Beginner wild life lens.

sam51

sam51

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sam
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hi all. thinking of getting a
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
for shooting birds, plenty of red kites around my way.
will this lens be ok or is there a tamron equivalent.
thanks sam.
 
You might find its not long enough,the classic canon birding lens at a reasonable price is the 400f 5.6 no is but very fast focussing and sharp
 
[SIZE=4]sam51 said:
hi all. thinking of getting a
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
for shooting birds, plenty of red kites around my way.
will this lens be ok or is there a tamron equivalent.
thanks sam[/SIZE].
Click to expand...

Hi Sam

The 70-300L lens is a belter of a lens and certainly one to consider if you want a more versatile lens for other subjects to shoot.

Another possible for shooting birds is the well liked Canon 400L F5.6 lens, which is a popular lens.

There is also the Canon 300L F4 IS lens which takes the Canon 1.4 TC very well - I have had this combo and been very happy with the results.

Another good versatile lens, but stretching your budget some, is the Canon 100-400IS MKII...

Depends on your budget at the end of the day and are you wanting to shoot other things than just birds...
 
yes would like to shoot other wild life, only have a 55-250 lens at the moment.
will sell that on,
 
All depends on budget., but looking at the Canon 70-300mm L I see it's around £875 in which case you're in Tamron/Sigma C 150-600mm territory. Usually with birding reach is everything so I'd be recommending something like this. Of course you could go down the 400mm prime route, especially if using on a crop body.
 
I'd definitely go for something like a 150-600 , 300mm is nowhere near long enough for a lot of wildlife (if you desperately want a 300mm for other reasons i'd look at the sigma 120-300 f2.8 which works well with a converter - but its quite a bit more than the one you are looking at)
 
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A lot would depend on your budget and to some extent your camera body - all of the lenses mentioned here are terrific , some with limitations but it's a common statement that you can never have too much reach for wildlife, especially birds.
The new superzooms, Sigma 'C' & Tamron 150-600 lenses are terrific value for money and offer greater flexibility for subjects that will inevitably sometimes come closer. The Canon 400 f5.6L lens was always a favourite amongst bird photographers but was let down to some extent by its lack of IS. The Sigma & Tammy both have this but I would favour the Sigma due to it having a USB dock which allows customisation of settings and allows easy firmware updates too.
If budget allows, the Canon 100-400 mkii is an amazing lens but at more than double the price it should be.
If you own a crop sensor camera, I would go for the maximum reach of the Sigma, IQ is comparable the the Canon 400 at 400mm and you would still have another 200mm of reach on top of that.
 
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sam51 said:
yes would like to shoot other wild life, only have a 55-250 lens at the moment.
will sell that on,
Click to expand...
A 70-300 lens whatever make it is will not give you much more reach over your current lens. 50mm extra in real terms is very little, a couple of paces forward would achieve similar results.
The longer 150-600 lenses however will give you a lot more versatility and reach.
They often sell secondhand around the £600 mark which is pretty much what you would pay for a secondhand Canon 70-300. It is a truly sharp lens but imo it would be second best in terms of wildlife photography.
 
thanks guys, with the 150-600 lens, how close can you shoot, i have some sigma lens that perform well.so no issue with that make,
i will sell the 55-250 lens and a wide angle lens that i never use, think I've only used it twice.
i have a 18-55 lens i might sell, as well
by the way my camera is a canon 550d.
 
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sam51 said:
thanks guys, with the 150-600 lens, how close can you shoot, i have some sigma lens that perform well.so no issue with that make,
i will sell the 55-250 lens and a wide angle lens that i never use, think I've only used it twice.
i have a 18-55 lens i might sell, as well
by the way my camera is a canon 550d.
Click to expand...
This might help. Remember to choose DX format as the 550d is an APS-C/crop body.

http://static.nikonusa.com/Lens-Simulator/simulator.htm
 
sam51 said:
thanks guys, with the 150-600 lens, how close can you shoot, i have some sigma lens that perform well.so no issue with that make,
i will sell the 55-250 lens and a wide angle lens that i never use, think I've only used it twice.
i have a 18-55 lens i might sell, as well
by the way my camera is a canon 550d.
Click to expand...

I've had my 150-600 for only a short while, but it's closest focus point seems to be only a few metres away, 4 at most I would say.
 
