Lens dilemma nikon telephoto

[peter]

I use a d800 mostly for landscapes but are due to go to the usa canada and alaska in the summer. I had hoped to borrow a 200-500 but that has not worked out. I mostly use the 16-35 and a 105 macro we have a 2.8 70-200 sigma but it is not brilliant. Lens hire is over £300 as we are going for 5 weeks.
I need a longer lens for wildlife in yellowstone ect. Open to suggestions.

 

[squerble]

Lens hire will still be a couple of times cheaper than any lens, surely? You're looking at £720+ for a Sigma 15-600mm Contemporary, even from a grey site. Looking at £840+ with Amazon, UK retailers etc, and £1100+ for the Nikon 200-500mm.

Don't forget with the 200-500 you're losing out on 100mm of reach, and that can be a big deal when you're on a full-frame camera like you are. Have you looked at the rental price of the Sigma 150-600?

 

[D.P.]

I spent like a year debating between Nikon 200-500mm, sigma 150-600mm sport or C, Tamron 150-600, 2nd hand 200-400 f/4.


In the end I purchased the sigma 150-600mm Sport. Happy with my choice. The Nikon 200-500mm was super tempting for the price, but on FF I really needed the extra reach. I have a 300mm PF f/4 $ 1.4xTC, so needed something significantly longer.
I purchased it with a $200 discount and 10% rewards so price wasn't so much above the other choices.

Build quality is superb, almost to good really. Every is solid metal, including the lens hood which you could back over with a truck and not dent! That makes it a lot heavier than the C or tamron versions, some more composites and a carbon fiber hood would be nice. Focus is surprisingly fast and accurate. IQ is critically sharp wide open at 600mm which was the main thing.

 

[And]

Yellowstone sounds like a trip of a lifetime kind of thing. I'd pony up the £300 or so, that seems very reasonable for the time you're spending away.

I use a d800 mostly for landscapes but are due to go to the usa canada and alaska in the summer. I had hoped to borrow a 200-500 but that has not worked out. I mostly use the 16-35 and a 105 macro we have a 2.8 70-200 sigma but it is not brilliant. Lens hire is over £300 as we are going for 5 weeks.
I need a longer lens for wildlife in yellowstone ect. Open to suggestions.

 

[Drollic]

Lens hire will still be a couple of times cheaper than any lens, surely? You're looking at £720+ for a Sigma 15-600mm Contemporary, even from a grey site. Looking at £840+ with Amazon, UK retailers etc, and £1100+ for the Nikon 200-500mm.

Don't forget with the 200-500 you're losing out on 100mm of reach, and that can be a big deal when you're on a full-frame camera like you are. Have you looked at the rental price of the Sigma 150-600?

Quite a mark up here on the 150-600 C from sigma, you can pick it up in Hong Kong for about £550 currently

 

[peter]

The 200-500 is available for £850 imported about the same as they go for on eBay so I could always sell after if needed.

 

[Amp34]

As LONG as you can get...! Just got back from a week at Yellowstone and was using my Sigma 120-300 with a 1.4TC and it was no where near long enough... I'm thinking of getting something longer for North American wildlife as 300mm is just not long enough.

This thread is interesting as I didn't know the 200-500 existed. I was thinking a 150-600 Sport may be called for but need to look into that a lot more I think.

EDIT: Most of the people with non consumer lenses there were shooting almost exclusively with 600 or 800mm lenses. I don't think I've ever seen so much glass in one place before! Also get used to having an intimate experience of the bear/wolf/coyote den with 30-200 other noisy tourists...!

EDIT: Before the hordes descended on a Coyote den. At a grizzly sighting there were way more.

 

[D.P.]

I've got similar photos from Yellowstone. Pretty common to see $100-200k of camera gear if someone spots a bear or wolf.

 

[And]

Better to pay for a guide and go out in a small group of three or four, crowds like that are no good for the wildlife, though I'd be questioning what they are doing photographing wildlife at that time of day anyway going off how short those shadows are.

Also get used to having an intimate experience of the bear/wolf/coyote den with 30-200 other noisy tourists...!

