House wren and cropping. Didsbury, Alberta. August, 2022.

House wren - same original photo with different degrees of cropping.

As a hobbyist interested in photographing wildlife, I have always strived to have telephoto lenses that will allow me to capture images of the creatures I so enjoy.  Over the years, and there have been many of them, I have owned practically every category of telephoto made by man.  These include all-in-one zooms (28-300 mm), telephoto zooms (80-400 mm), modest primes (200 mm), medium primes (300 mm), and long primes (500 mm).  I have used OEM (brand name - Nikon and Minolta) and third-party (Tamron and Sigma) lenses and lenses with a myriad of features such as stabilization, special coatings, differing focus methods, and lenses with specialized glass.  Overall, this is what I have learned regarding them:

  • A good prime lens will always outperform a good zoom lens.
  • Good glass is expensive but rarely makes a regrettable purchase.
  • If you have to use a zoom lens, keep the focal length range to 4x or less.
  • Third-party lenses comparable to OEM lenses are less expensive.
  • Silent, internal focus lenses are the only way to go.
  • The camera body will affect the way a lens performs.
  • Use stabilization technology whenever you can (sports mode for panning).
  • If you don't have stabilization, consider a good gimble-headed tripod.
  • Buy a high-end UV filter for the front element, and keep it clean.
  • Don't use teleconverters, if you do use high-end, low-magnification units.
  • Longer focal lengths are more desirable than shorter focal lengths.
  • Fast lenses are nice but pricy; minimum apertures of f/5.6 or f/6.3 are OK.
  • Carry long lenses by a strap on its tripod mount if one is available.
  • Use the lens's sun hood as it protects the lens, reduces glare, and looks cool.
  • To keep from changing lenses in the field, consider a second body.
  • If you do a lot of cropping, high-end primes will give you better results.
  • Realize that one lens won't do it all for you.  Choose what you use.
The above photo was taken with a Nikon D500 and a Nikon PF 500 f/5.6 prime lens.  The lens performs very well even when the image is significantly cropped.  There are no signs of chromatic aberration, vignetting, or distortion.  The VR works very well and allows me to shoot 3-4 stops under recommended shutter speed values.  It is quite simply the best lens I have ever owned.

I hope this offered something useful for you.  If you agree, disagree, or want to add something, let me know.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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