Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Bill Jaynes on September 22, 2009, 12:09:20 pm
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Hello,
Can someone recommend an inexpensive and reliable lens for shooting birds? [Canon 5D v1] I'm prepared to buy used and would like something that gets to between 300 and 400mm. I've been reading about Canon's 75-300 which is priced well but gets pretty poor reviews.
Thanks for any thoughts.
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Hello,
Can someone recommend an inexpensive and reliable lens for shooting birds? [Canon 5D v1] I'm prepared to buy used and would like something that gets to between 300 and 400mm. I've been reading about Canon's 75-300 which is priced well but gets pretty poor reviews.
Thanks for any thoughts.
The Canon 400mm f5.6 L is really really first rate. It is light and can be hand held, but comes with tripod collar. I use mine often with a monopod , ball head and quick release. KEH has a used one for $999. Lot of money, but a superior lens.
Dave Gurtcheff
www.modernpictorials.com
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Thanks David,
That was one I had my eye on. Maybe I'll save up for it.
The Canon 400mm f5.6 L is really really first rate. It is light and can be hand held, but comes with tripod collar. I use mine often with a monopod , ball head and quick release. KEH has a used one for $999. Lot of money, but a superior lens.
Dave Gurtcheff
www.modernpictorials.com
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Don't waste your money on the 75-300. The 70-300 is a vastly superior lens, but I think you'll find 300mm is really too short for birds with a full frame sensor anyway.
(If you insist on throwing money away, my 75-300 is available. It hasn't been touched since I got my 70-300 several years ago. )
Brian
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Don't waste your money on the 75-300. The 70-300 is a vastly superior lens, but I think you'll find 300mm is really too short for birds with a full frame sensor anyway.
(If you insist on throwing money away, my 75-300 is available. It hasn't been touched since I got my 70-300 several years ago. )
Brian
I wouldn't use the 70-300 at 300. Not thrilled with it over 200.
As to the 75-300 it really is horrible.
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i find that anything less than 600mm is short for birds and that you may want to consider a crop frame camera (that said i see little difference between a crop from the 5D2 and a 40D image - hope the 7D is noticeably better). Getting to 600mm on ff is very expensive and heavy.
The other alternative is a spotting scope (particularly for small birds) - about which i know pretty nearly nothing.
as usual, i'd recommend renting a lens and trying it in the field to see if it works for you
i agree on the 75-300 and 70-300 - they are both too short and too soft
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And you may lose a lot of shots waiting for the 70-300 to autofocus.
The 400mm f5.6 autofocus is fast. It is sharp and affordable compared to most of the other options for a quality lens. You can hand hold it at fast shutter speeds (I rest it over my left elbow).
Downsides are:
1)Long minimum focus distance. If a bird lands on a branch within 11 feet you will be cursing.
2)Not a zoom. You need to practise finding BIF. At the beginning you may be waving the thing all over the sky trying to find your target.
3)No IS. I use a Manfrotto 685b monopod which gives enough support down to maybe 1/300th sec and is quick to adjust.
I think the fast autofocus is a good trade-off compared to a slow zoom, but sometimes miss the ability to locate the bird at 100mm and then zoom in.
David
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Can someone recommend an inexpensive and reliable lens for shooting birds?
This is almost like asking for a recommendation for a lens for photographing people. A good lens choice will depend on your approach skills, the size/kind of birds, the kind of photos you wish to make, and of course your budget for a lens.
For example: are you interested in documenting rarities? BIF? nesting behavior? fine art (i.e., well-composed, rich color, exceptional detail) photos? How good are you at getting close to birds? Are you interested in tiny passerines, herons in Florida, hawks at a migration point? What sort of habitats are you likely to encounter? Dense brush, deep forests, open plains? The answers to all these questions (and more) will point toward a variety of lenses. I typically use lenses from 280mm to 560mm. Much of the time the 280mm lens is on the short side of usable but in other situations it's just the right thing; the 560mm lens is manual-focus, relatively slow, relatively affordable, very portable and perhaps my most productive lens.
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The Canon 400mm f5.6 L is really really first rate.
Totally agree. I'll go for this lens. It is so sharp that that for handheld shooting you should use no less than 1/1600, and 1/400 for tripod. This are the minimum speeds for my 5D MK2
Manuel
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Birding is my hobby, so I often take a 300/4 on a Canon 40D. This lets me shoot record shots of what I see. It's not even close to enough lens for serious bird photography, of course, but this combo makes decent photos.