Topic: Telephoto Lenses (Read 1922 times)

Freelance · « **on:** July 01, 2007, 07:47:43 pm »

I am also new to this forum and looking for some answers. I have a Canon Rebel XT. My zoom lense is a Quantaray70-300mm 1:4 - 5.6 LD Tele-Macro(1:2). I was taking pictures of some hummingbirds at the feeder which came out good as far as the body goes, but I wanted to catch them in flight and stop the wings and still be in focus. Do I need to get the 70 - 200mm f2.8 lense for this. The cheapeat one of those I found was around $1600.00 so I want to be sure I'm just not doing something wrong with what I got before I spend the money.

wolfnowl · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2007, 01:37:49 am »

Hummingbird wings beat at rougly 60 times a second, but they can be up to 200 beats a second during mating displays. To capture this you're better off investing in a good flash unit than a faster lens...

Mike.

dobson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2007, 03:28:55 am »

Just get your shutter speed above about 1/1000 and get lucky enough to freeze the beats at the top or bottom of the stroke (the wing velocity stops there). ISO 1600 is your friend here.

I do not recommend a faster aperture. Hummingbirds are small subjects so you are very close to them. The depth of field at this magnification is already razor thin. My best shots are shot at f6.3 and the entire bird is still not in focus.

Also if you are considering a super-tele, look at the close focus distance/ magnification ratio. You need a very close focus which many high-end teles do not provide.

Phillip

spidermike · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2007, 03:34:35 am »

You say that the 'body is good' so there is nothing wrong with the quality of the lens as such. Am I right in assuming your thinking is that the f2.8 will give you another 2 stops of aperture so you can get even faster exposure? I have seen an estimate somewhere that to freeze the wings completey with shutter speed alone will need something like 1/4000 sec or even more. At f2.8 that will need really good light.
Flash will work much better.

Also bear in mind that at f2.8 the depth of field becomes very tight and the photo 'hit rate' will likely plummet.

Have you google'd 'humming bird pictures' - at least one photographer love telling others how he did it!

Author Topic: Telephoto Lenses (Read 1922 times)