A very close friend of mine is an amateur bird photographer and asked my opinion on choosing a lens for his bird photography.
Well, I have some ideas about Canon lenses up to 200mm. Also, I have never photographed birds, OK not been to a bird photography.
These are his in his short list:
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5- 5.6L IS II USM (he would buy 1.4x or 2x extender with this lens)
Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5 - 6.3 DG OS HSM
Canon 200 - 400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4X
Canon 500mm f/4 IS II USM
Of course he knows the price difference between the first 2 and the second 2 lenses.
The price is concern as well, but he does not know the differences in IQ, field experience, handling etc....
One thing that makes him to think about the first two, is the verticality that he can use them for other purpose as well.
He uses cropped canon camera 1.6X. with a third party zoom lens I think up to 300mm and he says it is short. He shoots mainly in the shallow lakes and the swamps in and around Perth, Australia. He does not use a mono or a tripod. Not so far.
If you have any experience with any of the above lenses or any other suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance for your inputs,
Mo
Posted by Dennis Plank on December 8, 2014 at 2:34 PM
Mohammad:
I've used the 100-400 and the 500 f4. A teleconverter with the 100-400 removes autofocus cpability with most Canon cameras (it might work with the new 7D mark II, but have him check the manual for the camera which can be downloaded from Canon's website). Even with manual focus, I was never very pleases wit combining a teleconverter with the 100-400. The 500 f4 is a superb lens and the 200-r00 gets excellent reviews. Another lens I've heard good things about but haven't tried is the new Sigma 100-300 f2.8. It is said to work well with Sigma's teleconverters as well and is a lot cheaper than the Canon high end lenses he's looking at. He might also look at Canon's 300mm in both f2.8 and f4. Both have excellent image quality and work very well with teleconverters.
Posted by Barry Ekstrand on December 10, 2014 at 1:13 PM
Mohammad,
I have the Canon EF 500mm f4L IS II USM and it is a great lens. I often use it with the EF 1.4x III teleconverter to have a 700mm f5.6 lens and image quality remains very good. The combination creates a nice flexibility for me that I like. I find the 500 mm lens is hand holdable but it is still a fairly heavy lens and I generally use it with a monopod just to make a day's shooting easier. Before dropping the $$ on this lens I rented one for a weekend and would recommend that to anyone, I think it helps you to really check it out before spending a lot of money. I hope this is helpful to him.
Discussion
2 repliesA very close friend of mine is an amateur bird photographer and asked my opinion on choosing a lens for his bird photography.
Well, I have some ideas about Canon lenses up to 200mm. Also, I have never photographed birds, OK not been to a bird photography.
These are his in his short list:
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5- 5.6L IS II USM (he would buy 1.4x or 2x extender with this lens)
Sigma 150 - 600mm f/5 - 6.3 DG OS HSM
Canon 200 - 400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4X
Canon 500mm f/4 IS II USM
Of course he knows the price difference between the first 2 and the second 2 lenses.
The price is concern as well, but he does not know the differences in IQ, field experience, handling etc....
One thing that makes him to think about the first two, is the verticality that he can use them for other purpose as well.
He uses cropped canon camera 1.6X. with a third party zoom lens I think up to 300mm and he says it is short. He shoots mainly in the shallow lakes and the swamps in and around Perth, Australia. He does not use a mono or a tripod. Not so far.
If you have any experience with any of the above lenses or any other suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance for your inputs,
Mo
I've used the 100-400 and the 500 f4. A teleconverter with the 100-400 removes autofocus cpability with most Canon cameras (it might work with the new 7D mark II, but have him check the manual for the camera which can be downloaded from Canon's website). Even with manual focus, I was never very pleases wit combining a teleconverter with the 100-400. The 500 f4 is a superb lens and the 200-r00 gets excellent reviews. Another lens I've heard good things about but haven't tried is the new Sigma 100-300 f2.8. It is said to work well with Sigma's teleconverters as well and is a lot cheaper than the Canon high end lenses he's looking at. He might also look at Canon's 300mm in both f2.8 and f4. Both have excellent image quality and work very well with teleconverters.
I have the Canon EF 500mm f4L IS II USM and it is a great lens. I often use it with the EF 1.4x III teleconverter to have a 700mm f5.6 lens and image quality remains very good. The combination creates a nice flexibility for me that I like. I find the 500 mm lens is hand holdable but it is still a fairly heavy lens and I generally use it with a monopod just to make a day's shooting easier. Before dropping the $$ on this lens I rented one for a weekend and would recommend that to anyone, I think it helps you to really check it out before spending a lot of money. I hope this is helpful to him.
Barry