7D lens quandry

Mike.P

Mike.P

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Right, I know nothing about Canon and very little about Nikon so ...

I currently have a substantial Pentax Kit and get (imo) excellent quality shots from my K10D but the time has come to upgrade. I have the cash put aside to buy the Pentax K-7 but feel the AF and higher ISO is still lacking when compared to the Nikon D300S (which I was already to buy). Now the 7D is almost here it looks like it could be perfect for what I want... I am looking to use this new camera (be it the D300S or 7D) purely for birding and air show/motorsport shooting and keeping my present Pentax gear or selling it off slowly.

If I were to go the Canon route what lens would you suggest to pair up with it for just those requirements .. not looking to spend thousands and happy to buy used .. thinking around 1/1.5k for the lens.(thinking Canon 100-400mm IS)

I use my K10D with a Bigma and because of inbody SR can hand hold that at 500mm 1/180th and get decent shots but there is no SR/IS/VR in the 50-500mm, I tried the 150-500mm and wasnt that impressed and I hate monopods/tripods.

Thanks.
 
Have you thought about a Bushhawk instead of a monopod or tripod? They are very popular with the aircraft lot and birders too apparently...

I certainly would not be wanting to try and hand hold 500mm even with VR/IS/OS/SR
 
It's hard to think of a better lens for air shows and motorsport than the 100-400L, or a better camera than the 7D, especially for birding.

If you need a zoom, with IS, and as much reach as you can get with decent quality, there's nothing to touch that combo at anything remotely near your budget.
 
Mike.P said:
Right, I know nothing about Canon and very little about Nikon so ...

I currently have a substantial Pentax Kit and get (imo) excellent quality shots from my K10D but the time has come to upgrade. I have the cash put aside to buy the Pentax K-7 but feel the AF and higher ISO is still lacking when compared to the Nikon D300S (which I was already to buy). Now the 7D is almost here it looks like it could be perfect for what I want... I am looking to use this new camera (be it the D300S or 7D) purely for birding and air show/motorsport shooting and keeping my present Pentax gear or selling it off slowly.

If I were to go the Canon route what lens would you suggest to pair up with it for just those requirements .. not looking to spend thousands and happy to buy used .. thinking around 1/1.5k for the lens.(thinking Canon 100-400mm IS)

I use my K10D with a Bigma and because of inbody SR can hand hold that at 500mm 1/180th and get decent shots but there is no SR/IS/VR in the 50-500mm, I tried the 150-500mm and wasnt that impressed and I hate monopods/tripods.

Thanks.
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The 100-400L is a great flerxible lens, it's the first lens I bought for bird photography and all my early bird shots were taken with it. It's the ideal lens for situations like a zoo where you have some animals at a distance and some close up - the flexible zoom range really comes into it's own and it's pretty much the only lens you need in that environment, and that's mainly the reason I now keep it - for those sorts of situations, despite having longer glass at my disposal for birds, and occasionally for hand held situations which are impractical with the 500mm.

However, you're saying your main interests are motorsports and bird photography. I don't know much about motor sport photography, but I'd have to say that for birding and small birds particularly, you're going to be using the zoom at the 400mm end pretty well permanently, which makes a strong case for going for the Canon 400mm prime instead. It will give you sharper images, although it's not a 'night and day' difference, and it will be lighter than the 100-400L although lacking IS.

You wont really go wrong with either. I'd say if you were only going to buy one all -round wildlife lens which will be useful in other situations, get the 100-400L. If it's going to be almost exclusively birds then you might be better served by the prime, but there will undoubtedly be other situations where the lens will be too long and you're unable to move back.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Not sure if I am correct here but I am thinking 7D purely because of the crop factor with that 18MP sensor should give me plenty to play with. I can get pretty good results with my 10MP Pentax and a Bigma at 500mm (although I have read that the Bigma is actually only around 430mm?) so therefore the extra 8MP of the Canon this would allow me to actually get a closer crop with a slightly shorter lens?

Is this right or am I talking rubbish?
 
Mike.P said:
Thanks for the replies.

Not sure if I am correct here but I am thinking 7D purely because of the crop factor with that 18MP sensor should give me plenty to play with. I can get pretty good results with my 10MP Pentax and a Bigma at 500mm (although I have read that the Bigma is actually only around 430mm?) so therefore the extra 8MP of the Canon this would allow me to actually get a closer crop with a slightly shorter lens?

Is this right or am I talking rubbish?
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That makes sense to me-providing the 7D quality is as good as we are all eagerly anticipating!!

Also I would give another vote for the 100-400L super lens and very flexible.

Perhaps go for a 24-105L for your walkabout lens

You would then have cover from 24 up to 400 with just 2 very high IQ lens.
 
Mike.P said:
Right, I know nothing about Canon and very little about Nikon so ...

I currently have a substantial Pentax Kit and get (imo) excellent quality shots from my K10D but the time has come to upgrade. I have the cash put aside to buy the Pentax K-7 but feel the AF and higher ISO is still lacking when compared to the Nikon D300S (which I was already to buy). Now the 7D is almost here it looks like it could be perfect for what I want... I am looking to use this new camera (be it the D300S or 7D) purely for birding and air show/motorsport shooting and keeping my present Pentax gear or selling it off slowly.

