Low Budget Garden Birding Lens recs needed

Paulie-W

Paulie-W

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Were moving in a couple of weeks and will have a garden of sensible size at last :clap:

I'm thinking about snapping some garden birds etc (hopfully the bloody cat wont intervine), and would like some rec`s on whats good out there. It doesnt need to be new and i can probably stretch to about £650 at a push.

I have a 70-200 VR1, but doubt that will be long enough. So far my short list comprises of:-

1) Nikon af-s 300 f4...... will it be long enough?
2) Sigma 120-400
3) Sigma 150-500

Any help would be much appreciated :thumbs:
 
Paul, how about a Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM?
Oops, silly me, forgot you are from the Darkside ;)
 
hashcake said:
Paul, how about a Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM?
Oops, silly me, forgot you are from the Darkside ;)
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If I had a canon yeah :lol:
 
Unless you have a fairly massive garden I would suggest, as per your thread title 'Low Budget' then the 70-300 AFS VR would be ideal at £400.

If you have a very large garden and want fast sharp pictures and more reach then the Nikon 300mmf4 plus Teleconverter is a safe bet. Having seen that you have a 70-200 VR1 I would have thought that more than adequate for most situations. If you cant get close enough again a good TC with that lens would be a very cheap and cost effective way to get more reach. I think a 1.4TC or 1.7TC works well with that lens.
 
JerryL said:
Unless you have a fairly massive garden I would suggest, as per your thread title 'Low Budget' then the 70-300 AFS VR would be ideal at £400.

If you have a very large garden and want fast sharp pictures and more reach then the Nikon 300mmf4 plus Teleconverter is a safe bet. Having seen that you have a 70-200 VR1 I would have thought that more than adequate for most situations. If you cant get close enough again a good TC with that lens would be a very cheap and cost effective way to get more reach. I think a 1.4TC or 1.7TC works well with that lens.
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Theres a bit too much overlap with the 70-300VR for me mate. I didnt think about a tc to be honest.

The garden is about 100ft by 40ft
 
I can work at a range of about 20 feet from the birds in my garden with the 500mm f4L (which is just over the min focusing distance), and some cropping is usually still needed, so while 300mm is OK if you can get close enough, I'd have to unreservedly recommend the Sigma 50-500mm from your options listed. It will give you the reach you really need for small birds and I've seen some stunning sharp results from that lens.
 
CT said:
I can work at a range of about 20 feet from the birds in my garden with the 500mm f4L (which is just over the min focusing distance), and some cropping is usually still needed, so while 300mm is OK if you can get close enough, I'd have to unreservedly recommend the Sigma 50-500mm from your options listed. It will give you the reach you really need for small birds and I've seen some stunning sharp results from that lens.
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Thanks CT :thumbs:

Do you reckon the 50-500 is better than the 150-500?
 
Paulie-W said:
Thanks CT :thumbs:

Do you reckon the 50-500 is better than the 150-500?
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Sorry mate that was a typo, but 50-500 or 150-500 is pretty acadmeic as you'll never use the lens at the short end for small birds anyway.

The longest shots in my garden are around 70 feet and even with the 500mm and 1.4X TC (700mm) I can only just about get acceptable shots of small birds,and that's with the 7D which as good as it gets for pixel density and cropping. You just can't have too much reach. :shrug:
 
CT said:
Sorry mate that was a typo, but 50-500 or 150-500 is pretty acadmeic as you'll never use the lens at the short end for small birds anyway.

The longest shots in my garden are around 70 feet and even with the 500mm and 1.4X TC (700mm) I can only just about get acceptable shots of small birds,and that's with the 7D which as good as it gets for pixel density and cropping. You just can't have too much reach. :shrug:
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Fair play mate. I could kick myself as a 150-500 went on her the other day for £525 :bang: Still, i've got plenty of time, as i'll have a to do list as long as my arm when we get in :lol:

Appreciate the advice CT :thumbs:
 
Another vote for the Sigma 150-500 this was shot in my garden at 500mm probably the best bang for buck bird lens out there.

http://SPAM/c3whur/mar/Img_1730.jpg
 
Mirror lenses can give a rather horrible bokeh - OOF bright spots turn into little doughnuts. You have to use manual focus and the image in the viewfinder is rather dark.
Not that I have tried one, but have seen some poor results and wouldn't go down that route myself. YMMV.
 
Cheers for the thoughts and opinions guys :thumbs:
 
I second the comments about mirror lens , foolishly bought one :bonk:
but wasnt expensive but it is a sod too focus and use , ok if plenty of light on brightish day but i am also looking for a 50-500mm:)
 
4497897884_633bd5526d.jpg


Taken with the long end of a 75-300mm Nikkor using the 2x crop feature of the D2X.
However, it's not always about having a long lens to hand, field craft and subject knowledge are important too. Oh! And lots of practise. Having said that I wouldn't go for anything less than 500mm.
 
After researching this very issue myself, and the helpful advice received on here I decided to buy the Sigma 150-500 and all I can say is its a super lens, go try one.
 
Thanks all for the thoughts, I appreciate your imput :thumbs: For some reason (reviews i guess), i seem to be swaying towards a larger budget and the 300 af-s with 1.4 tc (420 f5.6) :shrug:


Buying lenses just aint that easy for me some times :thinking:
 
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