Help needed for wildlife/birding lens

J

jar7580

New member
Hi guysI just needed some help with choosing a good lens for wildlife and bird photography. At the moment, I am using a 55-200mm f4-5.6 and while this is a good lens, it's a bit short and slow at times. So i have come up with a few lenses that I am considering, and just wanted everyone's opinion on which one would be the best. What i am really looking for, is a lens around the 300mm maybe 400mm range, but that is under $2000


- Nikon 70-300,, f4.5-5.6
- Nikon 300mm f4 + TC 14e
- Nikon 70-200mm f4


Right now, I am pretty confident that the best lens would be the nikon 300mm f4. The f2.8 version is way out of my budget, and I would sill be able to put a 1.4x teleconvertor on this lens and get a 420mm f5.6. So if anybody has used this lens, or has another reccomendation it would be greatly appreciated :D
Thanks
 
E

emm2600

Senior Member
If it's speed and flexibility you are looking for a used example of the first version of the 70-200 f2.8 VR + TC may be within your budget as well, it's still a superb DX lens and you gain VR. Strictly for reach (for the tiny birds!) the 300 prime + TC may be better overall though.

Weight can be a concern as well, it can be a bit daunting going up to 1.5kg lenses hand holding and the quality of tripods/monopods required increases as well. The 70-300 and 70-200 f4 start to look more attractive if you aren't too keen on lugging around a 2kg lens/body combo.
 
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P

pedroj

Senior Member
jar7580 said:
Hi guysI just needed some help with choosing a good lens for wildlife and bird photography. At the moment, I am using a 55-200mm f4-5.6 and while this is a good lens, it's a bit short and slow at times. So i have come up with a few lenses that I am considering, and just wanted everyone's opinion on which one would be the best. What i am really looking for, is a lens around the 300mm maybe 400mm range, but that is under $2000


- Nikon 70-300,, f4.5-5.6
- Nikon 300mm f4 + TC 14e
- Nikon 70-200mm f4


Right now, I am pretty confident that the best lens would be the nikon 300mm f4. The f2.8 version is way out of my budget, and I would sill be able to put a 1.4x teleconvertor on this lens and get a 420mm f5.6. So if anybody has used this lens, or has another reccomendation it would be greatly appreciated :D
Thanks
Click to expand...
One of the members has the AF-S 300mm f4, I think Samba...I have the older AF 300mm F4...It does a very good job at sports and birds
 
G

gqtuazon

Gear Head
You'll need all the extra reach that you can get with small birds. The 300mm + 1.4x tc is a very good choice. 80-400mm VR is also a good option.
 
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evan447

Senior Member
i have the nikon 300 f4 af-s and tc 14ii virtually glued to my d7100. it is a great combination giving nice sharp results.
​i use it for butterflys and dragonflys mainly, but it doubles as a birding lens too.
 
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