Thanks Herb. <ouch> I can certainly see the advantages, if this is what you do it's an 'investment', for me, a very expensive toy. I've been pretty happy with the ATX 300/2.8 in combination with the F 1.7x. Gives me good magnification and AF, all for well under a $1000.00. Very much looking forward to seeing some samples of your work if/when you aquire an 800/5.6.
Don (The not so succinct this time.) ;-) > -----Original Message----- > From: Herb Chong [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:12 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: DG lenses > > > i'm not sure. i figure it will be around $4K or so given that the > 300-800 is > $5K. this is bargain territory for a lens of that type, given that the > Pentax near equivalents cost nearly twice as much, at least when new. one > thing i discovered moderately early on in seriously taking up bird > photography is that if i wanted professional, publishable results > consistently, there are no shortcuts. sticking any extender on a 400/5.6 > doesn't cut it. too slow because you need the shutter speed to freeze > action. a 400 alone is too short for the small birds. a 400/2.8 > with a 1.4X > or a 2X extender gets you in the right focal length range but costs about > the same or more as getting that 600 or 800 in the first place, > and usually > with lower quality. the A* 400/2.8 with the Pentax 1.7X AF > extender works, > but i know i'm giving up sharpness. nonetheless, having an effective f4.5 > maximum aperture is worth having. besides which, it's a tad > longer than the > FA* 600/4. > > yes it is possible to get an occasional publishable shot with a > bare 300 or > even shorter if you specialize in feeder and acclimatized birds, > but then so > will lots of other people. to consistently get shots without > spooking birds, > you need to be able to work 30 to 40 feet away and sometimes > more, with lots > of patience, knowledge of the bird's habits, planning, and luck. > a sparrow > at 30 or 40 feet is a very small object to fill a frame with. try an > experiment on your lawn with a small plush toy and see what it's like. > > i'm not accomplished enough on the patience and stalking and so i > tend to do > a crop that gives me an extra 2X effective magnification. for > those kind of > images i will never be able to go larger than 8x10 with > acceptable quality, > but it does let me work from farther away. that is an effective > FOV of about > 2000mm on a film body with my normal working combination. > > my experience is not all that unusual. Art Morris's book on bird > photography > says about the same. all things being equal, an 800/5.6 gave him about 4 > times as many publishable shots as his 500/4.5 did for the same amount of > effort. > > Herb... > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Don Sanderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 7:53 PM > Subject: RE: DG lenses > > > > I'm afraid to ask but what does one have to pay > > for an 800/5.6? >
