Canon 70-200mn f4 lens (1 Viewer)

Hello.

What is the Canon 70-200mm f4 lens like for bird photography?

Does it have good image quality?

Or are there any links that someone could give me please that are similar to this?

Thank You,
Sam Winslow

Mine was a nice, very sharp little lens but unless you are photographing very large birds (Ostrich size ) or can get very close you'll always be struggling for reach.
It'll work with a 1.4x tc but you're still only at at 280mm and a 2x will have a big impact on IQ and you'll kiss goodbye to the AF
So ,a fine lens but for birding I think you need something longer

Sam, I assume when you asked for links ‘similar to this’, you are looking for sites with similar info & user’s experiences with various lenses & equipment? If so then I hope this is useful:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

For the sheer quality of the images, and the fact that usually they tell you what gear they used, this is a favourite of mine:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?2-Avian-Image-Critiques

I agree with Paul, that more reach would be preferable if you can stretch to it, but would add that there isn't that much difference between a 300mm (or 280mm) and 400mm in real terms. You still need to be close enough to your subject to get useable images. Even a 500mm isn't long enough in many cases where the bird is simply too distant. I presume you are looking at the 70-200 because the cost of one of Canon's 300-400mm lenses or longer is too high for you?

Out of interest, this was taken with a 180 macro lens, just because it happened to be on the camera anyway when the bird appeared, at a range of about 3-4m. It shows, hopefully, that if a bird is ‘in range’ then it matters less what lens you have on your camera, be it 200mm, 300mm or 400mm, as a little care and good field craft can often get you close enough even with a lens that most people would consider too short.

Steve

ps. another fave site with some useful lens/gear reviews. Stunning galleries too:

http://www.juzaphoto.com/eng/articles.htm