Kind regards
You seem to have left out the Sigma 70-200 F2.8. Great lens. And why is no-one bothering to even review Pentax products?
Hi Pieter, Thanks for letting us know. We have our developer working on the problem.
Dear Snapper, thanks for the reply. Please let me know when the pictures are available.
Hi Pieter - Should be working fine now! Thanks for your patience!