Trogon Photo Tours

November 2013 Newsletter - This newsletter contains information on lighter weight DSLR camera and lens options.

I have found on the workshops I lead that the weight of the equipment is one of the biggest concerns for many of my clients.  Canon's newest super telephotos have come down in weight signficantly but a version II 500F4  still weights in at just over 7 pounds and for some clients it's just too much to handle.  So this newsletter discusses lighter weight camera and lens options.

Acorn Woodpecker photographed by Angie Chappell, May 2009 at Cave Creek Ranch.   Canon 50D, Canon 400mm F/4.0 DO IS USM lens. 1.4x II teleconverter, 1/50 at F5.6, iso 250, Manfrotto Tripod.  Angie took this image during one of the first workshops we led at Cave Creek Ranch in Arizona.  Workshop participant Jim Hully, himself an excellent bird photographer, was kind enough to let Angie take a few images with his 400 F4 DO lens.  Jim uses a 500F4 when photographing from a tripod, but for hikes and walking around photography he uses the 400F4 DO.  This lens is the lightest weight super telephoto prime available.  It weighs in at 4.27 pounds, adding a 1.4x teleconverter makes it about an even 5 pounds, with a Canon 70D body (1.66 lbs), Canon 7D (1.8 lbs.) or even a Canon 5D3 (1.89 lbs.) you are fully set for bird photography at under 7 pounds.  Compare that to a new 500F4 with a 1.4x and a pro body and you are looking at over 11 pounds, a big difference.   The Canon 400F4 DO is shaped like a large prime lens, the reason it's lighter weight is the DO lens materials are lighter than the standard lenses, but retain a great deal of quality.  It produces impressive sharpness even with a teleconverter added, this excellent shot by Angie was shot wide open at a low shutter speed with the teleconverter on.  The lens is not cheap however, currently at BH Photo Video, it's retailing at $6,299 (but still a lot cheaper than a new 500F4).  Unfortunately, Nikon doesn't have a super telephoto prime currently under 6 pounds, so that is one area where Canon currently has better options. 

Blue-footed Booby photographed by Nate Chappell at Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, November 2011.  Nikon D7000, Sigma 150-500 OS lens at 500mm, 1/1000 at F11, iso 400.  The Sigma 150-500  and 50-500 OS lenses are nice walk around lenses.  As I have said before I wish I had spent the extra $550 to buy the 50-500 (currently at $1,509) versus the 150-500 (currently at $969) because the additional zoom on the short side makes it easier to take people and landscape photos all the way up to close ups like this one.  These lenses have been criticized for not being sharp at 500mm and some photographers recommend not using it over 450mm.  While they are not consistently as sharp at 500mm as at 450mm, this shot shows that you can get impressive sharpness at the maximum focal length.  I recommend almost always stopping down these Sigma lenses at least 1 stop.  In terms of weight the Simga 150-500 weighs 4.19 pounds while the 50-500 is just a little bit heavier at 4.33 pounds.  If I was currently looking for a light weight Nikon camera body to go with either of these lenses, I would go with the Nikon D7100 which weighs in at just 1.49 lbs.  You can add the full frame D800 at just under 2 pounds.  Other lighter weight lenses for Nikon users to consider are the newly redone Nikon AF-S Nikkor 80-400 F4.5-5.6 ED VR lens.  This lens is a big improvement over the older version.  The autofocus performance is fast, the biggest knock on the old version of the lens being it's slow, balky AF performance.  The new version of this lens weighs in at 3.51 lbs.  It currently retails at $2,697.  Lastly there is the Nikkor 300mmF4 ED-IF.  This is a nice, sharp lens and at $1,134 affordable but it doesn't have vibration reduction, it's 3.17 lbs, add in a 1.4 teleconverter and you are at about 4 lbs.

Velvet-purple (left) and Buff-tailed Coronets photographed August 2012, Sachatamia Lodge, Ecuador.  Canon 7D, 300mm F4 IS lens, 1/250 at F20, iso 320, tripod, 580ex flash and 6 Nikon SB slave flashes.  The Canon 300F4 IS lens ($1,449) is a lightweight, prime image stabilized lens.  It weighs in at 2.62 pounds.  Add in a 1.4x teleconverter and a 7D camera and you are at just over 5.2 pounds total in a compact package.  Other good options include the Canon 400 F5.6 at only 2.75 pounds and $1,339.  Due to loss of autofocus (unless using a pro body) you probably wouldn't use a teleconverter with this lens making it even lighter than the above combo.  On the down side, it's not an image stabilized lens.  Other Canon options include the 100-400 F4.5-56 IS lens at 3.04 lbs and $1,699.  The zoom is nice but this lens isn't quite as sharp as the primes that I have listed.  The Sigma zooms are also options with Canon bodies.  By the way the Canon 5D Mark III is not a particularly heavy body at 1.89 lbs. 

