Lenses??

[danc]

I was going to pm Brandon about this, but I thought that others might be interested as well, so I'll post it here.

 

Brandon, what are your "must have" lenses? Within reasonable budget of course. What lens do you find that you use most often? Do you constantly change lenses while in the field? I currently have a 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 and a 40-150mm f4.0-5.6. I am currently looking at a 70-300mm f4.0-5.6. My camera nor the lens doesn't have image stabilization. But I have had good success with the 40-150 wide open by increasing my ISO. What can I expect from a 70-300 without a tripod or stabilization? Am I looking at the impossible? I am also looking at a mono pod that I hope will help with this lens.

 

I directed this at Brandon, because he's the obvious guy with the answers, but I like to hear comments from anyone that has an opinion on this subject.

[Raf]

personally I would opt for a tripod before such a high zoom lens. I am not sure a monopod, due to the weight of a DSLR + Lens, would do either but I am far from a pro.

 

My experience, and this is with a P&S "super zoom" (36-432mm equivalent) WITH IS is that unless you have good lighting, it is difficult to get a well focused pic at max zoom, using hands only at ISO 100 or less. I don't have the steadiest hands though.

[danc]

The reason that I prefer a mono pod Raf, is that it is a quick set up. I have a few tripods which will most certainly be used. But I'm counting on the mono for when I need to get a quick shot of.... whatever. That moose around the bend. The Eagles picking at a carcass etc. Also, weight isn't an issue in my case. My camera is one of the smallest SLR's available and the lenses get high reviews for their weight as well.

 

You are correct about the lighting needed. You can't have enough lighting with the lenses that I own.

[brandon]

Dan,

 

My 3 lenses are a 17-85mm, 100-400mm, and a 10-17mm fisheye. The 17-85mm is my landscape lens and my all around lens. It's wide enough and has enough zoom making it a pretty versatile lens. Now the 100-400mm Lens is my wildlife lens, however I do use it for some landscape shots, just to bring the scene closer("Fire in the peaks" sunset photo). My fisheye on the other hand has very limited use, but in the right situation, it can produce some pretty cool shots. I also use my fisheye as my macro lens because it has a minimum focusing distance of 5" at all magnifications.

 

Now for your lens situation. The 70-300 will pretty much cover all of the important focal lengths. But as RAF said, a tripod is a must, and a good tripod at that. I used to have a 70-300 for my first DSLR and even with a tripod(crappy one) at 300mm I was still getting lens shake. Also as RAF said, good lighting is very important, especially with the 4.0-5.6 aperture. Increasing the ISO will help compensate for that however you will start to notice noise. When I had my XTi, I used to never shoot over 400iso because the noise would become too much and ruin the photo. With my new camera though the noise is much less....same noise at about 1600iso with my new camera as there was at 400iso on my XTi. So I guess the ISO you can get away with depends on your camera.

 

In conclusion, if you get the 70-300, get a tripod. The monopod will help but it won't be enough at full zoom.

 

hope this helps