Lens advise

[Brooxy85]

Good morning/afternoon, depending on where in the world you are. I'm new to the group and beg taking photos for a year or so for fun. Started of taking car and motorsport picture, but have recently been trying my hand at aircraft.

I am hoping to get some advice on lenses. I'm currently using a Nikon D3300 with a Tamron SP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di VC USD, which seems to do the job for motor racing, but I'd like to get a bit closer when shooting aircraft. What sort of lenses do you all use? I've been seeing a few people using between 400 and 600mm.
Any advice or recommendations as to what would be a decent lens to use with a D3300 cropped sensor camera?

Many thanks in advance.

[JuklicekCZ]

I have personally been using this 70-300 tamron lens for cannon and I did not have any significant range issue.
However it also depends on what you are actually shooting, if is airliners, or some general aviation.
I have tried it on full frame body as well and for airliners there was no issue either. However on the other hand it may also depend on your location, however if I were you I would have personally tried changing your positioning before running for new lens.
Recently when I went to an airshow I have borrowed a tamron 150-600 as there the bigger reach is ofc necessary but there I have had a bit of issue with actually having too high minimal focal length in case of shooting the arrivals.
But I really do think that with an effective focal length around 100-450 you should not have any issue for a standard use.
Maybe it would be helpfull to share some of your photos and locations.

[Brooxy85]

I have personally been using this 70-300 tamron lens for cannon and I did not have any significant range issue.
However it also depends on what you are actually shooting, if is airliners, or some general aviation.
I have tried it on full frame body as well and for airliners there was no issue either. However on the other hand it may also depend on your location, however if I were you I would have personally tried changing your positioning before running for new lens.
Recently when I went to an airshow I have borrowed a tamron 150-600 as there the bigger reach is ofc necessary but there I have had a bit of issue with actually having too high minimal focal length in case of shooting the arrivals.
But I really do think that with an effective focal length around 100-450 you should not have any issue for a standard use.
Maybe it would be helpfull to share some of your photos and locations.

I'll be shooting mostly at air shows and am planning a visit to the loop next year. The displays seem to be getting further and further away these days. I find I'm getting some ok shots, but am have to do quite a lot of cropping to get what I want.

[JuklicekCZ]

The displays are indeed far away, that is due to the security requirements.
And in a case, that you are mainly planning to shoot at airshows, I suppose, that the 70-300 may indeed be a bit lacking.
However the Tamron 150-600 G2 may be a bit handy, however you must also consider, that the lens itself is huge (diameter of the front element around 10 centimeters) compared to the 300 and also a bit heavy (around 2.2 kilo).
If you don't mind investing a bit more, maybe a sigma 150-600 sports may do a better job, there is also a cheaper contemporary version of it, however I did not try the sigmas out personally.
Unfortunately when I ave been testing the lens, the weather was just terrible, so I don't have any sots with good enough quality for any comparison of anything.
But still, there are quite some shots in the DB, that do claim this lens.

https://www.jetphotos.com/showphotos.php?aircraft=all&airline=all&country-location=all&genre=all&keywords-contain=3&keywords-type=lens&keywords=Tamron+150-600+G2&photo-year=all&photographer-group=all&search-type=Advanced&sort-order=0&page=1

[zomeu]

Lightweight alternative to be considered (max <2kg body+lens) : sweet price, splashproof, excellent optical qualities, outstanding stabilisation (up to 8EV) and functions (including AF planes detection and tracking...) and superlative focal length...

https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/cameras/om-d/om-1-body

and
https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/lenses...tc1-25x-is-pro
or
https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/lenses...00mm-f4-is-pro
or
https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/lenses...mm-f5-0-6-3-is

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10188089

[NZDN_spotting]

Check out the Tamron or Sigma 100-400s, or even the new Tamron 50-400, or Sigma 60-600. I run the 60-600 personally

[mahagonny]

Watch this shot
100-400 Tamron. Canon 6D Mark II. ISO 320 1/500 sec. f11 400/400mm

I mean, it also depends on the camera body. I have also used this lens (full frame) on an APSc and I can say, on my experience, that it has made it totally different. Much better on the 6D.
Finally, I want to point out that there is no perfect zoom, there is the one that best suits your needs.
Excuse my bad english