Best telephoto lens for under £800?

[Josh Burrows]

Hello, I am thinking of upgrading lens within the next year or two, and was just wondering if there are any good telephoto lenses, new or second hand, that would be worth looking into. I am looking for something that has a focal length of about 400+mm and something that will fit my Nikon D3200. My maximum budget is £800 but preferably less,

Thanks, Josh

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Josh, seems like the low budget scared most people too much to provide you with a suitable answer! Extra info that would help is what you are upgrading from and why and what you will be using it for. Are you going for a longer focal length, or are you unhappy with the IQ, VR (or lack thereof) or AF speed?
I'd recommend the old model 80-400, because it is within your budget and in the focal length range you are looking for. I'm not sure if you can still get it new or have to go second hand. Probably quite a few people will be switching to the newer model, (which is twice the price of the old one and hence not in your budget). IQ is great, but because it has been around for so long, most if it's technology is quite outdated. VR is still Nikons old system. Good, but probably not as good as the newer system. Also AF is painstakingly sloooow because it doesn't have an internal focus motor. BIF is possible, but only with birds that are not too fast and fly along a predictible flypath. All birds (including BIF's) in this gallery on my website were shot with this lens on the D7000.
If you can do without VR, the 300mm f/4 might be a good choice, but you'd need an extender to get to the focal length you state. Above 1.4x this will cause problems with AF on your camera. IQ is great on this lens.
There's a few lenses from third parties (Sigma, Tamron) that might interest you. There's an interesting thread on the new Tamron 150-600 a few threads down with some impressive sample images. Quite a few here shoot with the Sigma 150-500 or 50-500 with quite impressive results. These lenses are also close to your price range. I remember there being discussions about these lenses in this forum as well.
Not sure what you can get second hand in this price range.

[Jerry van Dijk]

I just saw that the D3200 does not have a built in focus motor, so the old Nikkor 80-400 will not autofocus on your camera. Something to consider when you look into older, second hand lenses. If you want autofocus, you need to go for the AF-S type lenses.

[Ulli Hoeger]

Hello, I am thinking of upgrading lens within the next year or two, and was just wondering if there are any good telephoto lenses, new or second hand, that would be worth looking into. I am looking for something that has a focal length of about 400+mm and something that will fit my Nikon D3200. My maximum budget is £800 but preferably less,

Thanks, Josh

Tamron just came out with a new 150-600 and some of the results posted in various forums are not exactly discouraging, i.e. seems like a good performer for the price. The Nikon version is due out any time now -so far only the Canon mount is on the market- and by the time you plan on upgrading there should be a clear picture of what this lens can and can not do. This lens would be well within your budget ........

Ulli

[Josh Burrows]

Thank you for your help, I had a look at the new 150-600mm lens from Tamron, the reviews seem good for the Canon fit. Hopefully, somebody will do a review with it on the Nikon D3200 when the Nikon version is released.
The Tamron one does look very good and fits most of the boxes I need,

Thanks- JOSH