stemked Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 David, Not being a Conon Buff, I am aware that there are some inexpensive relatively fast long Canon FD lenses (500mm, 600mm?). I've even heard of persons buying old Canon manual bodies just SO THEY CAN BUY THESE LENSES! A plan B might be the old T-mount 400mm f6.3 lenses. Yes they are slow, but you can get the lens for under $60, plus another $15 for the FD Canon T adaptor. With 400 ASA film its do-able, But that said you do have a cheap answer if your camera system has a moter drive option. You can prefocus your camera on a branch use aperture priority (if your camera has this option) and remotely use an old air shutter release. I used to have one that I weaved into a bedroom window and would photograph birds that would land on a given perch in winter. I wasted a lot of film, but it was a fun project for cold winter days. With that setup, if your 200mm focus relatively close you should have some pretty good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_waite Posted November 30, 2003 Share Posted November 30, 2003 Hi David, You can get plenty of bird photos with a 300 or even a 200 mm lens. But since you often won't be able to get as close to the birds (optically) as you may desire, you will have to get closer physically. That often means using a blind and/or feeder station setup. The great bird photographer Arthur Morris suggests choosing long and slow optics versus slower but faster glass when making lens purchases for birding. Few would argue that he'd be a good guy to listen too on these matters. If you were talking digital, a 200 mm lens makes a better birding choice than with film (at least on bodies having a built in x crop factor). I used a 200/2.8 on a 300d body (having a 1.6 crop factor) with a 1.4 extender to get the bird photo below. Good luck with your choice and have fun! Rich<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_lofquist Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 A 500 is really "for the birds". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobbi Posted December 8, 2003 Share Posted December 8, 2003 Pretty much all photos of birds on my web page (www.simnet.is/jakobs/birds/birds.html) are taken with a 10D, 200mm f2.8 and 1.4X or 2.0X converters. regards, Jakob S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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