Which Lens should I hire??

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Steve W

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Hi,

Wondering if anyone can help advise me...

I'm going on holiday soon and plan to visit Howlets zoo during my holiday. I have a 450D and was wondering if I should I hire a 100-400 L or the 70-300L canon lens?

Reading reviews of both lenses, the 70-300 has better IQ and focus than the ageing 100-400, but 100-400 has an extra 100mm in length. Which would be more beneficial to me?

Thanks

Steve
 
From my experience 200mm long enough for most shots at zoos. So I'd probably go with the 70-300.
 
Ross_Curtis said:
From my experience 200mm long enough for most shots at zoos. So I'd probably go with the 70-300.
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Ross, did you mean "is long enough", or "is not long enough"?

On the 450D the 70-300 would be 112-480 and the 100-400 would be 160-640.

Do you think I need something to support the 100-400 then?

Ta
 
have you considered a 2.8 lens? I'd think a 70-200 2.8 would be more useful to get background blur and isolation than any of the 5.6 consumer zooms. The Sigma 120-300 2.8 would be another good one if you don't mind the size.

thanks,
rick
 
casts_by_fly said:
have you considered a 2.8 lens? I'd think a 70-200 2.8 would be more useful to get background blur and isolation than any of the 5.6 consumer zooms. The Sigma 120-300 2.8 would be another good one if you don't mind the size.

thanks,
rick
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Hi,

I've mainly been looking at reach for the zoo visit, the place where I am hiring the lens from only stocks Canon lenses. Would the 70-200 L 2.8 II IS be good for the zoo then?

Ta
 
Provided Sigma 120-300 is actually nice (never tried one) - this would be the ideal zoo lens, particularly on crop. From canon I'd go with 70-200mm f/2.8 mainly because f/2.8 looks nice. 100-400 also great, but background defocus is weaker at shorter focal lengths.
 
Steve W said:
Hi,

I've mainly been looking at reach for the zoo visit, the place where I am hiring the lens from only stocks Canon lenses. Would the 70-200 L 2.8 II IS be good for the zoo then?

Ta
Click to expand...

I agree, an F2.8 is great at a zoo, you get better background blurr, which hides the fact they are in cages or children eating icecreams etc in the image:thumbs:

maybe the 70-200 F2.8 with an extender just in case?
 
bren-escape said:
I agree, an F2.8 is great at a zoo, you get better background blurr, which hides the fact they are in cages or children eating icecreams etc in the image:thumbs:

maybe the 70-200 F2.8 with an extender just in case?
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I was just going to say would the 2.8 help me to "remove" the wire from the cages, sounds like it will.

Will the 70-200 2.8 and extender work on my 450d?

Will I need anything else with lenses mentioned (100-400,70-300, and 70-200) or should I be able to hand hold them?
 
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If you are considering the 70-200 and a 1.4x TC then run with the 100-400. 400mm and f5.6 will still give you the ability to get the fence gone. I've used the 100-400 quite a lot (not use the Sigma 120-300 mm f2.8) and it was fine without a monopod for normal periods of shooting. If you are shooting for an extended time then use a monopod..... I would think a zoo is an extended shoot.
 
daugirdas said:
One more thing... If you go with a big white 300mm f/2.8 at least you will get more attention than all the animals. Tested.
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Very true :lol:

I was at Port Lympne zoo last year and there was a guy there with a massive white canon prime lens waiting for the Tiger cubs to come out. There was also a woman there with 100-400 lens waiting as well.

I don't really want to buy a monopod if I can help it just yet, will the camera and the 100-400 lens fit into the lowpro FastPack 200?
 
Just been reading a bit more on the 70-300 L and it is about 40mm shorter and about 300g lighter than the 100-400 L which I guess makes a difference. :thinking:

The IS is better on the 70-300, would I need this more for zoo pictures where big cats etc are generally sitting still?

I will use the lens at the zoo, but it would be nice to also use it whilst visiting other places during my holiday, so for general use as well for the week to accompany my canon 15-85.

decisions decisions.....
 
Steve W said:
Hi,

Wondering if anyone can help advise me...

I'm going on holiday soon and plan to visit Howlets zoo during my holiday. I have a 450D and was wondering if I should I hire a 100-400 L or the 70-300L canon lens?

Reading reviews of both lenses, the 70-300 has better IQ and focus than the ageing 100-400, but 100-400 has an extra 100mm in length. Which would be more beneficial to me?

Thanks

Steve
Click to expand...

remember to take something to wipe the glass down with where the tigers are, i went there about 6 weeks ago (before i had a dslr) so was just using my point and shoot and the glass was terrible, problem is a lot of the marks are on the inside!

sorry cant help with lenses as i new to it all.. only comment i can give is that where the deer etc are roaming around in there enclosure they can be quite a distance away, so much so that with my canon sx210 on full 14x zoom (think thats about 392mm 35mm equivalent ) i still couldn't get quite close enough for a nice close image.

hopefully i will be back there in a few weeks now i have the 550d. Plus point is i got the annual pass which was only £1 more than a day visit, give your 12 months of visits then.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments, very useful, but I guess I'd like to know out of the 70-300L and 100-400 L which one is going to be better at the zoo and other general snaps on holiday. I'm going to hire one or the other from "Lenses For Hire" and the price is about the same for each lens.

Also bearing in mind I have a lowpro fackpack 200 and no monopod, I guess is the extra 100mm going to be worth the extra weight, weaker IS, slightly softer images, etc.

Thanks
Steve
 
Either lens on the 450D is going to need light to keep shutter speeds up where you want them at the zoo so that's a wash. IQ between the two at the zoo is negligible so that's a wash as well. You think 400 sounds like a lot, well 640mm on a cropped body, until you get in the field look through the VF. Plus the 100-400 is light compared to anything else that comes close to 400mm. I can walk around all day hand holding the 100-400 and it doesn't bother me it's that light. My preference would be for the length, weight and usability of the 100-400. It's also compact.
 
Okay, sounds like the 100-400 will be okay then.

I guess I don't want to be disappointed hence why I'm asking the question, and I'd like to try out a "L" lens as well :).

With my 450D it sounds like I may need to be using a higher ISO to keep the shutter speed fast.
 
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