 Kathleen Brennan |
600-2000mm lens for canon 30D Hi,I am very interested in shooting birds. I currently own a 70-300mm canon IS lens and would like to get closer. I looked at the canon 500mm and 600mm lenses and am not ready to spend that kind of $ yet. Does anyone know anything about the other makers 600-2000mm lenses such as vivtar or kenko? also what about a 25mm extender? Thanks Kathleen
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Kathleen, In general, you get what you pay for. A cheap long telephoto lens is better than no telephoto lens, because you'll be able to get some pictures that you couldn't get without it. But there will always be tradeoffs. Some of these cheaper long lenses have a maximum aperture of f/8, so you will have to use manual focus. They won't have the high-quality glass and apochromatic elements that Canon and other high-quality brands use, so you may get some chromatic aberrations. Take a look at Sigma's long telephoto lenses. They make a very good quality product, that will give you results very close or identical to Canon lenses. The difference will be that Sigma's lenses don't have image stabilization, and they cost a lot less than Canons. Oh, and a 25mm extender is for macro photography. It will reduce the minimum focus distance. If you want to increase the focal length of a telephoto lens, you need a 1.4x or 2x tele-extender. Chris Vedros
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Kathleen, Did you know; you can align your camera to the eyepiece of your binoculars and take a picture using the optics of the binocular as a telephoto? While this technique is somewhat tricky, the modern digital with LCD screen makes it easier than ever. Try it, you’ll like it. You can experiment using your binoculars, maybe with a friend to hold one or the other. If you like what you get, you can step up to a spotting scope. I tried a few but settled for the Nikon Spotting Scope RAII Straight Body Sky & Earth WR with 15-45X Zoom eyepieces. It takes to the field well with a light weight tripod. This scope is not too costly, has excellent optical quality and now you have a splendid high power scope to supplement your binoculars. You can add various mechanical devices to attach your camera to the scope. Check the web for spotting scope suppliers. While not as good as the costly telephoto you are dreaming about, it surly will satisfy while you save your money. If the Nikon is too costly you, go to any sporting goods shop and buy most any spotting scope, some are typically sold by the major chains for about $100. You want one with a 60mm diameter objective lens. Most of the less expensive ones are only 50mm. The larger the brighter the image, Under twilight conditions you will really appreciate the added lens diameter. You want a straight body, meaning the eyepiece exits straight out the back. Other designs position the eyepiece at an angle to the telescope tube. This angled design lends itself to more comfortable viewing for target shooting but makes aiming the scope and mounting a camera is trickier. Alan Marcus
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Sharon Day |
Kathleen, using a spotting scope seems to be a great alternative to a big expensive lens. Here's a website where a guy uses a digiscope. I know you can get the whole setup from Nikon for a lot less than a 500mm lens. I see you have Canon but that shouldn't be a problem because the camera that you purchase to go along with a scope is a compact camera, not a DSLR. http://www.digital-nature-photography.com/nature/voegel/birds.php
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Bob Cammarata |
I've heard of using binoculars and spotting scopes to reach greater distances but do these really work? How good is the quality of sharpness and color...as compared to even a modestly priced super-telephoto?
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