Wildlife lens reco for Yellowstone and Grand Teton?

There's a lot of things to shoot and they vary in size. I used anything from 70-200 to my 600mm with TC. Sometimes they are close and big and you might even want something wider. If I were only able to take 1 lens, I'd pack my 600mm and take the rest with my phone.

500mm f5.6 PF without a doubt, unless you would consider renting something longer. It's tack sharp and minimally larger than your 70-200.

I assume you'll be taking the 70-200mm and the 24-70mm listed in your signature?

Tom Stites said:

500mm f5.6 PF without a doubt, unless you would consider renting something longer. It's tack sharp and minimally larger than your 70-200.

I assume you'll be taking the 70-200mm and the 24-70mm listed in your signature?

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For more reach, your 1.7 TC will work on the 500PF, but AF will likely be useless because of the effective aperture with the TC...you'll have to focus manually.

If only one lens, take a zoom. The 300f2.8 will be just right - a little bit of the time. Lots of times it will be short. But at Yellowstone you can have wildlife right up next to you, or your car. I'd be much more tempted to take a Nikon 200-500 or 150-600 (Sigma Sports), plus a second camera with a short zoom for the closer stuff.

Nobody is going to care if you resolve the eyelashes on a distant moose. It's the moose that's interesting, not the resolution of it. A good zoom will be fine.

An alternative combo that I personally favor is an 80-400g coupled with a 500pf for the longer stuff. Probably about as easy to carry as the 300F2.8 too, in weight.

Landscape lenses have a lot more use in those two parks. For a telephoto consider the 300 mm f/4. It's the same size as the 70-200 mm f/2.8. It's a lot easier to handle on a monopod. You can carry it around all day, often while attached to a good monopod. Get a bigger single axis head like the RRS. With the 300 mm f/2.8 I use a sturdy tripod and gimbal head and stay in one place for a while.

Often the animals walk right up to you. For buffalo, stay in the car and let them herd by. For elk you can walk up to them fairly close so long as they aren't rutting or a female with calves. I approached a female moose in a muddy field close enough to get one of my favorite shots with a 50 mm on a film camera 20 years ago. If you're lucky, you're not going to get close enough to a grizzly bear to take a photo with any lens in those two parks. I have a keen sense of animals and can usually tell when a big animal is telling me it's time to back off. The biggest problem I've had is people following me up to an animal and then moving quickly, gesturing wildly or yelling to their friends, thus spooking the animal. These parks are crowded unless you hike out away from the main roads.

Have fun. Enjoy the views. See the big picture.

Craig and Dave gave good advice.

You should also Watch Steve Perry's YouTube video "8 secrets for sharper wildlife photos". Steve knows wildlife photography as well as anyone, and he does not blather on endlessly. Short, to the point and very helpful.

You are going to have creatures near and far, small and very big, active and sedentary. If I were going to do the same trip, arriving by air, then I would take two bodies and three of my lenses: nikon 70-200 f-2.8, Tamron 150-200 G2 and the sigma 40mm f 1.4 ART. I would rent a D500 to go with your D780.

Have fun and I hope you have good light.

I agree with the recommendation for a zoom - changing lenses means missed shots.

Given your current lenses, I also suggest renting one of the 150-600 lenses.

But first ...... Put your 1.7X on your 70-200, set your D780 in crop mode, and get out and practice. Zoomed to 200, the TC and crop will have you shooting with a 500 mm field of view. Practice using a tripod, a monopod, and hand held, and learn what you can and can't do to your own satisfaction. Don't try to get the hang of shooting at 500-600 on the trip of a lifetime. Practice, practice, practice. If there's a place near you where sea gulls hang out (lake marina, coast, etc), that would be good - in flight, they are very good for target practice.

The advice about crowds is good advice. You'll have fewer people in your way on weekdays, so try to avoid the landmark and iconic shot areas on weekends. Plan on getting to the Moulton barns, Schwabacher's Landing, Snake River Overlook, etc quite early to get a place to shoot with no one in front of you. And select your spot such that there's no place for someone to stand in front of you (like water's edge). If you leave a space in front of you, someone will probably take it.

arijitsarkar said:

Hello All,

Relatively inexperienced wildlife photographer here! I am planning to go on a ~12 day trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton this September and I'm looking to rent a telephoto lens to capture some of the wildlife there. I shoot on the Nikon FX system (D780) and I was wondering if I should go for the 300mm f2.8 or the 200-400 or 400mm prime.

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The 400 prime is the best of all the lenses you mention, but the least-flexible going backward.

Keep in mind, some of the animals you see will be as big as a car ... and they allow fairly-close proximity. A 400 FL ED would be a paperweight, whereas a 120-300 would likely allow you to frame the shot.

Also, the 120-300 is actually better than the 300 VR II ... so it can do everything the 300 prime can do, and then some. This means you can enjoy the same TC flexibility, adding focal length, but also backward "wide" flexibility.)

arijitsarkar said:

I'm tempted to go with the 300mm f2.8 because I feel like the size is a bit more manageable. I do a lot of landscape and general travel photography as well so it certainly won't be the only lens I'll be carrying with me on the flight there.

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The 300 f/2.8 prime is a great lens, I've owned it, but the 120-300 is even better, and it's more flexible/

arijitsarkar said:

My question is: Will 300mm 'leave me short' when it comes to capturing most of the animals? I have a 1.7x teleconvertor if needed and I could crop down from the 24 megapixels I have.

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I don't think so. I mean, if you're going for small birds, yes, probably. But for the large animals that will be there, no.

arijitsarkar said:

Would love some guidance here because renting isn't cheap, and I can't see myself making this trip again so I'm keen to choose the right one fully aware of all the inherent trade-offs!

Regards,

Arijit

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My vote would be renting the 120-300.

I brought my 16-80 and 80-400. There are big critters there ( bison and elk) and sometimes they are right next to you and other times they are a ways off. These elk were in northern Yellowstone. If you watch the bison, they have trails that cross the roads and you can predict where they will cross and take the photo closest to your vehicle.













off.

All good lens recos as never know whether subjects near and/or far.

Now depending how much gear you plan to take.

What may be of importance is how you plan to go, by car no worries...by air may be a commuter flight with smaller bin storage, so check with airline on baggage size restrictions/limits, otherwise an unpleasant surprise to have it go in cargo hold.

Reading through the responses I think the recommendations have been accurate.

I've been to Yellowstone / Tetons several times.

The real answer to the lens question is what do you plan to photograph or are you just looking to photograph what you come across? The reason I ask is some wildlife like the wolf packs are always way out there. In fact, unless you're camped out where they are shooting from the road or any of the trails will be a frustration. Atmospheric conditions (heat shimmer over the fields, haze/dust in the air, humidity, etc.) are going to be far more of a limitation to you regardless of what lens you have. On the other hand, larger animals like bison, elk, deer, moose, even bears, can be found much closer to the road and trails. Be cautious about approaching especially bison and moose. They are more dangerous to you than the bears are. However a 200-500 or your mention of a 300 plus teleconverter will be plenty for these animals. Foxes, coyotes, etc are pretty much hit and miss and can be anywhere from a few yards roadside to a mile out on a hillside. take what you can get. Birds are like birds everywhere, a whole genre of photography around them. If you're a bird photographer you already have the stuff needed.

It is a beautiful place. You mentioned landscapes, don't overlook the opportunities there. Everything from "intimate" landscapes alongside the many streams and trails in the forest to the grand mountain vistas.

Hope you have a great trip.

Jeff