EDIT: Before the hordes descended on a Coyote den. At a grizzly sighting there were way more.

 

[D.P.]

The pros drive in from jackson leaving 3am to get in to Yellowstone at sunrise. They shoot their best locals, and then will hangout until sunset. Some set up a shelter and take asleep after a BBQ lunch etc, others will just keep driving around the park looking for these chance encounters.

In my experience , I've been far more successful in just driving around in the middle of the day than getting up at before sunrise and scoping out the most likely hotspots. The lighting will be dire but finding subjects not that easy to come by in the brief twilight.


The other thing is Yellowstone attracts the "all the gear, no idea" bridge. Rich professionals that can buy a 600mm f/4.0 but are having breakfast with the wife in the Old Faithful lodge at 8am. To be fair I tend to fall in to the latter group because I make these trips with the family and they aren't to happy with 5am alarm clocks.

 

[Columbo]

As LONG as you can get...! Just got back from a week at Yellowstone and was using my Sigma 120-300 with a 1.4TC and it was no where near long enough... I'm thinking of getting something longer for North American wildlife as 300mm is just not long enough.

This thread is interesting as I didn't know the 200-500 existed. I was thinking a 150-600 Sport may be called for but need to look into that a lot more I think.

EDIT: Most of the people with non consumer lenses there were shooting almost exclusively with 600 or 800mm lenses. I don't think I've ever seen so much glass in one place before! Also get used to having an intimate experience of the bear/wolf/coyote den with 30-200 other noisy tourists...!

EDIT: Before the hordes descended on a Coyote den. At a grizzly sighting there were way more.

LMAO on the Camo wrap stuff, why they feel need to wrap camo stuff around tripod foam is beyond me, its almost as if they think the animal won't notice them of the tripod is camo'd.

 

[Amp34]

Pretty much as D.P. said. These guys spend several months a year living out of the back of their trucks (think these guys are based in Gardiner). They had been at a coyote den since day break and were there all day, and much of the next. We just happened to catch them around 3pm sat in the shade of a tree killing time, then headed back past at about 7pm when we took some photos of the pups out of the den. Most of the long termers also have scanners and listen in to the Rangers radio so they can know about anything good.

We just drove around looking for interesting stuf much of the time, but towards the latter part of the week had a much better idea of where animals may be, and got a few quieter viewings of bears. You can take a guide, but they would have no more access to any roads and you're going to be able to get closer to animals in your car than on foot, much like any African Safari.

I totally agree with the sentiment And, it's one of the reasons I like trying to avoid the best known parks in Africa (like Chobe), way too many cars and queues of people trying to see xyz that has been spotted, but it's Yellowstone. We went early in the season so I dread to think what it will be like in peak season. We're planning on going during winter (perhaps this winter) so hopefully it's quieter then!

That said the best sighting we had was a grizzly and cub at about 25m on a dirt road called pilgrim creek in Grand Teton. It was off the main highway a little but was a regular haunt for this particular grizzly. We saw the cars and pulled off, missing the bear the first time but after turning round at the end of the road saw it come back out. That time there were about 20 people, but almost exclusively pros, so much more respect for the grizzly and other people, all taking dorection from the two rangers that were there. The bear wasn't bothered by our presence at all.

 

[Amp34]

LMAO on the Camo wrap stuff, why they feel need to wrap camo stuff around tripod foam is beyond me, its almost as if they think the animal won't notice them of the tripod is camo'd.

They can't see the tripod behind the big red truck...!

Adding to the last post one of the biggest problems at that location was the horde of Asian tourists that turned up on our second visit. These guys were set up around 30m from the den on the side of a road waiting quietly, unfortunately the 20-30 tourists that descended from somewhere were squealing and shouting before one of those guys told them to shut up. Normally there's a ranger or several if the crowds get reasonably big, making sure people stay a decent distance.

 

[D.P.]

The funniest thing I've seen in Yellowstone was an Asian tourist wkth an iPad overcoming g the lack of telephoto reach by approaching within 20ft of a giant Bison. A ranger turned up minutes later and nearly had a heart attack foreseeing what would likely happen.

