Thanks, and to each their own. I never siad it was a bad lens or that it was not capable of good quality images. You will find all types of people telling you how great the bigma is. Just go to DPReview and do a search (looks like you did already). You?ll also find that most people dump it, or outgrow it. Again, I'm not saying the bigma is a bad lens, nor did I say it was the cheapest; in fact, it's far from it at almost a grand new! You assumed that when I said cheapest I was referring to the bigma, I was not. There are lots and lots of cheaper alternatives in the 100-400mm range that you can buy for a fraction of the cost of the bigma. Back to the bigma, I've shot it, owned it, sold it. The reason I don't advise people to get one is because you will get many, many more "keepers" from the Nikon 80-400 than you will the bigma, simply due to the vibration reduction technology in the Nikon and the limits of 400mm. Still does not make the bigma a bad lens, just less usable for the type of shooting most people can and will commit too. Once past 400mm, things get increasingly difficult to control. 400 is even stretching it. Without the proper light, technique and the use of a tripod or rest, it's real difficult to get publishable images at 500 from the bigma. Finally, the bigma at 500 is not as good as the Nikon at 400 ? the Nikon glass has better coatings and the delivers more accurate colors. I shoot the 120-300mm 2.8 sigma often (I own it because there's no other alternative) it has a slight color shift, just like the 100-300 f/4 sigma (another possible choice) and the bigma -- they all have a similar color shift.
The 80-400 is smaller, lighter, and more "useable." The bigma has its place, but for me it's not in my bag if I need one lens to take to the hills. You cannot hand hold 500mm 6.3 or whatever that thing delivers, unless in real strong front light. I can hand hold the 80-400 down to about 125th - that's the kind of light you generally find big-game wildlife in, you need every bit of help you can buy.
I also asked, up front what he planned to shoot. Birds, fine buy the bigma cause you will need a tripod to shoot birds. But since it's posted on M&M I assumed the guy was going to be shooting big game and other wildlife in the field. 90% of the posted photo's on M&M are taken with consumer point and shoot cameras, even some of the good stuff, so you can even get great results from a 10x zoom consumer digital. That's also not an option as he said he owns the d50. . .
In the final annalysis, it's all up to the shooter and what he or she can handle. I'm trying to help a guy avoid a mistake. I've found that with photography you are morelikely to keep at it if you can bring home good results every time you go out. Try shooting a bull elk with the bigma at 500 (most people will zoom it all the way out rather than get closer to the subject, it's just what people do, they use the limits of technology) just after sunrise without lugging a tripod and see if you can get publishable results. . .
Later, Tony
