Scott Elliot wrote:
"Rob Davison" wrote in message
...

Mister K wrote:
Vov@ Sadovyy wrote:

Hello.

I'm about to buy Sigma 70-210mm f/4-5.6 UC II AF for Minolta. What do
you think about this lens? Is it sharpen and quick enough?


If you are taking photographs of birds then it is highly suggested to
obtain a larger focal length.

I currently use a 400mm f4.5 lens for all my wildlife shots (my wife
uses a 400mm f5.6 lens).
In the long run the cost of the lens has been paid off in the number of
quality images I now have.

Hmmm. I find 400 isn't quite enough for frame filling photos. At that
focal length wild birds are either looking very suspicious or leaving
in a hurry.

Adding a 2x TC helps but on my camera that means manual focus and the
equivalent of an F11 lens at 800mm. :-(

Are there any solutions (that cost less than a small car) ?


I have a suggestion that is less than the cost of a small car, but much more
than the cost of the Sigma 70-210 f/4-5.6. That is a Sigma 50-500 f/4-6.3
EX on a Canon digital camera with a multiplication factor of 1.6x. That
would be either the digital Rebel or 10D.

I have the 10D and considered that lens but went for the 100-400L
instead (for what has proven to be the very useful IS).

Thanks also to the other guy who suggested seed and a hide. Its good
advice, just not all that useful in my particular circumstances...

I should perhaps have qualified my remarks a little. I'd been trying
to get a reasonable closeup of a pair of spurwing plovers that have
hatched a chick out on our farm. They always seem to be in the middle
of a fairly large paddock and they're very wide awake to your approach.

The chick can't yet fly but I don't like hassling him and besides,
getting a bird relaxed and 'doing its thing' leads to much more
interesting photos.

I've an idea the hide would almost always be in the wrong place and
can't see seed being much of a temptation to them. ;-)

Best of the worst Spurwing chick looks like:
http://www.pbase.com/image/23976811/large

Different (not so cautious) species doing the sorts of
things I enjoy catching:

http://www.pbase.com/image/23342814/medium
http://www.pbase.com/image/23976988/medium

http://www.pbase.com/image/23976944/large

(Do ducks usually stand on one foot on top of a fence post?)


Rob.