i am interested in doing wildlife photography and i am looking for the longest telephoto lens available, i may not be able to afford it, but id like to know whats out there. Today i was tooling around with my brand new D80 and i chased down this redtailed hawk, i got a few great shots of it ontop of a barn but when i put them on my computer and the more i croped it, the worse it looked, kinda pist me off, i took that with my 18 - 200mm sigma lens. i have read alot of opinions on tele lenses but i cant seem to get a similar opinion to go off of. i read that a good 200mm can beat out a crappy 300mm. I have seen 500mm but i have no idea what i am looking for in a lens. With that being said, i need to be schooled on filters as well, maybe you guys could throw up some pics of comparisons between having them on and not having them on. ill try to post the hawk pic up here when i get a chance. Thanks in advance for youe help.

Josh

as far as money, lets just say that im def not rich and id like to get the most bang for my buck, i honestly dont want to pay a grand for a lens, it just not something i can afford right now. i see on ebay, the sigma 70 - 300mm is around 600 to 800, this is about what id be looking for, still a bit pricey but may be what i need.

Josh

I apologize, the one that i was talkin about for 600 to 800 was the Sigma AF 170-500/5-6.3 APO DG ASPH