300mm lens's for bird pics

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

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Sophia aka Paul
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Hi folks good morning to you all I am new to the forum and my main enjoyment is nature and birds/squirrells etc and pretty much merge this with my passion for walks and hikes with the wife. my dilemma is I have a nikon d7000 with the 70-300 VRII lens and its a cracking combination. however i am always at the long end @ 300mm and its soft there wide open so I have learnt recently to stop it down to say F8 and it crisps up. However as we know the light goes down shutter speed and all that so obviously i struggle a bit in low light.

Whats the alternatives given i am on a reasonable budget?

I have read great things about the Nikon 300mm Prime @ F4 and that it is very sharp wide open so I could stay @ F4?
I could at a pinch afford that but I might have to sell my 70-300 to fund.

I would realy like to go to 400mm but can't see an affordable option.

whats the thoughts?

Ta
Paul
 
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The 300mm f/4 that you mention is the obvious choice. It also gives you the option of using tele converters if you need to go even longer.

Another alternative would be a 70-200 2.8, probably a Sigma to stay within your budget and again using a tele converter, either 1.4x or 2x.
 
300 F4 plus the 1.4 tc is a cracking combo and gets you up to 420mm at F5.6.

I`m led to believe that the high iso on the D7000 is pretty good, try letting the iso rise to keep the shutter speed up.

300 +tc secondhand will leave you plenty of change from a grand.Plus it is very light to carry about.
 
Interesting on the ISO i'm still stuck in old roll film world and keep the ISO below 400?

Should I go more?

How much more?
 
Mr Bump said:
I have read great things about the Nikon 300mm Prime @ F4 and that it is very sharp wide open so I could stay @ F4?
Click to expand...

I have one, wonderful lens, sharp wide open at f4 or at f5.6 with a 1.4TC, and not bad a f7.1 with a 1.7TC (which gives you a 510mm f6.7 lens)

Click on the thumbnail below, this was with a D300 and 300/4 AF-S plus 1.7TC @ f7.1 and 3200 ISO.




This was with the D300 and 300/4 AF-S plus 1.4TC @ f7.1



With it's 5 feet minimum focus distance it is also useful for Butterfly and Dragonfly shots.
 
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So if I say up my ISO as a test to 1600, stick with F8 and my shutterspeed should always be your effective focal length minimum now the d7000 is a dx so @ 300mm needs to be 400/1 ?

how does that sound
 
Mr Bump said:
Interesting on the ISO i'm still stuck in old roll film world and keep the ISO below 400?

Should I go more?

How much more?
Click to expand...

You can get away with higher on a d7000. 1600 will be very clean and even 6400 will be usable with careful exposure.
 
thanks chaps maybe thats my issue then I will pop out early this afternoon i have to go do some local jobs and run some tests.

must admit though i do like the look of that 300mm F4 anyone in west yorkshire got one i could try :)
 
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