I spent years trying to shoot birds with shorter lenses, and tried the 70-200, 70-300, and finally bought a 300 f4 with a 1.4TC, which allowed me to get closer shots. Eventually I bought a 150-600S, and that additional reach, on a crop sensor is night and day.

The issue is that most bodies won't give 100% focus when the subject is small in the screen. That extra 200mm or so just allows me to get small birds larger in the focus area which results in better performance of both camera and lens. Depending on your budget, I would either go for the 300 + 1.4EX or a 150-600. The Tamron and Sigma C series are both under £1,000.
 
Tamron or Sigma 150-600 has to be the best budget option for anyone wanting to photograph wildlife at present. They are now proven lenses with plenty of real world evidence to support this.
I've just returned to DSLR after a very brief visit to M43 and one of these is top of my shopping list - just not sure which at present.
 
Peteaud said:
Have the Sigma 150-600 C, fantastic for the price, I am very happy with it.
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Yes I think I almost certainly will, the USB dock makes it a better proposition with all the configurations available + firmware updates as well.
I had one before and only recently sold it when I went to M43 but didn't like that so back to square one!
Never mind, it's only money ;)
 
Peteaud said:
Have the Sigma 150-600 C, fantastic for the price, I am very happy with it.
Click to expand...

I've read quite a lot saying that this lens is better than the tamron one so if you can afford it definitely go for the Sigma C.
 
I've actually gone the other way and got the Tamron - my reasoning being that I've owned both in the past and having looked through some images today, I liked the Tammy ones better. Having said that, I have been an advocate of the Sigma C and stand by that it does have advantages ie the USB dock for fine tuning. I'm happy with my decision as IQ isn't much different between the 2 overall imo.
 
wardy07 said:
I've actually gone the other way and got the Tamron - my reasoning being that I've owned both in the past and having looked through some images today, I liked the Tammy ones better. Having said that, I have been an advocate of the Sigma C and stand by that it does have advantages ie the USB dock for fine tuning. I'm happy with my decision as IQ isn't much different between the 2 overall imo.
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Mate of mine has the Tamron and I have the Sigma, no difference in IQ as far as I can tell.
 
wardy07 said:
I've actually gone the other way and got the Tamron - my reasoning being that I've owned both in the past and having looked through some images today, I liked the Tammy ones better. Having said that, I have been an advocate of the Sigma C and stand by that it does have advantages ie the USB dock for fine tuning. I'm happy with my decision as IQ isn't much different between the 2 overall imo.
Click to expand...
No real difference in IQ between the Tammy on Sigma C, any difference is just copy variation. That being said I'd choose the Sigma purely so I could use the dock if prices were equal. I got the Tammy £200 cheaper when I got mine though so it was a no brainer ;)
 
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The price I got mine for swayed my decision to be honest, wouldn't be a huge disaster to change if the need arose. I'm happy with my decision for now though as the Tammy will do the job.
 
I got the Tamron 150-600 and am very happy with it.
 
In the real-world, you won't notice any difference with image quality between the Tamron 150-600 and the Sigma 150-600 C.

Lab tests and maybe the micro-difference between the two on the internet, shouldn't really come into it ;)

The Tamron is fine, take your time getting used to it.
 
I agree with the other posts, you'll struggle with the 70-300mm lens. I have the 75-300mm Canon lens and I found I wanted something with more reach so I bought myself a Sigma 150-500mm in the end. Great lens, but needs light to be able to take a good shot.
 
Hi Sam, good to see you're still around. With regards to lenses, I can only reiterate what others have said about length. As you may remember I used the Sigma 150-500 for a couple of years, it was a great lens although the AF was a little slow in poorish light for birds in flight. If I was looking now I would certainly have a look at the Sigma 150-600. By all accounts it is an excellent lens and the USB hub allows you to customise things like AF range, speed, OS modes as well as carry out in depth AF micro adjustment so that you can get the best out of it. I recommend trying to get your hands on one though as it isn't the lightest of lenses.
 
if your budget can stretch a bit the sigma 150-600 sport is even better NUTZ !!.jpg
 
the black fox said:
if your budget can stretch a bit the sigma 150-600 sport is even better View attachment 56644
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It is a great lens for the money, I had to sell mine due to having a physical injury which made it too heavy for me but there's no doubt it really does perform well as you can see from Jeff's shots here and in the Siggy thread. Great Nuthatch btw Jeff, love it!
 
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