Black-crowned Night Heron photographed by Catherine Reilly, May 2013 at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon.  Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 Mirrorless Micro camera, Panasonic Lumix Vario 100-300mm F/4.0-5.6 OIS lens at 300mm, 1/400 F8, iso 800.  The GH3 is a hybrid, mirrorless camera which is a little bit lighter than your DSLR's but not ultralight.  It weighs in at 1 lb, 3 ounces, the 100-300 zoom weighs in at 1.14 oz, making it 2.5 lbs combined, so a great weight advantage over your classic DSLR's.  Like most of these micro cameras it has a 2.0x crop factor, making this combo an effective 200-600mm lens.  When we researched this camera on www.dxomark.com it didn't score very well in iso performance, listing a score of 812, which means I would generally like to keep the iso down to 400 or 500.  But we found in practice it was reasonably good up to iso 800. I worked with Catherine on the settings for this camera and what we found is regarding autofocus that with this combination you were much better off leaving all 23 autofocus points activated than using 1 or just a handful like you would with most DSLR's.  It just didn't do a very good job with 1 point selected but with all the points selected the AF worked much better. I found the same result when working with the Olympus Micro E PM-1. One nice feature of the GH3 is that the histogram flashes up in the viewfinder when you are taking an image.

Say's Pheobe photographed by Catherine Reilly, June 2013 at Frenchglen, OR.  Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 Mirrorless Micro camera, Panasonic Lumix Vario 100-300mm F/4.0-5.6 OIS lens at 275mm, 1/2000 at F7.1, iso 800.   This camera currently retails for just under $1,000, while the lens is an affordable $488, so combined you are looking at about $1,500.  Catherine is an excellent photographer who does a lot of floral and landscape work.  She has worked with Art Wolfe previously.  In the last few years she has become interested in birds.  She used to use a Nikon D700 and 300 F2.8 lens but the combined almost 9 pounds got to be much for her to handle so she switched to this Panasonic combo.  She regularly posts on NaturePhotographers.Net.  You can see her gallery here  She has just started a website with Zenfolio, an excellent site for displaying your photographers.  You can see her website here

Malachite Kingfisher photographed by Reams Goodloe Jr., August 2013 at Wilderness, South Africa. Olympus E-PM 1 Mirrorless Micro camera, Olympus Zuiko 75-300mm 4.8-6.7 II lens.  1/160 at F6.3, iso 1250, handheld at 215mm.  This camera has a 2x crop factor so the effective focal length here was 430mm.   This shot was taken by Reams on our South Africa photo tour this summer.  This is an ultra light weight combination.  The current version of this camera, the E-PM2 weighs in at 9.49 ounces, paired with this lens which is 14.92 ounces, it weighs in at almost exactly 1.5 pounds.  When we looked at the iso performance for this lens on www.dxomark.com we thought it wouldn't be very good at over iso 400 or so.  When we later processed this image I was surprised at how well it turned out after a bit of color noise reduction in Adobe Camera Raw.  These ultra light bodies are great for those with health issues which limit their ability to carry around camera gear.  Reams is actually a big strong gentleman, the reason he was using this camera is that it works for digiscoping as well.  The E-PM 2 retails at about $500 as does that Olympus 75-300mm lens, leaving a total cost of just over $1,000. The E-PM 2 can shoot at an impressive 8 frames per second.

In conclusion, the Canon 400mm F4 DO IS lens is the lightest high quality super telephoto lens on the market currently.  It's the choice for a fair number of participants who have been on my trips who are in their 70's or 80's.  For those who have the money to spend, want to continue to take very high quality images and can handle a moderate amount of weight, but no longer a lot weight, it's a great choice.   There are several options for both Canon and Nikon cameras that are very good lenses, a little bit lighter and a lot less expensive than the 400DO. They include the Canon 400F5.6, 300F4, 100-400, the new version of the Nikon 80-400, The Nikon 300F4 and the Sigma 50-500 and 150-500.  The micro cameras with the zoom lenses that work with them are excellent options for those who can no longer handle the weight of a DSLR system with accompanying telephoto lenses.  As you can see here they can produce quite good avian images, of course they won't rival the iso performance and image quality of a full frame DSLR on a super telephoto prime and the AF performance also doesn't rival a good DSLR.  However when factoring in the low cost and especially the lightweight, easy handling these combos can be a good choice.   I am certainly not an expert on micro cameras, the ones featured here are 2 that my participants have used on trips. There are several other options to look at in this category and no doubt newer, improved models will continue to come out. Olympus, Sony and Panasonic seem to be the leaders in this arena.