Hi Dave. At 2006-01-09 00:54:46 +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > What would you all recommend for birds?
The combination of a 500mm lens and a digital SLR body (especially the Canon ones, which give you a 1.6x focal length "boost") is good enough to take some excellent bird photographs, but every little bit of extra focal length helps. The new Sigma 170-500 DG lens with a Canon EOS 350D (or so) body looks pretty good (though the lens doesn't have HSM: "silent focusing"[1]). A shorter lens with a teleconverter might also be an option; depends on your budget. A Canon 400/5.6L with a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter would give you ~900mm for less than $1500 (and the lens is good enough to use that way). Of course, a really good tripod becomes mandatory, even if you do get a lens with image stabilisation (such as the Canon 100-400 IS, or the 500/4L IS). I'd recommend IS lenses, but they're all very expensive. -- ams 1. My Canon D30/Sigma 70-300 combination focuses slowly and noisily. Since the focal length (480mm effective) is such that I can only photograph birds fairly close by, this is a serious disadvantage. I've had birds listen to my camera and fly off in disgust. Sigh.
