[dolt45]

Originally Posted by Okie Boom

Dang, if that was at 200mm you have a ways to go to get as close as I think you are wanting to. What I would suggest is to find a local shop that does lens rentals. Every couple of weeks go rent the lens you need, I am thinking 400 - 500mm. This will be much cheaper since you will rarely need anything that large, not to mention the lens will run you a solid $3-5k if bought. Just a thought!! I love where you are going with the idea though, telling their story through your lens!! Love it!

Beat me to it. I wrote my reply offline while I was working and came back to find your comments. Pretty close, but I put in a LOT more words:

I’d say 400mm would be good, and probably the best a normal person could justify the $$ for. But getting a decent 400mm lens for less than you paid for your camera is impossible (unless you have a REALLY nice camera). A 300mm isn’t going to be a huge jump from your 200mm. The longer the glass, the less difference you’ll see per mm of length.

Option 1 – See if any of the pro shops in your area rent lenses. It usually isn’t cheap but you can end up with a very high powered pro lens for a day to get some shots.

Option 2 – The big Sigma zoom lenses (made for several camera mfrs) are pretty good bang for the buck. The 50-500mm (aka the Bigma) and the 150-500mm. While neither one is truly stellar and both have limitations (like the fact that both perform best when not maxed out on f-stop or focal length) they are hard to beat if you want a hgh mm zooom for less $$$ than a black market kidney.

Option 3 – Almost without exception a prime lens is the way to go (zoom is the enemy of sharp, distortion free images). I can’t help you here until I know what camera you have. I use a 300mm prime and a 400mm prime for 98% of my wildlife photography. You’ll pay a lot for a quality lens in this category but it will pay off in your images for years and years to come.

Option 4 – Borrow a GOOD telescope and invest in the adapters to mount your camera to it (be forewarned, the world through the lens will be upside down unless you get the right gear). This option STINKS for anything except a static subject. Focus will be done manually with the telescope. Luckily you’ll focus once on the nest and just sit on the shutter button waiting on a pose. I’ve done it once for getting shots of a bald eagle nest that was way back on private property. I’ll probably never do it again. Difficult set up, lots of image vibration (any breeze at all vibrated the image) Still, its an option.

Option 5 – Teleconverter. On a zoom lens a teleconverter is going to stink. You’ll probably lose autofocus, your viewfinder will be darker, your focus will be softer, you’ll have more chromatic aberation… These are intended for use with fast prime lenses (F4 or faster) and work fairly well in that role (though even those suffer the above mentioned problems, just to a lesser extent). Still, its an option that WILL add focal length to your lens. Don’t bother buying a cheap one. Just throw your money in the trash instead. I have two (a 1.4x and 2x) quality teleconverters and I certainly use them but only on my most pristine prime lenses. Even then my photos suffer.

Above all else, shoot from the roof. Going through your window is absolutely going to degrade image quality.

Jeez, I think I just started a “Wildlife Photography 101” manual. Apparently I have no idea what “brevity” means. Sorry for the rambling answer but I hope it helps.