Budget Birdwatching lens for Canon 550D? Ideas appreciated (1 Viewer)

[slarkins]

My 11 year old daughter is set to acquire a Canon 550D for her birthday (luck girl!) and she is a very keen bird photographer. She is pretty used to using my Canon 500D now and my Canon 100-400mm L EF 5.6 lens although she finds it too heavy.

Given the fact we have to spend a whopping £400 on the camera body, we don't have that much budget left over for a telephoto lens which I appreciate is the most important item. I have an old Canon 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM lens which gives very soft images which lack colour when fitted to my 500D - so she could have that although she was pretty disappointed with the IQ when we did some test images of birds in our garden today.

One bundle I have found with the Canon 550D (on Big Norman) includes a 55 - 250mm IS MkII lens - but I am unsure what IQ I could expect for birding from this lens. The reviews on the web suggest it produces soft images at 250mm so is this going to be just the same as my old lens?

My question is - on a budget of £250 or less - is there an alternative image stabilising lens that I should take a look. I am looking for the best IQ primarily with cropped images and ~300mm reach. I appreciate that a budget lens is not going to be like my Canon 100-400mm L lens, but we are looking for a good half way point if that's feasible.

Any ideas for a shortlist appreciated!

 

[Jaff]

I think you'd basically be looking along the lines of the third party 70-300mm's. I believe the Tamron is meant to be quite decent but is a bit more money than £250 (I think the Sigmas might be too and you'll want to get the APO one).

If you're daughter is used to the image quality from a 100-400mm then anything you get in this price bracket is going to appear soft by comparison so do try to keep things in perspective. The 55-250mm I hear is meant to be quite decent though, taking the above into consideration. If you stop any of these lenses down to F8 then that will help the IQ no end though.

Oh and steer clear of any of the so-called 'superzoom' lenses.

Hope this helps.

 

[Paul Jarvis]

I know you've already mentioned the 550d. But have you considered something like the Sx40 all in one, this is very rated and will match the IQ of a 550D and third party lense IMO.

 

[Steve Babbs]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-apo-macro-super-dg-lens-canon-fit/p1008569

superb value IMHO, or even better vale if you buy mine second hand (no longer needed as I now have a proper macro and a Canon 100 - 400) or stick with what you've got and do a bit more sharpening on the computer.

 

[Tarsiger]

If I was an eleven year old keen on photography I'd much prefer my own FZ150/SX40 or some such as it offers so much versatility and 'fun' compared with the bulk of an SLR coupled to a reasonably-priced (and by default soft)' lens.
Good luck with your choice
Russ

 

[Steve Babbs]

I would tend to agree that a 'superzoom' camera probably is better than an SLR, for an 11 year old. Due to lightness and cheapness, they are superb value. But a 550D and the above Sigma will have much better image quality, especially in low light - when you have to increase the ISO. I actually think it's a lot easier to take a good picture with a SLR due to higher fps - usually seconds per frame in Superzooms - and the ability to go to a much higher ISO. I use both, regularly. But if it's a 'serious' photography trip I wouldn't dream of not taking an SLR. However, as an eleven year old, who cycled a lot, a Superzoom would have been a dream come true for me.

 

[slarkins]

Thanks

Thanks for the tips. This is incredibly useful advice! I spent the whole afternoon looking at Superzoom cameras and share your opinion that a decent one would be ideal for her. Now I have to choose between teh Canon Powershot SX40 HS and the Lumix FZ150. It is a hard choice as both have their individual merits.

As I see it the Lumix FZ150 is better for:
Fast focus
Fast shooting
Better display
Better video performance
Might have a better lens
Build quality and feel might be better
There are more focus points than the Canon

The Canon SX40 HS may be better for:
Low ISO work (we frequently use ISO800 when out briding and I read that the Lumix has noise issues at ISO800 and above whereas the Canon is acceptable at ISO800 as it uses Canon's new processor)
Better resolution - expertreviews tested the resolution at high ISO and the Lumix's noise reduction reduces IQ to levels slightly below the Canon
Better 35x Zoom
Fast preview button if you lose the bird due to excessive zoom

Boy this is going to be hard, as both cameras look impressive. However both have smaller CMOS chips than an APS/C equipped DSLR so I can't believe the image quality is so good. The power zoom videos I saw were incredible and the IS worked fantastically well even at full zoom.

Any further thoughts to sway my decision - maybe from a user of one of these cameras would be appreciated. Note that the primary usage will be bird photography and IQ is very important as is focus speed and accuracy.

 

[Winterdune]

Get the FZ150. It's way faster and easier to use for birding. If you want extra reach get the Oly TCon 17 http://www.ukdigital.co.uk/olympus-tcon-17-1-7x-teleconverter-lens.html

This setup is very quick, very accurate and capable of very good bird shots. Eg:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&message=40497046

Sean

 

[slarkins]

Get the FZ150. It's way faster and easier to use for birding. If you want extra reach get the Oly TCon 17 http://www.ukdigital.co.uk/olympus-tcon-17-1-7x-teleconverter-lens.html

This setup is very quick, very accurate and capable of very good bird shots. Eg:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&message=40497046

Sean

Thanks for the advice; much appreciated. Many reviews conclude the same after very lengthy reviews of all aspects of performance. Stunning bird pictures on the link you attached. Amazed that a bridge camera can achieve that degree of clarity. Be intersting to see what the pictures look like on ISO800 though - which is what we tend to use in the dull UK winter.

 

[Jaff]

A whole thread on the SX40 a little further down the page from this one.

 

[slarkins]

A whole thread on the SX40 a little further down the page from this one.

I love your Short Eared Owl photo gallery. Wow!

 

[Winterdune]

Thanks for the advice; much appreciated. Many reviews conclude the same after very lengthy reviews of all aspects of performance. Stunning bird pictures on the link you attached. Amazed that a bridge camera can achieve that degree of clarity. Be intersting to see what the pictures look like on ISO800 though - which is what we tend to use in the dull UK winter.

I had the G3 (a micro four thirds camera with a significantly bigger sensor and reknown high ISO performance) and did a couple of high ISO comparisons here, in poor weather at 1600ISO:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&message=40111860

Sean

 

[slarkins]

Thanks - that is very interesting to see actual images. You certainly can see the difference between the FZ150 and the G3 - quite noticeable. Still, I am impressed with the FZ150's ISO1600 performance. To be honest it looks similar to my Canon 500D which works pretty well up to and including ISO1600.

 

[Winterdune]

Those shots were in 8mp extended zoom mode so the focal length is really big (around 1000mm). Here are some other FZ150 bird shots - still part of my comparison with the G3. In the end I kept the FZ150 because it was cheaper and gave more reliable results. Another big plus is that you can do birds in flight with it as the EVF does not black out in the 5.5 frames per second continuous focus burst mode.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&message=40351503

Good luck with your choices. Whichever you choose I'm sure the superzoom option is the best for an 11 year old. She can take pictures of bugs and flowers etc without changing lenses (and FZ150 has cracking macro mode!).

Sean

 

[slarkins]

Thanks

Thanks for the fantastic advice you have all given me. Much appreciated. I'll let you know how we get on with the FZ150. Fingers crossed we'll be happy with it.

 

[slarkins]

Panasonic Lumix FZ150 First Impressions

We got the Lumix FZ150 yesterday and I am amazed by the pictures it takes. We did a 'long reach comparison' on full zoom photographing a church in Newbury (a mile away) and the FZ150's pictures are comparable to my Canon EOS500D and Canon F5.6 100-400m L lens. Sharpness is excellent - but I do notice more graininess on the high ISO images than on the Canon (as to be expected).