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Who Chose the 300 f4 over the 100-400 for Birding and Why?

Started Jul 29, 2016 | Discussions thread
Phocal
Phocal Veteran Member • Posts: 3,528
Re: Neither
1

lescrane wrote:

OP was comparing 300mm vs 100-400. 400 is longer than 300 if my math is right.

They are deciding between those two lenses because they are the newest long telephotos. With the MC-14, the 300mm is a bit longer and a bit faster then the 100-400 and if you drop the TC it is a stop faster at 300mm.

In some nature preserves where I shoot large birds are very habituated to humans and will land within a few feet. And if you try to back up you may get eaten by an alligator

When they get closer go for closeup photos, not every photo has to show the entire bird.  Plus, that is your chance to get photos with amazing detail when you can fill the frame with the birds head.  Gators are my favorite subject to photograph and I spend hours every week watching and photographing them.  They will either hiss a warning or take off if you get to close and if you step on one then you are not paying attention to your surroundings like you really should be in that type of environment.

Like I said, if the birds land close go for closeup portraits.  In both of these photos the bird was 10 foot or less away and filled the frame with their head.  I added canvas and used content aware so I could get a good composition to the photograph.  Both shot using my EM1 w/ ZD 150mm ƒ2.0 + EC-20

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 Phocal's gear list:Phocal's gear list
Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 150mm 1:2.0 Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm F4 IS Pro Olympus OM-D E-M5 Olympus E-M1 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm 1:2.8 Pancake +6 more
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