What's a good long range lens?

Firegod

Firegod

Firegod

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Hello!

Can someone point me in the direction of any info on lenses please. :)

I'm quite new to using an SLR and I'm just using the lens that came with the camera. It seems good for normal photo's. It's hard to do very close shots and the same for long range items.

For example, here is a bird which we snapped from our Garden. Not far away at all, yet even when I've cropped the photo, it's no where near good enough.

77aa9cb0.jpg


What lens would basically fill the screen when taking photo's like this?

For regular photo's, the lens is very good and gives a lovely sharp, clean picture. Here is an example:-

c5df4778.jpg



Thanks for any help. :o Would love to be able to get some wildlife photo's that look like they are about 2 foot away from you. :)
 
Razor-BladE said:
What camera have you got? And what's your budget?
Click to expand...

Camera is a Nikon D80. Lens is a Nikon NIKKOR 18-70mm. Hope that helps.

Budget, well, I don't know how much these things cost tbh. Just not stupid money really as I'm no pro. But I wouldn't want cheap. Something that would give good results ideally.

Thanks. :)
 
It'd be OK, if £150 is your budget it'll be the best. Does depend how much you want to spend, £2-300, 4-500 etc.
 
70-300 VR is a good lens, and comes highly regarded. I would say the 18-200, although I'm not sure on the second hand values anymore. 70-300 VR would be a good lens to have, though :)

And yes FX lenses would work - a lens nearly everyone should have is the 50 f1.8D ;)
 
syke said:
70-300 VR is a good lens, and comes highly regarded. I would say the 18-200, although I'm not sure on the second hand values anymore. 70-300 VR would be a good lens to have, though :)

And yes FX lenses would work - a lens nearly everyone should have is the 50 f1.8D ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. :)

What is the 50 f1.8D? What is it good at? :o
 
Firegod said:
Thanks. :)

What is the 50 f1.8D? What is it good at? :o
Click to expand...

Have a look for the Nikon AF 50mm f1.8D in Google/FlickR, it's a very sharp lens which is handy in low light. Also good for all round use really, portraits especially. I find it's generally always on my camera, gets you thinking about composure and framing a lot more due to it being a fixed focal length. It's very cheap, can get it new for under £100 iirc.
 
update - I wrote this before I knew he was on Nikon.

Firegod said:
For example, here is a bird which we snapped from our Garden. Not far away at all, yet even when I've cropped the photo, it's no where near good enough.)
Click to expand...

You need a lens with a long focal length. And to freeze motion, (because the bird if *flapping*, right?) you want a wide aperture. You want a lens that is long and fat.

But that costs money. Lots of it.

Assuming that you are on Canon, here is the smallest I would even consider for birds:

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Pro..._Lenses/Fixed_Focal_Length/EF_400mm_f56L_USM/

On a full frame camera, it gives a horizontal view of 5 degrees. That is about the width of 5 fingers at an arms length. Most of the time, birds will still be pretty small in the viewfinder but it is a start. £1500 list price and it's not even very good for what you want. (I'll quote list prices, but you can knock about a third off if you shop around)

A favorite is the 500mm f/4. 4 degrees angle of view. A little bit longer, a little bit faster and already the list price has shot up to 8 grand.

The longest currently made is the 800mm f5.6. Back down to f5.6. 2.5 degree angle of view. And you are out of pocket the price of a new car. £15k list. And still you don't get *that* close.

Here is a typical view of a bird of prey on the 800, hovering at a typical "not too high" overhead:

136I7814-view.jpg


It is still pretty small in the frame but it isn't too shabby, here is a 100% crop:

136I7814-crop.jpg


But you still need a hide, patience, practice and luck to get a wild bird close enough to get a decent image.

The 800mm isn't just expensive. It is unreasonably large to lug around too.

P3073267.jpg

(Thankyou Mr Jones)

There is another step up. Got a hundred thousand burning a hole in your pocket? You could get one of these. Used. Maybe 20 years old.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/find/newsLetter/Mother-of-All-L-Lenses.jsp

But the 1200mm is *still* only f5.6. Forget carrying it. you need a hand-cart.

Andrew
 
70-300 5.6 VR

Stretch to that as a minimum.

Unfortunately, getting any kind of reach costs money and weight. And even with the best lenses you are not that fast and don't have that much reach.

You have 3 options:
1) pay big money for big lenses, combine with option 2 below
2) Spend a inordinate amount of time trying to get close, get lucky, and get the shot.
3) give up on small wildlife and photograph something big and static like landscapes or buildings, or something big and slow moving like people.

As a compromise, the Nikon 70-300 VR for about 400 bucks ais a big leap forwards for you and is at the end of the line for reasonably cheap lenses with acceptaable reacha dnn good quality. Just shoot ina sunny day, and get close.

Anything more cost money. 80-400 is old, slow, 5.6 not very sharp and expensive. 300 f/4+ 1.4TC is sharper, not really any faster and still quite expensive.

next step 300 2.8 + 1.4 TC big heavy and vvery very expensive and very sharp but still, a little more reach would be nice. But to get more reach and it is mind blowingly expensive.
 
Thanks all for the help everyone. :)

I will be looking to get the 70-300 Nikkor lens.

@BluZiff, sorry ignore that price of £328. It's more like £400. I saw the link and clicked it and it took me to an American store, which is why I think it was so low in £s.
 
The Nikkor 70-300 VR is a great lens. If you need more reach then have a look at the Sigma 150-500mm. It's a big lens and may upset the balance and feel of the D80 though. It is also a bit more expensive than the Nikkor 70-300 VR, £700 'ish.
 
I knew when i started reading this, Gaffer would be along with his immense lens! lol

I bought a Nikkor 70-300mm VR lens that i bought for £300 and im loveing it so far !

I went to a track day end of last year and borrowed my sisters 18-200mm Sigma lens, and I found 200mm wasn't good enough for my needs, so i bought this lens and i've yet to use it on a trackday yet, but im off to Santapod next weekend! :)
 
Just got myself the Nikkor 70-300mm too for my D5000, very nice lens, a nice step up in quality from my kit lens.
 
Another vote for the 70-300 VR, Ive got one and its awesome. If you go for a 2nd hand one you can pick them up for around £300. I picked mine up for £280 off a forum.
 
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