Find Your Wildlife Action Lens

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Wildlife action covers quite a range, from huge bears snagging salmon while standing in a river to quick and tiny birds zipping by. The best lenses to capture wildlife action also cover a lot of range. Primary considerations for wildlife-action lenses include focal length, lens speed, AF performance and cost.

Clockwise from top: Pentax DA* 300mm ƒ/4 ED(IF) SDM; Sony 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 G; Tokina AT-X AF 80-400mm ƒ/4.5-5.6; Tamron SP 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 Di VC USD

Focal Length
The best focal length depends on your subjects and how close you can get to them. It’s hard to get close to most wild subjects, so wildlife photographers generally use long lenses: at least 300mm for an APS-C DSLR, or 400mm for a full-frame DSLR or 35mm SLR. If you can get fairly close to larger animals, a 70-200mm zoom can work. Zoom lenses do provide some framing flexibility, important when you can’t easily change the distance between you and your wild subject. Keep in mind that changing focal length—zooming—alters magnification and framing, but not perspective; you have to change camera-to-subject distance to change that.

Lens Speed
Faster lenses let you use a faster shutter speed in any given light level, which is obviously important when photographing action. Fast lenses also provide a brighter viewfinder image for easier composing and faster, more accurate focusing. The fastest lenses are generally in the pro lineups from the various manufacturers so they also tend to have rugged construction, superior glass elements and overall more refined designs.

On the downside, fast lenses also usually cost more than slower models for a given focal length or zoom range, and they’re usually bulkier. Because of their size, they’re harder to handhold and to carry around into the field.

Note that many lower-end and mid-level tele-zoom lenses have variable maximum apertures: A 70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 has a maximum aperture of ƒ/4 at 70mm and a maximum aperture of ƒ/5.6 at 300mm. Keep this in mind when considering a tele-zoom versus a fixed-focal-length lens of the zoom’s maximum focal length. Also, the variable aperture is seldom even across the zoom range (as we showed in a previous OP article, “Get The Most Out Of Variable-Aperture Lenses,” Jan./Feb. 2011). That is, a 70-300mm ƒ/4-5.6 might be ƒ/4 at 70mm, but ƒ/5.6 from 120mm to 300mm. You just don’t get something for nothing.

This Article Features Photo Zoom

From top: Sigma 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 EX DG APO HSM II; AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 D ED; Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm ƒ/2.8-3.5

AF Performance
The fast pro lenses autofocus more quickly and more accurately due to their better AF motors and algorithms, and the wider base they provide for the phase-detection AF system. You need a higher-end DSLR to take full advantage of this.

It’s true that a skilled action shooter can get sharp images with just about any SLR and lens, while an unskilled one won’t get good results even with the most costly gear. But it’s also true that a lens/camera combo that acquires focus on the subject more quickly and tracks it more accurately will, in skilled hands, deliver more sharp action images than lesser gear. If you know what you’re doing, and that merely takes lots of practice, you’ll be happier with better gear. But if you’re one of the many budget-limited photographers, we’ve listed some lower-priced lenses that can do wildlife action quite well (see the accompanying chart).

Cost
The fast pro lenses cost a lot more than midrange lenses. They’re worth it in terms of image quality and AF performance, and their ability to stand up to harsh field conditions. But they can be beyond the means of many of us. For example, a 300mm ƒ/2.8 lens costs around $5,000, and a 600mm ƒ/4 is close to twice that, so you probably have to look first at your budget when selecting a lens or lenses for wildlife action. Here’s what to look for in wildlife-action lenses on various budgets.

Under $1,000
In the under-$1,000 category, you’re looking at the tele-zooms; the single-focal-length superteles cost more than $1,000. In this price range, you’ll find 70-300mm zooms from Canon, Nikon and Sony (we suggest you stick with the ones in the accompanying chart), and longer zooms from independent lensmakers, including Sigma’s 120-400mm, Tamron’s 200-500mm and Tokina’s 80-400mm. While the under-$1,000 zooms don’t offer the speed of the higher-end superteles, they can do the job and get you up close to wildlife action.

$1,000-$1,999
This is the sweet spot for many dedicated wildlife shooters. In this price range, you get better-quality optics and better AF performance. Many shooters can’t afford the pro superteles, but a good 300mm ƒ/4 lens from Canon, Nikon and Pentax is doable. Used on an APS-C-format DSLR, a 300mm lens is equivalent to a 450-480mm lens on a 35mm or full-frame digital SLR, and works well for birds and other animals. Yet it costs less than one-third the price of a 300mm ƒ/2.8, and also is much smaller and lighter, making it easy to carry in the field and to use handheld. This category also includes Canon’s very handholdable 400mm ƒ/5.6 and 100-400mm supertele zoom, Nikon’s 80-400mm supertele zoom and Sony’s 70-400mm superzoom, plus Sigma’s 150-500mm supertele zoom.

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Clockwise from top: Sigma 200-500mm ƒ/2.8 APO EX DG; Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 EX DG OS HSM; AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm ƒ/2.8G ED VR II; Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8L IS II USM; AF-S Nikkor 600mm ƒ/4G ED VR

$2,000-$4,999
When you venture above $2,000, you’re getting into some top-tier pro lenses, including the latest 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 zooms from Canon and Nikon, and some pro superteles from Sigma. These models are optically excellent. Their main disadvantage is price. The $2,000-$4,999 range tends to include large and heavy lenses, which also is a disadvantage if you’re planning on hiking a lot with one.

Over $5,000
Here are the best of the best: the lenses used by most pro wildlife photographers. These include the latest 300mm ƒ/2.8, 400mm ƒ/2.8, 500mm ƒ/4 and 600mm ƒ/4 lenses from the major players, some 800mm exotics, and even the world’s fastest and largest 500mm lens, the 200-500mm ƒ/2.8 Sigma zoom. Lenses in this category offer the best optical quality, the best AF performance and the most rugged construction. They’re bulky and costly, but worth it to those who make their livings photographing wildlife and to enthusiasts who can afford the entry fee.

Camera Considerations
What if you have an older camera and an older action lens, and your budget allows you to upgrade only one? Which should it be? If you have an older DSLR body, a new camera body is probably more important. It provides better image quality and has a better AF system. However, today’s best action lenses have an AF motor in the lens, so the AF system is in both the camera body and the lens.

Assuming a competent camera body, though, the lens is more important. A midlevel DSLR with a 300mm ƒ/2.8 lens will outperform a pro DSLR with a 300mm ƒ/4. But the pro DSLR with the 300mm ƒ/2.8 will be superior to either of these combinations. An entry-level camera will perform better with the 300mm ƒ/2.8 than with the 300mm ƒ/4, but not as well as the midlevel because the midlevel’s AF system is optimized for the ƒ/2.8 lens and the entry-level camera isn’t.

The Biggest Factor
The best thing you can do to improve your wildlife action photos is actually quite inexpensive: Practice! Shooting action is a skill that takes time to acquire, and once acquired, must be practiced regularly to keep sharp. You don’t have to go to exotic locales to practice, either. A local park or your own backyard should provide birds, squirrels, even dogs and cats, as practice subjects.