British Wildlife Centre Surrey - What glass do I need ?

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Booked into a tog day at the BWC in July.

Anyone thats been able to recommend best glass to take for this ?

Thanks
 
Booked into a tog day at the BWC in July.

Anyone thats been able to recommend best glass to take for this ?

Thanks
Been a couple of times in the past, not recently though.

It it's any help, looking at Lightroom, most of my pictures there were taken at the long end of the two zooms I had at the time - so either 200mm or 400mm - these on the 1DMKIII, so an unusual 1.3 crop factor.

This was taken back in 2009 at 400mm and is uncropped; the bird was about central within it's enclosure to give an idea of reach. In think on special days (such as yours) you may even be able to gain access to some of the enclosures.


DT_2009_01367.jpg
 
Cheers.
Im led to believe that we do go into most of the enclosures, hence me asking the question.
 
What lenses do you have? Is your camera crop or full frame? Im guessing it being a photo day you will be inside the enclosures so a wide angle and a longer zoom up to 200/300mm should be ok.

I went on a half day one a few years back, i only had a 200-400mm and 105mm lenses with me. I was at 200mm/300mm on full frame inside the wild cats enclosure. For the foxes I changed to a 105mm macro lens as 200mm felt like it would be too long and limiting. It was long after that I bought a 70-200 as I really missed that focal length.

Frame filling at 300mm.

Scottish Wild Cat by -Rob'81-
 
Good point @rob-nikon ...

Bag currently has :
D500
70-300vr
300F4
16-85 F3.5

Would rent a 70-200 2.8 if it was considered the glass to have....
 







Couple of shots when i was there to give some idea. i would say a 24-70mm and 70-200/300mm should do. Be prepared to do a fair bit of grass sitting so maybe a plastic sheet if the ground is wet
 
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Good point @rob-nikon ...

Bag currently has :
D500
70-300vr
300F4
16-85 F3.5

Would rent a 70-200 2.8 if it was considered the glass to have....
Looking like you aware all set with those lenses. The 70-200 is a great lens but it's unlikely you are going to need f2.8 in this weather, and to be honest the 70-300 VR should be good for most of your needs there. I will always have the 300 f4 if you want something's not a little faster focusing.

If you are willing to splash out £100 (don't forget return postage cost too) on hiring the 70-200 it's not a bad lens to have with you but may not really be needed.
 
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I used my 70-200 and 18-70 when I went a couple of years ago
Assume your doing a mammal day which should get the keepers trying to control the animals,
including getting squirrels in natural poses in trees, foxes running and climbing out of the ditches,
hedgehog climbing on log, otters trying to chew your feet, and the wildcats have kittens so if you are in that run they may be a bit
shy,.
We also did owls in the afternoon, but it was a members only day organised at short noticed due to a cancellation.
A few of my pics of the day HERE
I did use 2 bodies to save me changing lenses, I think it was the D300 and D7100 at the time
 
If they take you round to the Heronry a 400mm reach would be useful. Otherwise +1 ^^^^^ to all the insight above.
 
If they take you round to the Heronry a 400mm reach would be useful. Otherwise +1 ^^^^^ to all the insight above.


Not known them to do that on a photographic day, you may walk past it for the owls if the go onto the fields/woods beyond the boardwalk
 
Not known them to do that on a photographic day, you may walk past it for the owls if the go onto the fields/woods beyond the boardwalk

Ah! my visits were not BWC tog days.
 
A UWA might be useful if you have (or can blag!) one but is by no means a must have. Other than that,
D500
70-300vr
300F4
16-85 F3.5
sounds good to me, although I'd be tempted to leave the relatively bulky and heavy 300 prime hidden in the car (as long as the car park is fairly close so you can run and get it if you feel it's worth carrying as well.)
 
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