arvind_thiagarajan

<p>Hi all,<br>

I finally ended up getting 300/2.8 (used, so didn't break the bank!) and it works very very well. I can handhold it without a problem, but I do have occasional issues acquiring accurate focus on small birds due to handholding "shake" --- when I press the AE-L/AF-L button of my camera to focus, the center AF frame sometimes shakes slightly and focuses on the body/tail or a nearby branch rather than the bird eyes, especially for small birds that don't cover the viewfinder.<br>

Keith, if you have any suggestions on how to improve focusing accuracy with handholding a heavy lens like this one, would appreciate your inputs. The shake isn't a problem when I make the shot itself since I shoot at high shutter speed and I use VR, but the shake does affect my focusing accuracy and I can't quite seem to get exactly the birds eyes in focus when the bird is small. </p><div></div>

<p>Thanks Sebastian for your comments on your experience, it helps.<br>

I am still tempted mainly by the extra reach of 300/2.8 + 1.7x TC (achieved without weight and cost of the 500 or 600 lenses, which simply doesn't make sense for me), but I am now looking for a used 300/2.8 lens without VR which should save me money over the VR version and help me buy the TC instead. If I can't find a cheaper 300/2.8 without VR, I think I will settle for the 300/4 + 1.4x TC as you suggest. I was happy with the 300/4 images I got when I rented it.<br>

<br />Paul, thanks for your comments too. I agree getting close seems helpful: for most of the shots I have taken so far, the good ones have always been when I was within 5-10 feet of the bird (especially for the small ones), and the bad ones have always been when I was far away.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the responses.<br>

<br />Douglas, I am shooting on DX and with crop factor, so 300mm seems decent so far, except the really far away birds. The 400, 500 and 600 lenses are really heavy and as Wouter says, I don't know if I would be able to explore, walk around and see as many birds as I could with the 300mm lenses.<br>

Gary, I so far feel I have needed to wait to get close to the birds to take good pics. Otherwise I somehow can't focus accurately on the eye of the bird (maybe defect in my focusing technique, but these small songbirds seem to move really quickly). At a distance of about 10 feet (which I shot a catbird with the other day), the website you pointed me to claims a 0.03 foot DOF for an f/2.8 on a DX body, which seems to be only 1 cm or so.<br>

I have not yet tried shooting with the teleconverters, so maybe I will rent the f/4 and f/2.8 + TCs and see if they help me get better pics of more birds. That's a good tip. Thanks. So far it looks like 300 f/4 + TC14e is a winner combination.</p>

<p>Hi all,<br>

I'm a beginner to bird photography. I have been renting the Nikon 300mm AF-S f/4 lens to try it out and really like the sharpness and quality of images I get of birds both big and small I get with this lens.<br>

I am now considering an outright purchase of this lens used or new, but am also tempted by the similar, but much pricier Nikon 300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR (used, since I can't afford the new one). My only concern is: would the f/2.8 end up really being used very much since it could result in shallow depth of field and possibly out of focus tail/feathers (e.g. if focusing on the eye of a bird). So would it be worth spending so much extra for that lens if it is going to be used mostly at f/4 or lower anyway.<br>

I am still inexperienced and starting out (as you can see!), so sorry if this is a stupid question. Anyone out there with birding experience having any comments/thoughts on how often you end up actually shooting birds wide open with the 300/2.8 and if you find the extra stop of light from f4 actually helpful, would be great to hear from you.<br>

I heard of other advantages of the 300/2.8 --- being able to shoot with teleconverters and the VR. Are those also helpful in the field? I have so far been typically shooting birds at fast shutter speeds anyway, so wasn't sure if VR is all that helpful (in the long run) either. Also, could anyone comment if the AF acquisition on the 300/2.8 AF-S is noticeably faster or helpful than the 300/4 AF-S?<br>

Thanks a lot! Your comments/thoughts would be much appreciated.<br>

Arvind</p>