Which Lens for Zoo Animals?

Hi. Long ago I photographed animals, mostly at the zoo with a 70-

210mm lens on a Canon 35mm. I'd like to resume doing this again but

with a Digital Rebel. I was thinking of getting the Canon 70-200mm

f/4L USM but the fixed focal length Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM also

looks good. I am aware of the price difference but I want the

lens/utility best suited for the task. Advice,comments and

suggestions are welcomed.

 

Thanks.

This is a piece of string question. Both are fine lenses. I shoot for the Zoo Friends magazine in Sydney and find that I use my 300 2.8 most of the time on a 1D MKII. I would think that with the 1.6 multiplier the 70-200 would be a very flexible choice,and it can certainly produce good images with a 1.4 extender.

The Zoo is one of the locations where I bring all my lenses. I use a 50/1.8 for the low light locations, telephoto to get the small animals that always seem to be in the back of the cage, a normal zoom for the larger animals and my wide angle for the wide open ranges. I found that with the outside animals, there always was enough light, even on cloudy days. The inside animals needed a fast lens. Inside I usually could get close enough with my 50mm, although I have plans for a mid 20mm lens and about a 100mm macro lens.

 

To answer your specific question, I would think that the zoom lens would be of value for a general purpose zoo lens, unless you always want the small animals that are far away. I am not sure that the Zoo would be the place to use IS since most of your shots would be on a tripod.

 

I personaly like shooting the zoo, the animals are always in their homes (cages), you are garenteed to see most of the animals, I get to change lens which allows me to think about what picture I want, and sometimes I even take a picture of my family.

 

I hope that I have helped, Frank

I've enjoyed several trips to the zoo with the Nikon 80-400 VR and appreciated not having to have a tripod. I rented the lens for about $30 for the day. Perhaps a store near you rents the Canon 100-400 IS?

I prefer a long lens (500 mm +) for zoo shots. You may not be able to get the entire animal

in the frame, but you can get nice portraits and the narrow depth of field can blur out both

distracting backgrounds and (thin) bars or wire in the foreground.

You need short depth, so a 300mm f/2.8 would be ideal. I've used a 300mm f/4 IS USM on several occasions and blurring the background can sometimes be a problem. In general it's a very, very competent zoo lens though. Blur fences by going closer and blur the background by trying to photograph the animals when they are close to you and far away from the background. The 300mm f/4 also focuses very close for portraits. I keep it on my camera more often than the 70-200mm f/2.8.

I usually use my 100-400mm lens when I am visiting a zoo. It is relatively small but the focal length is long enough to eliminate most of the unwanted background. When I am seriously working with zoo animals I go for the 4.0/500mm or the 2.8/300mm for the same reason others already mentioned. It is often hard to find an attractive background an it is for sure even more difficult with the 4.0/70-200mm. So if your choice is only between the zoom and the 4.0/300mm I would go for the 300mm but would add a1,4 converter.

<p>With the 10D and 20D I have found the 70-200 2.8 L to be a great choice and offers a lot of options with 1.4x and 2x extenders. I feel that using a prime lens would be very limiting and would make me want to bring a lot of lenses with me. As it is I usually have the 70-200 with extenders, a 28-75, and 17-35 Tamrons with a 550ex to for fill.

 

<p><a href="http://davenelson.smugmug.com/Zoos" target="_blank"><u>Check out my Zoo photos</u></a>.

My most stunning shots in the zoo have pretty much all come from my 400/5.6 on my 10D. Don't forget to get a monopod.

Although i do not have it from my frequent experience with a 70-200 f4 on a film body i guess the 100-400 would be the lens made for zoo trips, although for some photos you would be certainly off best with as much focal length as you can get - this is nature after all ;).

I had both 70-200/4 and 300/4 IS. My recommendation goes to the prime as it is longer and has IS, which I find invaluable in long lenses. For shorter distances consider the 85/1.8 or 135/2.8 as an optically excellent while being very lightweight and relatively cheap options.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

The two lenses that I like to use in the zoo are 135mm f2 and 300mm f2.8. While I think a 300mm f4 would be an excellent choice, with a 1.6 crop factor on your (& my) Canon DSLR, you will still need a shorter focal length. So I think you might still need the 70-200. Alternatively the 100-400 would be good, if it is sharp enough for your needs.