If I were to go the Canon route what lens would you suggest to pair up with it for just those requirements .. not looking to spend thousands and happy to buy used .. thinking around 1/1.5k for the lens.(thinking Canon 100-400mm IS)

I use my K10D with a Bigma and because of inbody SR can hand hold that at 500mm 1/180th and get decent shots but there is no SR/IS/VR in the 50-500mm, I tried the 150-500mm and wasnt that impressed and I hate monopods/tripods.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Hi Mike

Why are you not considering the D700 if your price point is that of the 7D ?
Your interests are similar to mine and I would bet that the D700 51 point autofocus will still be better than that of the 7D. More importantly as the light fades running into winter I can guarantee the atonishing ISO performance of the D700 will be a real bonus. Personlly I would recommend a D700 and a 300 AF-S a killer combo:thumbs:
 
gpa said:
Hi Mike

Why are you not considering the D700 if your price point is that of the 7D ?
Your interests are similar to mine and I would bet that the D700 51 point autofocus will still be better than that of the 7D. More importantly as the light fades running into winter I can guarantee the atonishing ISO performance of the D700 will be a real bonus. Personlly I would recommend a D700 and a 300 AF-S a killer combo:thumbs:
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Simply for the crop factor 18MP would give me over 12, plus the D700 is FF which means I would lose even more length.

I value length over ISO which is why I have no interest in FF at the present time.
 
Mike.P said:
Thanks for the replies.

Not sure if I am correct here but I am thinking 7D purely because of the crop factor with that 18MP sensor should give me plenty to play with. I can get pretty good results with my 10MP Pentax and a Bigma at 500mm (although I have read that the Bigma is actually only around 430mm?) so therefore the extra 8MP of the Canon this would allow me to actually get a closer crop with a slightly shorter lens?

Is this right or am I talking rubbish?
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right. The 7D will give you a larger 1:1 full size image of your actual subject than any other DSLR currently on the market, and with greater pixel density. This effectively means you have longer reach with shorter lenses - cosiderably longer in the case of some cameras...

3887949307_03df0402b9_o.jpg
 
Mike.P said:
Simply for the crop factor 18MP would give me over 12, plus the D700 is FF which means I would lose even more length.

I value length over ISO which is why I have no interest in FF at the present time.
Click to expand...


:thumbs:
 
The 100-400 is probably the most popular birding lens around - it delivers very good IQ and the IS makes it very easy to use handheld. A lot is said about the 400 f5.6 prime being sharper but having owned both I found that in the real world any difference was too small to notice. That said the 400 f5.6 is an excellent lens and the AF is super fast, but it is let down by it's poor close focus. I reckon the 100-400 IS is the best alrounder for birding/wildlife photography, you'll only get better with one of the big primes and they are silly money.
 
postcardcv said:
The 100-400 is probably the most popular birding lens around - it delivers very good IQ and the IS makes it very easy to use handheld. A lot is said about the 400 f5.6 prime being sharper but having owned both I found that in the real world any difference was too small to notice. That said the 400 f5.6 is an excellent lens and the AF is super fast, but it is let down by it's poor close focus. I reckon the 100-400 IS is the best alrounder for birding/wildlife photography, you'll only get better with one of the big primes and they are silly money.
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:thumbs:
 
I recently got a 100-400 second hand, and haven't managed to use it in anger yet :(
However, the test shots I have taken, have been much better than expected. I am hoping to use this lens in anger with the 7d, for exactly the reasons you stated.
With the tamron 1.4 extender, it still auto-focuses (as the extender lies), and the speed when I have been testing has been usable. (don't know whether your previous camera was crop or not 400x1.4 ~560, 400x1.4x1.6 ~900)
 
coldpenguin said:
I recently got a 100-400 second hand, and haven't managed to use it in anger yet :(
However, the test shots I have taken, have been much better than expected. I am hoping to use this lens in anger with the 7d, for exactly the reasons you stated.
With the tamron 1.4 extender, it still auto-focuses (as the extender lies), and the speed when I have been testing has been usable. (don't know whether your previous camera was crop or not 400x1.4 ~560, 400x1.4x1.6 ~900)
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First of all Mike I appolgise for hijacking your thread!!

I am interested to here the Tamron extender autofocuses with the 100-400L Will it still focus at 400 when the max ap is f5.6??
 
Paul Philpott said:
First of all Mike I appolgise for hijacking your thread!!

I am interested to here the Tamron extender autofocuses with the 100-400L Will it still focus at 400 when the max ap is f5.6??
Click to expand...

it shouldn't do on an xxd body or below in theory it would on a 1d but not sure and I have no idea about the 7d, though I would think it would be the same as a 1d because they share an AF system
 
Paul Philpott said:
First of all Mike I appolgise for hijacking your thread!!

I am interested to here the Tamron extender autofocuses with the 100-400L Will it still focus at 400 when the max ap is f5.6??
Click to expand...

With telecons that don't report the lens aperture, or when you fool the camera by taping over the reporting pins, all this does is force the camera to attempt AF instead of automatically switching out.

Whether or not the the camera will then successfully AF depends on the camera, not the lens. For example, when I tape the pins my 40D will not AF beyond an effective f/6.3 or so, whereas my much older 350D still has some success at f/8 (it's not very fast or reliable though). Other people have had similar experience with a 40D vs Canon's cheaper xxxD models, strange though it may seem.

How the 7D will shape up remains to be seen, but I don't think I'm alone in thinking that, with its very high pixel density, you will get better results from cropping a 7D image than you will by using an extender (within reason) and at the same time neatly side step all these pesky AF issues.

Of course you still need a damn sharp lens to deliver very fine image detail in the first place, but I'm thinking that the 7D might just turn out to have a slightly unexpected bonus up it sleeve for long lens birders :)
 
Thanks to everyone who commented. Looks like I could soon be a Canon user if the 7D is as expected ... something I never thought I would say :p

Now to start saving for a MP-E 65 and flash ... or I could just flog my Pentax A* 300mm f2.8 and teleconverters (when the time comes).
 
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