Zoom distances

[pasknucklehead]

Hi again everyone...Thank you for answering my first series of questions. I really appreciated the fast response. Here is another question..I have a nikon 70-200 lens. I am trying to take photos of my birds outside my window at the bird feeder. They are only about 6 feet away, should I not be able to pick up a speck on there winds if there were some? The closest I seem to pull them in is just filling up my viewfinder with the whole bird, I really thought being a 200 mm I would see the bird a lot closer than I am ..Or am I just expecting alot out of only a 200 mm.? Like I said, the birds are only about 6 feet away and I am shooting out a window with the window up just a smidge. dc

 

[cloudwalker_3]

I personally use an Æ’2.8, 80-200mm lens and find it fine for capturing animal close ups. However if you're after a real frame filler type shot you'll probably find that you need a longer length.

This can be pretty expensive. Currently Nikon sell their Æ’2.8, 400mm for £6,299.99, (http://tinyurl.com/2xj4nj). If you've lucky enough to have that kind of money to spend on a lens, then good luck to you because it's completely superb and well worth it, if you can justify the purchase in terms of how much you'll use it. However if you live in the real world, with real world budgets, (like me!) then you might like to consider getting a converter, (http://tinyurl.com/ywy2m9). This will effectively double the length of your lens for £129.99.

Now like most things in life, there's no such thing as a free lunch, so there are disadvantages to increasing your focal length this way.

Firstly, your maximum aperture will halve, (basically getting a little darker). This means that hand-holding might be less of an option unless you can push the film speed up. There is also (supposedly) a slight drop off in terms of quality. However, as long as you buy a fairly reputable make, I don't think you'll find it's that noticeable. For the record, I'm a freelance photographer working in news, where pictures really matter. I use this system myself and find it works fine.

However, when I do get that picture of Prince Charles and Britney Spears water skiing together* I may indulge...


*Fairly unlikely as I'm not a 'personality' photographer, and well, it's just a little unlikely!