Canon Telephoto lense & Tripod

[Ajay420]

Hi,
Am planing to buy a telephoto lense, which can be good for taking pictures of
landscapes,mountanes, wild life ,Birds etc.After a lot surfing and going through reviews
I was thinking to go for the below ,hence I already have a 28 - 135 which will serve for
landscapes.So the 300 one I can use for longer range. Guys give me ur suggestion on this.
Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM $1280
Canon EF 1.4x II extender telephoto $300
And please give me some good models on Tripod I heard Manfrotto & Benro are good let me
know which models will be suitable for me even in future I go for longer lenses like 300
or a higher body.What are the areas I have to look on while purchasing tripods.
Please give your valuable feed backs.
My existing gears are,
Canon EOS 400D with kit lense
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens
Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash
HOYA 72mm Circularizing Polarizing Filter

Thanks
Ajay.T.C

 

[Overread]

300mm f4 is a good lens and works well with a 1.4telconverter. You might also want to check out the 400mm f5.6, which is often favoured by those with a slight more interest in capturing birds. Both lenses are good and solid choices though and in the end a lot of the choice between them comes down to more personal prefernce and shooting styles. The IS in the 300mm is a very good bonus to have though in a telephoto lens for walking around with.

Tripod wise I would say a good solid ballhead would be a good starting point, avoid the pistol grips (eg 322RC2 by manfrotto) as they are not really (I find) as well suited to wildife and largerlenses (since you have to always have one hand on the grip to keep the pressure off).
For long term one of the best tripod makes is Gitzo - Manfrotto and Benbo are infact the same company just different trading names (Benbo is USA whilst Manfrotto is UK and Europe). Gitzo are a touch about the others and whilst their prices are higher they are very good tripods. If you are walking around alot I would also strongly encourage you to getting a carbon firbre tripod - they do cost around double that of a basic tripod, but they are far lighter and that is something really important if you are walking around.