Lens for wildlife?

Brooksy

Brooksy

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Eric
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I dont normally do this kind of thing. But this winter I have been down at the local park. I took the camera really to do more random candid shots. But found myself doing other stuff.
Anyway, I enjoyed the 'other stuff', birds and so forth.
So, I have decided to get a lens with a bit more range.
I have looked at : Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 G AF-S VR IF-ED

Its not 'too' expensive and I would use it.

Any thoughts would be great.

TIA !

Eric
 
Brooksy said:
I dont normally do this kind of thing. But this winter I have been down at the local park. I took the camera really to do more random candid shots. But found myself doing other stuff.
Anyway, I enjoyed the 'other stuff', birds and so forth.
So, I have decided to get a lens with a bit more range.
I have looked at : Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 G AF-S VR IF-ED

Its not 'too' expensive and I would use it.

Any thoughts would be great.

TIA !

Eric
Click to expand...

Hi Eric, it's a good compromise lens,not to dear and good results.
The shot here and the last three shots on my flickr are with this lens.

tiger_2_700.jpg
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I thought about that, but the nikon is over 1k and I really don't want to spend that kind of money.
 
Don't do wildlife myself, but I would go for a long focal length and the best quality you can afford, otherwise I feel you maybe looking to upgrade again in the future - I'm sure some Nikon bods who do wildlife will be able to offer specific help.

Have you thought about looking in the Birds section on here and seeing what information is about re lenses used etc :shrug:
 
andyred said:
Don't do wildlife myself, but I would go for a long focal length and the best quality you can afford, otherwise I feel you maybe looking to upgrade again in the future - I'm sure some Nikon bods who do wildlife will be able to offer specific help.

Have you thought about looking in the Birds section on here and seeing what information is about re lenses used etc :shrug:
Click to expand...


Actually no I had not! A place where I never really venture. But good idea to start. Thanks :)
 
Brooksy said:
Actually no I had not! A place where I never really venture. But good idea to start. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Buy the longest focal length that you can afford, if it is for casual stuff in a park then the 70-300VR is a fine cost effective lens. The other option is one of the third party zooms, but personally I would stick with Nikon.

If your budget allows, and you are serious about bird photography the Nikkor 300 AF-S f4 is as sharp as they come, and will take the 1.4 and 1.7 Nikkor TC's and still produce sharp results, however you are now into serious money.

The 70-300 VR is small and compact, which is probably ideal for your needs, it has VR so you will not need a tripod and rest of the hardware that the more serious bird photographers cart around.
 
The 70-300 AF-S is a cracking lens for the money and most people seem to think it punches well above it's modest pricetag. I have one and use it for bird photography. Most of the birds on my Flickr have been taken with it.

Here's one from the last few days;

4233780187_8e9ebdfd77.jpg


As Martyn says though the 300F4 and a TC is the way to go for serious birding.

HTH

Nick
 
I think it will be the 70-300 for now. Its not 1000's of pounds. So to start it will be fine I think.
I am not a serious watchr of birds/wildlife. Just found myself enjoying it.

Who knows what the future brings but its a start!
 
I've been using the 70-300mm VR for all of my attempts at bird photography over the past year, like you (I assume), on a full-frame sensor.

It really all depends on the amount of ambient light that you have, more than anything else, IME :shrug:. This lens struggles to focus on distant birds, camoflagued against trees, if they're under the shade of tree branches etc. Not only that but (IME) it really isn't terribly sharp once you go past about 220mm (where the max aperture changes from f5.3 to f5.6).

That said, if you are photographing birds which are tame (or from a hide) and can fill the frame with a 200mm focal length, in even half-decent sunlight, then you can get some top class images :). Mine is generally a sharp lens (especially around f8, IIRC :thinking:), but it's too soft over 220mm and too hard to focus to be used for small, 'wild' birds in their natural habitats, IMO/IME.

Another option might be the Nikkor 300mm f2.8 ED, which costs the same used as a new 70-300mm VR. The big minus on this lens is that the AF is reported as being a bit 'slow', but I've had trouble with getting the 70-300mm to focus at all at 300mm and f5.6, so who knows!?

Good luck, whatever you do!
 
Have you thought about 2nd hand lenses, for £400-450 you might get some with abit more ooph... Mifsuds has a used sigma 100-300mm f4 for £550 if you could stretch your budget, takes a TC reasonably well and better lens than the nikon, or a Sigma 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 OS for £499 with abit extra reach.

http://www.mifsuds.com/usedpriceindex.htm
 
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