Renting a lens to shoot eagles - suggestions?

I'm heading to Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee for the Eagle Festival in February. I've been using an old Sigma 80-400 for bird photography and I'd like to try out a Canon L zoom on that trip. I am looking for rental lens suggestions. I'll have the lens on a Canon 5Dii and a 7D and will shoot mostly from a tripod but also handheld.

Question: since you already have a zoom, why not rent a prime lens? The IQ is so much better with a prime instead of a zoom, in my experience. I love my 300f4L + 1.4TC combo for shooting birds It's relatively lightweight and I can easily carry it on a hike. I also love the 500f4 which I've rented (and one day dream of owning!), but it's quite a bit heavier if that is a concern for you. Also, I've had nothing but wonderful experiences with LensRentals.com . Highly recommend that company for lens rentals.

I'll let others suggest possible zooms with great IQ.

Have you been there before and do you know what kind of distances you'll be from the birds? And will you have any control at all over how far you are from them?

My recommendation is the same as Rebecka. I'd advise you to rent a long prime lens and have your existing zoom mounted on your second body. All I have ever shot is zooms for wildlife. Even when I could finally afford a nice lens I bought a 200-400. Definately with that lens I've always been satisfied with IQ. But as we all know ignorance is bliss. This past fall I went down to Chilkat to shoot eagles and I rented a 600mm for a week. OMG !!! Using that lens was unbelievable. Also the fixed focal length was a lot less of a problem than I thought it would be. When you're that far out, the bird can move a good bet in either direction without an appreciable effect on you composition.

The down side of renting the long prime is that I am no longer blissfully ignorant and am itching to acquire a long prime

I've shot much more with my 100-400 Canon zoom that my 400mm f2.8 prime. This is mostly due to the weight factor of the big lens coupled to a 7D with a 2X tele convertor in the middle. This is like having a 1280mm f5.6 lens on your 5DII but it weighs about 18 to 20 lbs. so I mostly use a tripod and gimbal mount. The 100-400 is very light in comparison and is my most used lens for sure.

Well I am a Nikon shooter, still I use a 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 2.0 TC on my D300s and that is plenty and fast for all Eagle flight shots. For nest shots where you can't get very close I also often use the 400mm f/2.8 with 2.0 TC on one of the D300s. This gives me 1200mm at f/5.6 and, depending on the weather, is usually sufficient for the long reach. the only drawback on it is it and camera (sans Wimberley and tripod) weighs in at 17# !) Good luck and have a safe and happy new year.

Richard, I also shoot Canon and just came back from a week in Costa Rica. I have a 70-200 f2.8 and a 500 f4 for wildlife, but for this trip, I wanted something lighter and easier to manipulate in boats and handhold or tripod whenever the situation warranted. I decided to bring the 70-200 and rent the new 300 f2.8 + 2.0 III. What an amazing lens and combination. it's tack sharp, fast, easy to handhold, which ended up being the situation 75% of the time, but also works well on the gimbal. With bright, sunny days (which was every day) the 300+2.0 combo I got some amazing handheld shots. Needless to say, I am buying this lens. it's the perfect glass the fits between the 200 and 500, and I agree with all the previous comments that you will get better IQ with primes.

Garry Revesz
Toronto