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Los Llanos 2

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
And a few more:

Great Potoo

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Fasciated Tiger Heron

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White-faced Whistling Duck

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Rufous-tailed Jacamar

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And from the foothills Golden-headed Manakin

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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Peter,

These are a splendid bunch. It’s a wonderful location to photograph so many different species, especially during a short visit. How easy is this location to reach?

What lenses?

Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
Asher it is easy to reach by car from Yopal but four wheel drive is needed to enter the reserves. I used the Canon 400 5.6 prime lens.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
No I just use a Canon 7d ll with the 400mm.

What a fabulous combination. I am so impressed.

The leverage of the x 1.6 in reach using that APS-C Canon body is the best way of getting extra focal length and even using the camera handheld!

(The new Sigma Contemporary lens, BTW, (at a mere price of $699), appears to easily beat even the improved Canon 100-400L IS, 4.0 II in resolution in most of the more open apertures and especially at 400mm). With the 7D II or the Newer 80 D that’s a winning combo.

Do you also use the x 1.4 as it will AF on your 7D II!

Some Professional birders who need the best for their magazine publications have switched using your setup exactly! That’s how good the experience has been and the word has spread!

Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
That Sigma lens looks nice and sure is cheap but I am addicted to primes after being very disappointed with the image quality of a Canon 100-400. Not the new ll version though so don't know how well that works. I am in fact sort of casting about for an upgrade since my current lens has great difficulty locking on a bird in the midst of branches even when set to spot focus. However the other Canon prime option out there seems to be the DO 400mm at many times the price of my 400 5.6 and getting an awful lot of negative "not worth the money" reviews. Moving up in reach you go to 500mm and forfeit carry around capability which is important to me. I haven't researched extenders much but one I tried knocked out the autofocus mode. The few people I know who have 500, 600 or 800mm lenses do indeed have "sherpas" to schlep them around.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Want to be amazed?

Just look at this guy who runs birding workshops with the 1Dx and just one lens, the Contemporary Sigma 150-600 handheld!



He has amazing shots of herons fighting in the air!


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© 2016 Roman Kurywczak | Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary handheld on boat at ISO 800 f/7.1 for 1/3200 sec. @388mm​



Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
There was a guy using that lens on the tour. He got good shots but I found the lens to be pretty heavy. He was younger.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
There was a guy using that lens on the tour. He got good shots but I found the lens to be pretty heavy. He was younger.

There are two versions of that lens. The “Contemporary” is 4lb lighter than the “Sports” version.

For my interest, the 100-400 on the 7DII reach from 160mm to 640mm is already amazing. One can always add the x1.4 and reach 896mm! That is extraordinary for a handheld lens with IS.

So, have you developed your own approach to finding the bird at the 640 mm setting?

Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
My 400 5.6 is a prime lens not zoom and weighs 2.75 lbs.That together with the weight of the 7D ll and 600 ex flash is about all I want to carry around for hand held shooting. This lens has gotten very good reviews and some have said they prefer it over the heavier and so much more expensive 400 DO. I wouldn't mind upgrading and even paying a bundle if there were something out there but so far I don't see an alternative. I wish Canon had tweaked the prime along with the 100-400.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
My 400 5.6 is a prime lens not zoom and weighs 2.75 lbs.That together with the weight of the 7D ll and 600 ex flash is about all I want to carry around for hand held shooting. This lens has gotten very good reviews and some have said they prefer it over the heavier and so much more expensive 400 DO. I wouldn't mind upgrading and even paying a bundle if there were something out there but so far I don't see an alternative. I wish Canon had tweaked the prime along with the 100-400.

Well Peter,

How’s 2.55lb then?

That’s the weight of the 100-400 Sigma Contemporary series lens and it has IS too. At $699 it is a bargain!

It is, by report, a stellar lens and outperforms the Canon version in almost all cases, in the larger open apertures.

Asher
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
Asher that sounds good but I already have a 400mm. The Canon focuses close enough that I rarely have to back up much for a perched butterfly or such so not so interested in a zoom lens. However thanks for the tip and I will certainly look it up.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Having a GFX 50S, with a 32-63 f4.0, I am set up well for detail rich landscape and full length portraits and couple pictures that can be printed huge.

I still want to reach out to wildlife. I am successful using the Techart adapter and the 70-200 2.8L IS, even with an extender, but it makes more sense to get a camera with inherently more reach, such as MFT with x 2.0 mag factor or the APS-C various Canon choices with just x 1.6 gain but perhaps less noise.

So that is what I am thinking about now. That way I do not have to swop lenses.

Asher
 
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