S2 - Tele lens selection: Surfing

[surfworx]

My S2 is still waiting to land here, so in the meantime I'm looking at best lens selection, for shooting surfing.
I wonder what your feedback is if I pose this to you:

Here's a list of possibles I've come up with, feel free to recommend or review any lens I've listed.

80-400 VR ..............I still like this, as the S2 has dust problems,. so the less I change lenses the better, and it equates to a 112-560mm). Seems a good allrounder, but its $3000AUS and reports of slowness in Auto-focussing are a worry, but I don't know if thats a problem shooting aircraft, and not surfing.

80-200 F2.8 ...........This gets excellent reviews, but even with a 1.4 converter and the multiplying effect of the S2 gets me 560mm at F4 I think. I can get it second hand for about $1200AUS, and a 2x teleconv for about $600 second hand. From experience, 500mm+ is what I need for surfing.

300/2.8............Second hand, I'm still looking at $6500AUS, and I'll need to still get maybe a 80-200 to cover the range. Its a big heavy lens, but its optics are pretty amazing apparently. With a 2x conv, and the S2 multiplying efffect, I'd have a 840mm at about F4. Thats a pretty amazing telephoto setup, but the $7000+AUS is something I really want to avoid. Tempting, but realistically no. Damn, its heavy too.

300/4..................This second hand is $1500AUS, and with a 1.4 and the S2 I'm looking at 588mm. That's where I need to be. But would it be better to get a 80-400 (112-560mm on the S2) VR lens that is slower, but is more of an allrounder?

I've asked this alot, but I still can't decide what is the best option. Hiring lenses like this is'nt an option where I live.
Any suggestions ???
You can throw in curve balls, like a Sigma 50-500, my budget is $3000AUS which is about $1500US.

Thanks Heaps,

Derrick
www.surfworx.com.au
:confused:

[Digi4Ever]

I'll throw another choice into the mix.
I have just seen some pics taken with a AT-X 840-II 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 and they look awesome. The ATX series lenses seem to do very well. A co-worker has this lens on his D100 (He opted for the D100 even though I tried to convince him on the S2) and took some Eagle pics last weekend up in the Rockies. Incredible pics! Sharp, clear and very bright at 400mm.
See the specs link at http://www.thkphoto.com/
I played with it a bit and the pics appear to be very sharp, focus seemed fast.
I found a few reviews that gave it high marks.
One thing is there are 2 versions:
AT-X 840
AT-X 840-II
Obviously the "II" version is the newer one and I noticed there are some people on Ebay selling supposedly "new" AT-X 840 models even though they are not made any more. BUYER BEWARE! (especially on Ebay)
Street price is under $450 USD. I am thinking of adding this to my collection.
Adorama and Canoga sell it for $439.00 + shipping.
Hope this helps and does not just confuse things.:)
Will
Oh, and another thing is the users of the first version (AT-X 840) said their one major complaint was no built in tripod collar. The new II version has this.

[kari]

hi surfer!

i've tested 300/4 for a week and to me it was slow, much slower than 80-200/2.8
it had some difficulties to focus on bit soft surfaces
it's very sharp, perhaps sharper than 80-200?

just to know

hope you'll get suitable lences ;-)