What's Your Favourite Lens

Hi Joe,   I bought my lens from Simply Electronics and although I didn't want to buy a grey import, it was £200 less, so after reading lots of reviews I purchased and have been happy since.     It does make me annoyed when you can get these lenses in USA with own country guarantees or Asia for substantially lower prices than UK and feel if they can't bring the prices down (it's not all about VAT ) a bit then they deserve to lose business.    I don't know what the profit margin is for UK shops but the price difference is sometimes a real killer.    

The only thing I'd say against the use of the 200mm prime is that the 2x teleconverter will make it a bit soft unless you stop the lens down somewhat.  AF will likely be a bit slower too.  Bob's point is well made though - if you can get most of your shots at that shorter focal length, then it could be a good choice.

On the subject of teleconverters, don't waste your money on a 2x for the 100-400 - it's rubbish :-)  It's just about usable on the 300 f/4 (maybe also on the 400 but haven't tried it).  The 1.4x is great on anything - any increased softness is minimal and un-noticable.  You do lose AF on the f/5.6 lenses when you add the 1.4x, but MF isn't bad on the 7D as the viewfinder is bigger and brighter than some of the lower spec models.  You can also use AF in Liveview (ie with the screen on the back). It's slower, best used for stationary birds, but is effective and works at any aperture.

I'm sure you have all the info you need now and I'm not going to read all the replies here, but I'll throw in my tuppence worth. Prime lenses are optically better but limiting in terms of composition - unless you can remain a fixed distance from the bird you're shooting, and you know exactly where it is going to be. I have the 70-300 IS which is ok, not brilliant, in terms of quality but a bit short for wild birds - I'd go for at least 500mm, so the Sigma 50-500 would be my choice.  200-300 is too short, and a fixed focal length will mean you miss a lot of shots. In my experience IS is a waste of time with small birds that move quickly - it can't keep up. I end up turning it off for birds, but it's ok for larger animals that don't move so fast.

Plover said:

I'll keep quiet now cos I just seem to have confused things.

No - it was me who confused things! (Sorry about that Lolly!)

I thought that I'd said that "it is always better to stick with lens made specifically for the camera makers body", but clearly forgot to mention that bit before mentioning that it is possible to use nikon lens on canon bodies. I shouldn't have mentioned it at all really!

When buying your first SLR you will always be best buying lens made for the body you choose  - which will generally then mean that you are pretty much 'stuck' with that maker unless you are prepared to start from scratch again (with the expense of buying all lens from new). As I said before, I personally don't think that there is anything significant between Canon and Nikon. I use Nikon because that is the system I bought in to, but Canon do have a wider variety of lens available, and their prices tend to be slightly lower. Most significant in this case is that you said early on in the thread that you didn't like the 'feel' of the Nikon bodies that you had held - this is probably the most important consideration when choosing a make, you need to feel comfortable with the way the equipment 'feels' in your hands. You still have the problem of choosing a lens though, and if you are buying a Canon body you are best off with a Canon lens.

Great photo Lolly !    well done and good luck with the selection of photo gear

I think the 400mm (with IS) would have been a slightly better option for me as I could still hand hold the camera and it would have gained a tad more focal length;    I've gone off the idea of the 500mm as I think you lose out on detail somewhat if used on full zoom and it is too darn heavy to carry and would need use of a tripod more often unless you have a bean bag to rest it on or maybe carry a monopod.     I'm still in my early days of learning photography so I would take on board what the experts have said - there is plenty of bedtime reading for you LOL  I find everyone's comments very helpful and of great help to me also with setting ideas and sensible advice.    Again, I wish you luck Lolly, your photos are amazing so you are definitely on the right track.

Hi Lolly, I haven't been able to post for a while, too much work unfortunatley.  I've just read through this thread and OMG what a decision you have.

As you know I have a 60D, I tend to use my OH's 70-200 f4 with 1x4 convertor and I'm quite pleased with the results but, I want more :-)  I'm looking at treating myself to the 100-400, a lot of people have told me this is a very good lens for what I want to use it for so that is what I am going for.  The decision I have now is new or second hand?

P.S I was supposed to be on my Bird Photography day yesterday, luckily for me they messed me about so had to change it to 22nd April, it would have been baltic and probably not an enjoyable day.

P.P.S I may my new lens by then ;-)

I must admit I like the 60D, my OH has got the 7D (not that he uses it much) and it seems to have a lot more functions than mine but then again do you need too many knobs and buttons??

The scaffolding is down but I just didn't have anytime at the weekend to get any practice in, really annoying as I spotted a first for me...a male Chaffinch.  I'm just hoping he returns at the weekend.  The weather here has been miserable, fingers crossed it clears up, I have nothing planned for Saturday and Sunday apart from my MOT which will determine whether I get a new or secondhand lens :-)

I'm not mistaken Bob :-)  It falls under the "Not many people know that" category.  When in Liveview, there are two AF options.  Quick focus flicks the mirror back down and uses the normal phase detect AF (which can't handle anything above f/5.6), but turning that off will use the slower contrast detect AF.  It will work happily at f/8 or even f/11 - the box in the centre of the Liveview screen turns green when focussed.  It is slow compared to normal AF, taking a second or so to focus, so not really suitable for in-flight shots, but stationary birds, those on feeders etc, it's fine.  It even works when zoomed in with Liveview.  ie, zoom in when in Liveview, then AF for spot on focus

:-)

You need more than 32 frames? Crikey, the bird will be well gone by then.

D7 cracking camera, semi pro spec. You don't need to learn all it does, set your choice of Iso, set auto white balance, set on aperture priority, set to continuous focus, and shooting for moving subjects, or centre point single for static, and fire away. I am no expert, and others will have different opinions, but this works for me. I have had my Nikon D300 for nearly 5 years now, and still only use these settings. Good luck with your choices. The zoom you mention, may be more versatile, but wont accept a converter. As Doggie said, most of the time you will be on full zoom, so I question whether you need a zoom. ( I must admit, I should have gone for prime, but didn't)