Wife and I drove out to a small lake yesterday and to check on the eagle population. To our surprise there must have been a dozen or more in a tree on the other side of the lake. Grabbed camera and started shooting. Long story short I need a bigger lens. I have an older Nikon D40 and the lens I was using was a Nikkor 70-300 1:4-5.6G. I would like to get nice shot at 500yds. Doesn't have to be pro quality just want to be able to tell between a hawk and an eagle
Thanks John
Just my opinion but 500 yards your either going to walk a little closer or go by boat, I photo a lot of eagles as long as your quiet and easy going you can shorten that distance a lot. Now 12 at once maybe a trick as that is a lot of eyes on you but my experience in a boat is most of the time they don’t mind you being around.
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To problems here,I can't walk on water and don't take the boat every where I goOriginally Posted by Ky 520c
How much money do you have? Long lenses are very expensive, regardless of brand. If you want to do serious bird photography, it costs. Long lenses, sturdy tripods, and really good ball heads or better yet, a gimbal type head.
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500 yards is beyond reasonable camera range unless you spend a mint. If you get the magnification you’ll lose so much light you’ll have terrible image quality.
A Nikkor 200-500 F5.6 AF-S can be had around $1500. Compare that to a fast 500mm Sigma lens at $26,000.
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As much as you don't want to hear it the last 2 responses are spot on. I lug around a 13 pound 400mm Canon lens that cost several thousand dollars and it is only good for a college size lineman from about 60 yards away. To shoot anything of size at distances more than 50 yards will take mega bucks. Even the "cheap" 500mm will run over $1,000.
A used Tamron or Sigma 150-600mm can be gotten for around $700
Thanks for the replies. To some 26K might sound like a lot but I know guys that spend 2-3 times that just for a place to stand while they fish.
600mm @45 yards with a crop, to me it’s not the expense of a big lens( I don’t need a 10k or more lens, or can afford it. ) even with those lens your FOV will be so wide at 500 yards the picture won’t work, cropping it heavy will kill it also. Might look into a spotting scope adapter but their are several steps that are a pain and loss of quality with those...
Last edited by Ky 520c; 12-29-2018 at 07:25 AM.
Sigma 150-600mm is a great lens.not the top of the line but it will get the job done. This picture is cropped big time to get it on here. Was at 600mm on it moving.
DSC_94861.jpg
Nice one bugman!
This was taken with the Nikkor 70-300 cranked all the way up at 400yds. Any suggestions
Get closer. 400 yard pictures just aren’t practical.
This was taken with the Nikkor 70-300 cranked all the way up at 400yds. Any suggestions
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
nothing else matters.
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