Demoni said:
The issue is when you get into the high power zoom lenses camera companies start thinking "pro lenses" and that = $$. They don't spend time building barging lens in this category. These lens have a lot of glass and a lot of precision moving parts Image stabilization quick focusing and high f stop #. I'll post a video if I can find it (can't use youtube from work) showing how much effort goes into producing high grade photographic lens.
Yeah, I know. These are complicated, niche professional products. I understand WHY they are so vastly expensive. Its mostly griping, not wishing for the moon.
Worse is the prices of the CAMERAS have dropped hugely (I love the XTi), because these are electronics mostly, which do have these great cost scalings.
Again, Canon is like Nikon, the 1.4x and 2x multipliers only work with the high-end lenses. I checked.
I think the solution is "Find a local camera shop which will rent a 400mm EF zoom", since its not like MotoGP happens every week, and any AFM photograping, well, people get what they pay for.
BTW what need with such a long lens? with the 1.5 multiplier on digital cameras your 300mm is already like a 450mm lens.
Also you can use nikon lens on your canon with an adapter ring. This gives you some more options to look at
What need with such a long lense? Simply because as a peon-class spectator trying to get photos for fun rather than profit, a lot of good angles are pretty far out. So although the 300mm is perfect for the side shots:
400mm would be much better for some of the head-on shots, eg shooting at people going through turn 2:
