Long Lens

sas2450 · Apr 16, 2013

Hi, I'm quite new to photography and I really need somebody's help.

Basically, I am doing the world challenge (doesn't matter if you haven't heard of it) and this includes a safari. My dad has said that he'd happily give me £100 pounds for a good long lens for photos of the animals. He suggested I try and find a 500mm one.

I don't know what to do; the lens needs to be long enough for me to take good photos but light enough and small enough to trek round with it in my backpack. I have considered a mirror lens but most people say they aren't much good and I don't like the doughnut shapes. My dad has a 300mm one for a canon but mine is nikon and he said that that probably wasn't long enough, however his was a film camera and mine is digital and I've heard that increases focal length. I also want it to be adjustable - I don't want to be stuck at one focal length.

Does anybody know of a good lens which has suitable zoom for safari, is light and small enough to trek with and is under £100? Any help would be very happily recieved.

Furthermore, I will want to be using it afterwards as well both for wildlife and maybe astronomy so if this is possible it would be great. Auto focus would be preferred but not necessary.

Thanks for your time, please help!

tirediron · Apr 16, 2013

That's a VERY difficult challenge. Even a second-hand 500mm cat lens is probably going to go for more than 100 pounds. About the only option that I can see coming even close is going to be a used 3rd party 70-300 and a 1.4 TC. Unfortunately, that's going to make it a very slow lens (prob. max f8). Depending on how long this trip is, renting a lens might be an option, but even then, that kind of money isn't going to go too far. Do you have enough time to save up a bit more money? A friend that you can borrow gear from?

sas2450 · Apr 16, 2013

No there's nothing like that :/ It's a 4 week trek and I
really would quite like to buy one so I have it, not just borrow it.

480sparky · Apr 16, 2013

Low Price ≠ Good glass.

If you want a lens longer than 300, and you want a zoom, your options are gonna cost you. There's the Sigma 150-500 that'll set you back £670. Not long enough? Step up to the plate with a Siggy 300-800 if you have £5,300.

Nikon has a couple offerings..........An 80-400 for 1,100, and a 200-400 that'll set you back £4,500.

Tokina? They once made a 100-300 and an 80-400 that can be found used for £300 and £250, respectively.

Designer · Apr 16, 2013

It's really too bad about your restrictions. Too bad you can't rent a good lens for the money (maybe you could).

As I understand about wildlife in general, they become more active when the sun is low, meaning that in order to get good photos, you might find yourself shooting at sunrise, sunset, and dusk.

Do you have any money of your own that you can add to the hundred pounds?

Derrel · Apr 16, 2013

No zoom...but...your budget is simply farrrrrrrr too low to get a long tele-zoom.

BuyDig.com - Vivitar Universal 500MM Preset Lens

I have one of these...not that bad, really, and it is light and imminently packable in a backpack.

Overread · Apr 16, 2013

If you are doing safari in Africa you can get away with less - many animals have become quite accustomed to the safari cars and skilled drivers can get surprisingly close. You still will want long glass if you can afford it, but a 70-300mm could do the job (and is likely the only thing that will fit into your budget).

Yes long reach helps, it helps a lot if you can afford it, but at £100 I don't think you'd even be able to rent a long lens. Sadly wildlife is one of the areas of photography where you can't go cheap very easily.

sas2450 · Apr 16, 2013

I know I said I didn't want one but I've been looking and do you think a mirror lens would be alright after all? I know they have a lot of cons but it's only gonna be personal photos and they are allot cheaper, or do you think I should just make do with a 70-300mm one and save up more after? I really would like some close ups. I've found a 500mm one that comes with a doubler and I have a 18-55mm lens already so maybe I could use the mirror for long shots, the glass one with the doubler for medium and no doubler for short. Would that work? Thanks again for all the replies.

500mm 1000mm Mirror lens cased Olympus E 4/3 Canon EOS Nikon D Sony A DIGITAL | eBay <<Mirror lens

480sparky · Apr 16, 2013

Are you prepared to shoot in full manual focus with a lens? Because that's your only option with a mirror lens. Manual focus. And if you can't enter in a non-CPU lens into your camera, you'll be shooting in manual mode as well....... with no in-camera meter to guide you.

Mirror lenses are tricky to work with. Don't expect magazine-cover images, especially right off the bat. They're lenses that take quite a bit of practice just to get 'acceptable' images with. And by quite a bit of practice, I don't mean a half hour in the back yard.

That, and the fact that most mirror lenses are designed with one goal in mind: Low price. I've never heard of the brand you linked to, but chances are, it's gonna be as cheap as they can make it. 500mm f/8 mirror lenses sell for that price all day long on ebay.

If the attraction of adding the 'doubler' sounds like the cure for your ills, keep in mind you'll have a 1,000mm lens. It will also be a dismally dim f/16..... how easy will that be to even SEE in the viewfinder, let alone focus? Remember..... mirror lenses are manual focus.

Yes, there are some good mirror lenses. But they won't sell for £100 even used.

All that said, have you ever heard of 'doughnut bokeh'?

Buckster · Apr 16, 2013

Sparky brings up some good points.

Luckily, today's DSLRs have ways of dealing with most of those issues better than the cameras us old timers used to have to work with. For one, you can crank the ISO to deal with the f/8-f/16 issue pretty easily. For another, you can shoot in Live View using the LCD on the back of the camera and dial in your exposure by looking at it even without the benefit of the lens communication.

As for the practice to be able to use them effectively, you'll just have to tough it through that if you go that route.

I see from the 6th sentence in your opening post above that you do indeed recognize the donut bokeh, so no need to ask if you've ever heard of it.

Best of luck with it.

sas2450 · Apr 16, 2013

I do have some experience and i do focus manually about hlf the time so i think i should be ok with that. I don't really mean to use the doubler on the mirror les, more on the short one but i don't know if that would work? Also, as buckster said, my camera does lots of options for brightness including iso and flash an exposure compensation. Does anyone else have any advice? Should i just go for the 70-300 and get a longer one after? My absolute limit would be £150 but afterwards i get £50 a week from my paper round so i could save up for a better one. All the advice has been helpful but Im still a bit stuck

480sparky · Apr 16, 2013

My advice: get the 70-300 now, and save up for a real long lens later.

sas2450 · Apr 16, 2013

Thanks I'll bear this all in mind

Overread · Apr 16, 2013

I'd also second getting a 70-300mm now and then saving up for a better lens in the future.

Also as you're in the london areaish check out the British Wildlife Centre - great place to do photography!