For some time I have been considering acquiring a lens for birds and possibly sport for use with my D300.
As someone that had never attempted birds seriously either static or in flight some time ago I purchased a cheapo 70-300mm to acquaint myself with the FL limitations and technique, have studied other members work here and technicals, investigated shooting location possibilities locally and tried to quantify what my priorities are.
So here's my priorities, in order of importance for birding;
1. I want to own a lens that has the capability of producing very high IQ images and good bokeh (forget the affects of technique for now). This is more important to me than just being able to produce images of different types of bird.
2. I want to be able to shoot both static and in flight birds and from what I have learnt so far catching them going from static to flight is a challenge I want to be able to address.
3. I believe that hand holding (which is all I have used so far) is an essential need.
Ok, so after lots of pondering I have come down to two choices;
a) AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR
b) AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR
Both of the above from what I can see are compatible with a 1.4x TC which I would also purchase.
It's obvious that the 80-400 is going to be more versatile but the 300mm has the max aperture advantage. I understand that I would lose around 1.5 stops with the TC but even on dull days here it's pretty bright.
Does anyone have experience of using these two lenses and would suggest why one should be preferable to the other taking account of my priorities 1. to 3. above?
Grahame