I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

[guymclaren]

Rebel XTi in a few weeks, I need to know about lenses.

The cam comes with an 18-55 lense as standard.

I need a lense for wild life photography, I am on a limited budget so these are my thought processes, I can generally get to within about 10 - 15 meters of most birds. I can get to within 30m of most smaller game that I photograph. One of the biggest problems I have with my current toy is that I get totally frustrated because I cannot get close enough. The other problem is budget. I will probably buy Sigma to start off with but what focal length should I be looking at.

[Pol]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Rebel XTi in a few weeks, I need to know about lenses.

The cam comes with an 18-55 lense as standard.

I need a lense for wild life photography, I am on a limited budget so these are my thought processes, I can generally get to within about 10 - 15 meters of most birds. I can get to within 30m of most smaller game that I photograph. One of the biggest problems I have with my current toy is that I get totally frustrated because I cannot get close enough. The other problem is budget. I will probably buy Sigma to start off with but what focal length should I be looking at.

I'd say you need at least 500mm for bird photography, also for wildlife. I use a Sigma 170-500mm (on Pentax cameras) and they're about the most affordable, sometimes found on ebay at a good price too.

Those 2 sigma lenses are often mentioned on various bird/wildlife forums and capable of producing some very good results imho.

Does anyone else have any further suggestions please?

Pol

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Funny I was looking at the sigma 170 x 500 this morning. seems to be reasonably priced for African conditions. Ebay works if you are in the first world but out here in the bush its best to actually pick it up from the shop.

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Oh and what about those 2x converters, Do they work?

[Pol]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Oh and what about those 2x converters, Do they work?

They won't work on the Sigma 170-500.

I've never used any converters myself, but the thing about them is you need to be using a fast (full time f/2.8.) zoom or prime lens otherwise there won't be enough light getting through.

I'm not as experienced as some others, never used teleconverters myself (I don't have any suitable, fast zooms or primes that could take them).

Anyone else got any comments/advice please? (Mick Johnson, Andy Bright - are you there?)

Pol

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Thankee squire, You are a real gent, Theres no real rush except for budgeting. Although any and all advice will be gratefully accepted.

[Pol]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Thankee squire, You are a real gent,

Me? I hope not 'cos I'm not even a fella, let alone a "Gent".

I'm an 'old girl' - an old 'tart' well past her prime, a faded and jaded 'babe' of the 'Swingin' Sixties' era.

Peace Man, peace. Make Love Not War.


Pol (Polly)

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Faded maybe but still a cracker I bet. Apologies.

[Patrick]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Rebel XTi in a few weeks, I need to know about lenses.

The cam comes with an 18-55 lense as standard.

I need a lense for wild life photography, I am on a limited budget so these are my thought processes, I can generally get to within about 10 - 15 meters of most birds. I can get to within 30m of most smaller game that I photograph. One of the biggest problems I have with my current toy is that I get totally frustrated because I cannot get close enough. The other problem is budget. I will probably buy Sigma to start off with but what focal length should I be looking at.

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Thanks, What does everyone else think? How far were you from the bird? If I knew where my book was I would be more specific, all the raptors sort of blend although I can tell its not a black shouldered kite or a martial eagle

[Patrick]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Thanks, What does everyone else think? How far were you from the bird? If I knew where my book was I would be more specific, all the raptors sort of blend although I can tell its not a black shouldered kite or a martial eagle

[Mick Johnson]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Hello Guy,

Pol has asked me to have a look at this thread and maybe give some advice.

Well, I do quite a bit of bird photography but mainly from hides and I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do as you say you can't get close enough.

I too have the Sigma (50-500) and it is a good lens. I used it all the time with my Eos 3 and slide film and found it very sharp indeed. I now have a 20d and with it's 1.6 crop I actually find it a bit too long for what I do.

Also, it's max aperture of f6.3 makes it almost impossible to manual focus with a 20d and it's dim viewfinder. This was no trouble at all with the Eos3's very big and bright viewfinder.

I always wanted to try a Sigma 100-300f4 EX because it's supposed to be very good indeed. Last year I got one and can't fault it.

It's very sharp, and I mean sharp. It's not very good at f4 unfortunatley but from f5 it's great.

I have used it with a EX 1.4 converter and it's sharper than my 50-500 without one, but not by much. I don't like converters on zooms because of the drop in sharpness but this lens is good with one.

The constant f4 is very bright too on my 20d. It also does not change length when zooming so would be better for you in dusty conditions as it would'nt suck in air as you zoom.

The auto-focus is far quicker than my 50-500 and much more accurate and easily as fast as my Canon 70-200f4L.

I have also being using a friends 100-400IS just to see how good it is and it was better than I thought it would be after reading all the reviews. It is a new one though and I believe they are better than older models.

So, for me, with a 20d, I would buy the Sigma EX100-300, and a 1.4 converter. It also has a very good tripod collar and a great lens hood. It is also over a pound lighter than my 50-500.

[guymclaren]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Mick I do some shooting from my car in a Game park, some from hides and some from my back garden. I am talking birds now. My current camera a Kodak v610 is great for nearby shots but go further than 5 meters and I am screwed. I recently got bit by the birding bug and wish to take better pics than the ones I am taking.

I also get a good many opportunities at game including Lion etc. but always just too far for my camera. hence the need for something a little better. As we are paying british prices + anywhwre from 50 - 100% here I am a little tight on budget.

Is there somewhere that has a zoom lense comparison that shows the actual differences using a picture at the same distance?

[Goatsmilkuk]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

There is a good article on lenses in Febs Digital Camera Mag, it goes through the different types/focal lengths of lenses, there is also an article on bird photography.

It's worth picking up a copy if you don't already have one, may help you choose, if you can get it where you are that is or can get someone to post a copy to you.


Stu

[yoshi]

Re: I am going to be buying the Canon EOS400D

Is there somewhere that has a zoom lense comparison that shows the actual differences using a picture at the same distance?

How about this one? At the top right, you can see varioius pics taken at the same spot but with lenses of different focal lengths (from 17mm to 600mm). I wanted to find a Canon example but could not find it. I knew Pentax leaflet had one. The focal length are for 35mm equivalent so you have to take into account the crop ratio x1.6 of 400D.

http://www.pentax.co.jp/japan/catalog/pdf/35_lenses.pdf

yoshi