Nope, not made of money... and that must mean I read it wrong. I saw a 500/1000 in the Ritz catalog and it was only a couple hundred. Actually think it was <400.

I have about 80% keepers (i.e. no shake) using a 100-400, but there are other factors involved... i mainly use that lens outdoors with a lot of light so I can keep the shutter speed high which probably has a lot to do with it. But I agree with you, it's not an easy thing to do and it requires practice.

I think that that lens is affectionately called a coke bottle :)

Maybe it's not a lense :dunno:
Quantaray - 500mm/1000mm Preset Telephoto (T-mt.)

http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs...44#description

I have the D70 I think by far the best camera in this price range, also both cameras are very good, Nikon optics are superior. Also don't get fooled by the megpixels number, what count in a camera is the quality of the pixels, not the number, to see a noticable difference in resolution you would have to double the mexapixel amount. ex : 6 to 12 or 12 to 24... and unless you are planning to print bilboards, 6 meg is more than you need. I do think though that in the end the most important is the feel of the camera, a very personal thing...go to the store, try them out and see how they feel in your hand(ergonomics).


ps: I do work in the digital imaging field.

is there a post with photos from dSLR's? i think it would be good to have and also inlude what camera/lens was used.

just a thought

www.dpreview.com has reviews of practically every digital camera ever produced including image samples.

and the Canon v. Nikon battle will rage long after we're all planted in the ground, they both make great cameras/lenses, it comes down to personal choice/opinion etc. My opinion is that Canon makes better lenses, Nikon fans believe Nikon makes better lenses, at the end of the day, if your equipment produces images that you're happy with, that's all that matters.

That's a 500mm lens with a 2x doubler on it.There is no autofocus, it requires a Tmount adapter, has no auto aperture control and no metering. That "lens" is a piece of junk.

Thanks, I am glad I posted here... I'm new to all of this. I just want something a little more powerful than 300mm. I just wasn't happy with the way my pictures at the track came out when I used an 80 - 300.

Any lens that covers such a broad focal length like that 80-300 is going to be horrible at the ends, and considering you're looking for more reach, I bet you were out at that 300 end most of the time. I don't recall what camera you said you have, but you might want to consider renting a high end, high quality zoom/tele for a weekend and see how you like it. Usually lens rentals are dirt cheap and it really gives you a good chance to test drive an expensive piece of equipment before you buy anything.

One more thing, stay away from Ritz, they're overpriced and their sales people are complete morons (most of the time). Stick to a store like bhphotovideo.com, adorama.com, 17thstphoto.com, they're all top notch brick/mortar stores in NY that have websites. B&H is known all over the world and has a stellar reputation, as does Adorama.