After the Ranger ticked the guy I got speaking to the ranger, he said more people die in yellowstone from bison than bears because people walk up and and try and take a selfie with a smartphone.

 

[Amp34]

The best comment I heard was from a ranger at a bear sighting saying to a driver when redirecting him "we aren't trying to protect the people from the bear, rather from being run over by cars. By far (multiples) the biggest tourist killer in the park is motorists!

We did see a woman and her little kid get out of their car and stand in the middle of a herd of bison crossing the road. Some people are stupid. You can see why in some ways though. The animals are so habituated to humans and cars that they can look exceedingly docile, pretty much ignoring you until you get too close, and then it may be too late.

EDIT: Also looks like visitor numbers are 15% up this year already, on a record breaking year last year. These problems are only going to get greater. Luckily it's such a vast wilderness area with so few roads that there is still a huge space for animals to retreat to if things get to busy.

 

[peter]

we will be there for 4 days soon plus 2 in the tetons

 

[Amp34]

From last week

Grizzly bears - Pilgrim Creek, Grand Teton (dirt road in the northern part of Grand Teton, about half an hour from the northern gate, you'll drive past it going from Mammoth to GT) and also a couple of sightings on the Mammoth to Norris Road (more the southern half).

Black bears - Around Tower. We saw about half a dozen, including two scoffing their faces a foot from the road. One with two cubs walking around in the open area to behind the Tower Falls carpark. Several others on the road between Tower and Mammoth.

Also saw some Marmots on the road around Mount Washburn. There is also a wolf den in a hill to the west of the track to Slough Creek Camp ground. If they are still there then there will be crowds of people showing you where they are - It's about a mile away so you'll need a long lens to even see any movement, let alone get a reasonable photo. You can also see mountain goats on the cliffs to the north of the road from Tower to Silver Gate (North East corner of the park - the cliffs are a few miles from the gate, after the Lamar Valley) - again a very long way away. We were told of somewhere else that they wander over the road but I can't remember where that is now.

There's also a Beaver dam at the first carpark on Schwabacher road, GT. Also looks like a good area to spot Moose. Also told the Wilson Moose Road is a good area for moose as well, but we didn't see any there either.

Inside the fuel station at Mammoth they write a list of bear sightings when they get them, which can guide you to places they may be. Also worth talking to rangers and even better just other people, especially those with long lenses.

Hope that helps a little and may give a start for where to start looking.

 

[D.P.]

GTNP hotspots:

I got good moose sightings on pilgrim creek road at sunrise. Near the start there is a right turn with a marshy area, not far from road.

Gross venture road, 2m north of Jacskon. The early part follows the river with good moose opertunities and bald eagles. Further on in the antelope flats are bison, deer and sometimes elk. Mormon row is a must at sunrise.



Flagg ranch road, north of park. Very rough so need 4wd or extreme care. Bears, elk. Also really good hot spring near entrance.


Moose-Wilson road, almost guaranteed moose and black bear.


Big meadow areas near jackson lake lodge and damn. Elk and grizzlies feeding on elk, but a far away.


Valley on the far side if jenny lake (if you are lazy you can take a boat), lots of moose.





Yellowstone:
Highly variable really. Hayden valley good for bears, Lamar valley for grizzlies, wolf and pronghorn. Coyotes are scattered everywhere, you hear them at night. Mt Washburn for marmots, sometimes mountain sheep.



One thing to think about is hen hiking you really want to be making some noise so you alert the bears to your presence. Doing so of course means wildlife will keep their difference. If you keep quiet then you need to move slowly and be extremely alert. Carry a bear spray, keep your food in a sealed container. biggest danger is mother with cubs, Cubs on 1 side of the path mother on the other == charging raging mother bear. But don't estimate elk or moose close to path, if you startle them they can charge.

 

[Jono]

When exactly are you going? I have a Tamron 150-600mm that I'm considering parting with, but might keep. That said, I rarely use it. Need to do some more tests with it... might let you borrow it.

 

[peter]

last week of july , I am looking at the nikon nut it is hard to part with that much for a lens i will not use often. Happy to borrow or buy. ( depending on price)