Good wildlife lens

nigelcampbell

nigelcampbell

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I'm thinking of doing more wildlife shooting - small birds and other such creatures that we get here in the UK.

I currently have the folling lenses for captuing creatures:

Small creatures: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Far away Creatures: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

I was thinking of getting the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens
any thoughts or experience on this - or what else would be good for around the same price? All advice welcome, though I would prefer advice from those of you who have actually used the lenses you'll be recommending. Thanks
 
I've had the 100-400 for almost a year and it is my most used lens (I also have 10-22, 17-55, 17-85, 70-200 f/2.8 IS and 50 f/1.8). It takes a Kenko 1.4X teleconverter quite nicely too, although you will lose AF unless you have a 1 series body or tape the pins to fool the camera.

Here's one example at full stretch with the Kenko fitted. This is a 50% crop. Distance was about 15'-20' or so, I think.

20080530_120613_4588_DPP.JPG


Here's one at 180mm and wide open, taken through perspex/plexiglass or whatever it is they use at zoos. Again this is a 50% crop.

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If you look at the Gallery link in my sig there are several more taken with this lens - the duckling(400mm), the tiger(400mm), the albatross(100mm), the yellow bird (400mm), the dog(260-310mm), fir cones(400mm)
 
Another happy 100-400L owner here. Again, most of my shots are taken with this lens. See my Flickr photostream for samples.
 
I depends on how much money you want to spend :)

A 300mm or 400mm prime lens (Sigma or Canon), coupled with a TC would be an option, as would the Sigma 100-300mm f/4 or 120-300mm f/2.8,again with a TC if required.

Canon 300mm f/4 is ~ £960, Canon 400mm f/5.6 ~£869, Sigma 100-300mm f/4 ~£899 (£500 from HK;)), 120-300mm f/2.8 ~£1600 (£1300 HK) for a quick look....
 
The 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 is definitely a versitile lens and works ok with the 1.4x and 2x TC (manual focus) unless you have a 1D series camera. What you have to ask yourself is what focal range are you continuing to use for your wildlife image, if that vary's then the 100-400mm lens will be perfect lens, and if you get a good copy sharp as well. You will need good light to get the best from it but it's probably still one of canon's best selling lenses and canon are offering £75 rebate on purchases of this lens until the end of June on this lens. Kerso on eBay has one going for £819 at the moment. Best UK internet shop price is about £949/999.

Say if your constantly at the extremes, 300/400mm then have a look at the primes, canon 300mm f4 or the canon 400mm f5.6 (good budget bird lens) lenses both are sharper and faster focusing than the 100-400 and slightly less on the budget. All these lenses will be a step up from your Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.

Peter
 
My 100-400L IS rarely comes off the camera. Great lens :thumbs:
 
400mm f5.6 prime is by far my most used lens, and now having 2 40ds is permently fitted to one body, and the 70-200mm f2.8 on the other.
 
pete.rush said:
Say if your constantly at the extremes, 300/400mm then have a look at the primes, canon 300mm f4 or the canon 400mm f5.6 (good budget bird lens) lenses both are sharper and faster focusing than the 100-400 and slightly less on the budget. All these lenses will be a step up from your Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that - as chances are I would be nearer the 400mm end of things - but then the 100mm-400mm is an IS lens - and I would assume that the trade off would be better than a non IS prime for more stable images - any thoughts on this?
 
Another vote for the 100-400 Nigel. I shoot a lot of wildlife and I love the versatility this lens gives me. It's hand-holdable, pin sharp and the IS is very useful.

A few example for you :).....

Ostrich%20III.jpg



bear-4.jpg



Leopard%20III%20lo%20res.jpg
 
nigelcampbell said:
I was wondering about that - as chances are I would be nearer the 400mm end of things - but then the 100mm-400mm is an IS lens - and I would assume that the trade off would be better than a non IS prime for more stable images - any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

surprisingly for wildlife especially birds in flight the 400mm non IS is pretty good contender, not sure IS is all it's cracked up to be and it's only the 1st generation version on the 100-400mm. Depends what you're taking images of, birds in flight waste of time, animals standing still will probably help and will aid abit if the light starts to fall off
 
Had the same quandry as you recently so I hired both the 400 5.6 and the 100-400. I was sure that the prime would be the better lens and the one for me. But although the 400 5.6 has better IQ the versatility of the 100-400 with IS suited me much better.

It may well cost around £100 for the hire of both but it was money well spent to be sure which one I preferred.

Our resident lensesforhire (StewartR) is your man. :thumbs:
 
Tooler said:
Had the same quandry as you recently so I hired both the 400 5.6 and the 100-400. I was sure that the prime would be the better lens and the one for me. But although the 400 5.6 has better IQ the versatility of the 100-400 with IS suited me much better.

It may well cost around £100 for the hire of both but it was money well spent to be sure which one I preferred.

Our resident lensesforhire (StewartR) is your man. :thumbs:
Click to expand...
My ears are burning... ;)

I think your experience is very common. The 400 prime is amazingly sharp, fast to focus, and delivers great IQ, but for versatility the 100-400 is unbeatable. It's our most popular lens by a long long long way. (We have 12 of them and we still struggle to keep them in stock!)
 
There's nothng worse than being over-gunned with a long prime and it happens to me a lot when something lands too close for the minimum focusing distance of the lens. That's the beauty of the 100-400L, it has pretty good reach and is flexible enough to get the close stuff too. Invaluable general purpose wildlife lens IMO.
 
:agree:
Another vote here the 100-400 has served me very well as a wildlife lens.
 
mmmm......... :thinking: So how good is the 100-400 when used with either the X1.4 or X2 T/C's? :)
 
The bird in post #2 was at 400mm + a 1.4X teleconverter and the picture is a 50% crop. Here's the original uncropped image, resized to fit here. EXIF is intact and you can see the focal length was 560mm. This was converted from raw in DPP and has not had any fancy USM sharpening after resizing.

20080530_120613_4588_DPP.JPG
 
Tooler said:
But although the 400 5.6 has better IQ the versatility of the 100-400 with IS suited me much better.
Click to expand...

StewartR said:
The 400 prime is amazingly sharp, fast to focus, and delivers great IQ, but for versatility the 100-400 is unbeatable.
Click to expand...

That pretty well sums it up. You want a specialist high IQ wildlife and bird lens then get the 400mm. You prefer flexibility then get the 1-4 IS L. With your 70-300 IS the 400mm will fit well but you need two bodies and it is a faff at times. I don't think the 1-4 is in the same league IQ or image consistency wise as the prime, having owned two of each, but I get why others go for the latter. Longer term I think the 400mm can be the better buy as it takes a TCon better so cheaper to upgrade to longer without too much quality loss.

Worth looking at the Sigme 150-500mm OS which obviously give you length but also a 4 stop IS system (Canon is 2 stop). Jury is out AFAIC on quality as I have seen great shots and terrible - probably user dependant but also could be copy variability. The Canon IS shows copy variability too it seems. Watch specifically for softness wide open at 400mm because that is often where you need it to be working best. If the best shots only come at 350mm f8.0 then you may as well forget it IMO. So check your copy.
 
i have both, i like the versatility of the 100 400 and the is good for slow shutter
speeds
the 400 prime is a lot lighter and better for bird in flight shots

i have heard rumours of a 400 prime is version on the horizon
first 3 with the zoom
last with the 400 prime

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