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birds!

yooperdooperyooperdooper Registered Users Posts: 231 Major grins
edited May 3, 2015 in Wildlife
hello:recently i have been attempting to photograph birds.i have a canon eos 30d with a 18-200 ef canon lens.i dont want to make a career out of shooting birds i just want to get a few good shots.200mm doesn't give me nearly enough zoom,i have considered renting a more powerful lens or an 2x extender.will a 2x extender give me a 400mm zoom,would there be a degregation in focus or quality?any suggestions?thanks

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    StumblebumStumblebum Registered Users Posts: 8,480 Major grins
    edited May 3, 2015
    For wild-birds (not in a zoo or aviary), usually large zoom is needed. However, with enough effort, patience and luck, if you get to 400mm, it would help. I am guessing 30D is crop sensor? If it is, you are already getting the crop multiplier, so if it is 1.6X you are getting 200x1.6.

    For 2X extender, you need lens that is at least f-4 for auto focus to work.
    It is hard to get birds, especially in flight, without auto-focus.
    Even with f-4, auto-focus system would slow down, by canon's own admission, at least 30-40%.
    The IQ would drop tad too, but if you are not aiming to sell the pics to magazines, you should be fine.
    Furthermore there would be at least 2-3 stop loss of light, so in low light situations (dawn-dusk or cloudy) you would have some issues.

    Canon's own 2X extender are not cheap (maybe in used market).

    My suggestion would be to save up 800 bucks and buy -

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001542X6E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1PJWG7S1TTX6S&coliid=I3V0RDMMKEUTJG&psc=1

    You would have 500mm at your disposal and with crop factor of the body, even more. Everything would be in target. Quality of this lens is pretty good. No, not like canon-500mm but that costs $10k (I am saving for that one).

    Cheers!
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