Newbie Lens Help

Sorry to burden you veterans with a beginner lens question, but a long lens is a chunk of change for me and I could use advice.

I do volunteer raptor counts during migration and would like to take flight shots in conjunction with this. I'm sure once I have the lens I'll be doing some perched songbirds and the like also. I have a Canon Rebel T1i that would be the camera I'll most likely use, and also a 5D that I've used for landscapes.

The only other volunteer who does photos has the 100-400 IS. He said if he were doing it again he would go with a prime due to the fact that he rarely uses the shorter focal lengths, the issues with teleconverter, and possibly some image quality issues.

I think I'm down to the 300mm 4.0 IS probably with a TC or the 400mm 5.6 (no IS) with possibly a TC as the top of my budget. Or?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Both the 300 f4 or the 400 5.6 are fine for bif.

However, your bigger issue will be with the camera's frames per second. I used to own the 5D and its fps (3.6, I think) were not great for bif. I don't know about the T1i.

Less than 6fps will leave you wishing for a faster camera. The 7D is great for bif. So, depending on your budget, do yourself a big favor as far as future fun and consider a faster camera.

If I am not mistaken, I believe the T1i has a shutter speed of 5 frames per second which should be fast enough for bif. The teleconverter will preclude auto focus and limit you only to manual. Since you have a small sensor camera the crop rate on the 400mm will give you an effective length of about 610mm which is long enough without the converter.

I'm a newbie at BIF, too, and for me my T2i could be used for BIF but was very frustrating, mostly because of buffering. I got some shots but missed a lot more. I recently got a 7D, and it is much less frustrating. I have the 400 mm f/5.6 with no IS, and the reason I got that is that I shot using Ron Bielefeld's camera and that lens early in the year and it worked for me. That said, you still have to be close, so you have to find the right spots and situations. Regarding perched songbirds, you have to be even closer. I'm still working on all of it.

The canon 400mm 5.6 (no IS) is a good, light-weight lens at a very good price. I have seen many good birds-in-flight photos taken with this lens. When I was starting out in bird photography I almost changed to Canon just because of this lens. I have used a 300mm lens a lot and recommend going with the 400mm. I have not used my 300 after getting a 600--for birds, including big ones (e.g., geese, cranes), you need all the reach you can get. For mobile field use, I'd also recommend the Bushhawk mount for the telephoto to help track the birds and steady your shot--it's like using a shotgun. For less mobile use, a tripod with a Wimberly head is the ultimate.
---John

Roger, when I started with my 40D and 100-400, I wanted a prime lens to catch BIF. I looked at the 300 vs 400 lens reviews. Most of them indicated a better focusing with the 400. I went with the 400 and do not regret it. I have now upgraded to the 7D and also have the 300 f/2.8 and the 500 but when I go on long walks and light is pretty good, I take my trusty 400 f/5.6 and I still like it a lot. It is very light and I am happy with the results. Also the 7D is great for BIF.

Skip Harris

Thank you everyone. It sounds like the 400mm is the one. It's not in my budget to buy a new camera also, but will try it with the Rebel for a while. I'm sure the 7D would make things better.