 BetterPhoto Member |
safari photography HI, I'm going on safari and am looking to upgrade from my AE 1. I am a rank amateur. I am leaning toward 35mmSLR (N80) since it has fewer buttons. I want a camera with a fast autofocus. Does the Elan 7 autofocus faster than the n-80? When I finally upgrade to digital do I want to be in the canon or nikon line- especially given the d60 situation? I am willing to put some money into a lens. I am looking at 70-300, f4.5-5.6 zoom, 100-300, f4, or 135-400 f4.5-5.6. Do I really need the 100-300 f4? Will I hate myself if I can't go to 400? If I need to go to 400 should I put the money into the vibration reduction lens? Thanks for your insight.
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Jon Close |
I haven't been on an African safari, but I have been to zoos with "open" ranges, and I was glad to have 400mm available to me (70-200 f/2.8 with 2x teleconverter) and would like longer ;). I don't think you'll notice a significant difference in the focusing speed of the Elan 7 and the N80. If your budget permits, go for the EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L USM IS, or EF 70-200 f/2.8L USM IS with 2x TC, or the Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5-5.6D ED VR, or the Sigma 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 EX OS (if available). While much larger and heavier than a 70-300 f/4-5.6, the IS/VR/OS allows use without a tripod or monopod, and would be sharper at 300 than the 70-300 zoom. WRT the 100-300 f/4, I assume you're refering to the Sigma EX model. This is a very good lens, and with 1.4x teleconverter gives you 140-420 f/5.6. I don't know if the 100-300 f/4 w/TC would perform better than Sigma's more economical 135-400 f/4.5-5.6. But both of these choices are heavy and may not be practical unless you plan to also use a tripod or monopod. The 70-300 f/4-5.6 (whether Canon, Nikon, Sigma, or Tamron) would be an economical choice that would give ok, if not great results, even with a 1.4x converter (though autofocus with the TC may become unreliable due to the effective aperture being less than f/5.6). Note that Canon has a version of its 75-300 f/4-5.6 USM IS that has Image Stabilization that will give you better hand-held, even though it is optically no better than the Sigma, Tamron, Nikon 70-300 zooms.
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Jon Close |
P.S. WRT the economical 70-300 f/4-5.6 choices, none of them has a non-rotating front element. If you plan to use a polarizer filter that could be a significant annoyance. Canon's EF 100-300 f/4.5-5.6 USM has a non-rotating front element (and some other nice features).
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