wildlife lense questions- sports as well

[Houndoc]

My Wyoming trip this past Saturday was rather disappointing as far as photo quality. Last year a couple of monster bucks posed nicely in good light, so great photos came easily. Unfortunately not the case this time around.

Has me thinking it is time to invest in a lense upgrade.

I have been using a 70-300mm zoom with a 2x doubler. Down sides obviously are poor in low-light conditions and lose auto focus with the current set up (camera is a Nikon D5200).

For less than $1,000, what would be the best options? What are key features I should be looking at?

I really lean towards zoom instead of a fixed telephoto for the since you can get a lot more range of photos- not just a set close up and don't have to switch lenses when a buck pops up close or action on the field comes closer.

Both Tamron and Sigma make 150-600mm with F/5 for about $900-950. Leaning that way if my wife gets on board with the idea.

 

[NoTrax]

50-500 Sigma, fabulous lens for 1000-1500 range if you find one used.

Not great in low light, but for that range you have to spend 10K plus to get a 2.8

I used my 50-500 with my Full frame 5d mkii, it worked great, and the 5dii doesnt have great iso perofmrnace now a days, so I imagine on a more modern body that 6.3 @ 500mm isnt too shabby.

Check out my Coyote shots on my website and many other wildlife, that was with that bigma

www.shootmarcedwards.com

Ive never used the tamron, but Ive heard lots of good things on the 150-600, would be an option on my plate if I wanted to go that route again.

 

[Houndoc]

50-500 Sigma, fabulous lens for 1000-1500 range if you find one used.



Ive never used the tamron, but Ive heard lots of good things on the 150-600, would be an option on my plate if I wanted to go that route again.

Can you suggest a reliable site for buying used lenses?