Canon 450d

[dixy]

if this question is on here sorry, i have been bird watching for about 4-5 months mainly in my garden, i have 12 feeders in a birch at the end of my garden 17-20 metres from the house and the bird life is getting stupid lately on most days all the feeders are packed with birds i have been viewing them through binos and my spotting scope but now i want to get some good pics, not going down the digiscoping road i bought a canon 450D and do not know what lense to get out of these 2 so any help or recommendations of other lenses less then £1000 would be most appreciated Tamron 200-500mm f5-6.3 Dl( canon AF) or canon EF 100-400mm f4.5/5.6l usm image stabilised
cheers
Adam

[a.dancy]

Are you intending to photograph only in your garden....? How far away are your birds?

[dixy]

it would be mostly in my garden so no more than 25 metres there but i do a lot of fishing and some of the wildlife there is amazing but if they are to far away it means reeling in to get a closer a shot where as if i have a good lense it should not be a problem and i will start going out looking for birds rather then just in the garden and fishing

[Jaff]

Don't rule out digscoping just yet, especially at the lengths you're talking about cos all but the longest lenses are going to struggle at those distances if you photograph small garden birds.

To get some nice images in the garden with say the 100-400mm the ideal working distance should be 5or 6m with a maximum limit of 10 I'd say.

But as Adrian says if you intend on doing photography in other locations as well then that will affect your decision greatly.

BTW good name you have there. ;)
Adam

[dixy]

being new to bird watching as you can guess from me thinking the 100-400 lense would be ok for those distances and not knowing that you could actually use a camera and scope together (digiscoping) till last week is the 450D a good camera for digiscoping??? or should i buy a lense for it and maybe a different camera for my scope??

[Bhoggy]

If it was my garden Dixy I'd get a hide in down there somewhere. There are plenty of cheap tents and camo nets available which will do a job for you or even fishing shelters. Once the birds are accustomed to it you'll get fantastic shots.

Out of the 2 lenses, I'd choose the Canon, though I've not used the Tamron, I do believe they are better optically. It has IS too which is a major advantage out and about.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!