Peter it will really depend on the situation and your experience.
Firstly AF won't work with a smaller maximum aperture due to not
enough light getting through to the autofocus sensor. Remember that
one stop of light less is half the amount of light.
(The AF system is alot better on the 1 series canon SLRs which is why
they can focus at f8)
In the old days of film and manual focus only cameras focussing
screens were fantastic and had split prisms etc to ensure you were
getting what you wanted in focus. Since the advent of auto focus teh
focussing screens are designed to help the AF system not the user.
This i think is the single biggest reason why manually focussing
modern cameras is quite difficult.
This means that the camera can typically focus ALOT quicker than the
user. SInce birds are usually such fast moving targets manually
focussing is very limiting. Also with a long lens the depth of field
is so small that focus becomes very critical and depending on subject/
camera distance, background etc, it can be hard to pick (especially
quickly) by eye.
In a situation where you are in a hide or even some flight situations
it can be very easy to manually focus.
Essentially though, the advice is for someone that is not a
photographer and not having auto focus for the majority of people for
bird photography would see them missing more birds than they see. Also
wouldn't want to see someone waste money trying to get a longer but
potentially useless combination.
Cheers
Dave
On 10/12/2008, at 6:59 AM, Peter Shute wrote:
Can anyone tell me how much it would matter not to have AF?
For me, using a compact camera, it's essential because manual
focusing is fiddly, and the electronic view finder isn't really good
enough to be sure the focus is right anyway. But with an optical
viewfinder and a focusing ring, I'm guessing I wouldn't do too bad a
job but might miss a few quick shots. What are people's experiences
with the speed of manual focusing vs AF?
And why does the small aperture prevent AF working?
Peter Shute
________________________________________
From:
] On Behalf Of Alistair McKeough
Sent: Tuesday, 9 December 2008 9:54 PM
To: David Stowe
Cc:
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Digital SLR for bird photography
Same for Nikon mate.
2008/12/9 David Stowe <>
Bob,
Don't forget that you won't get autofocus if you use a
teleconvertor on a
lens with a max aperture of f5.6 or worse.
(unless you buy a Canon 1 series body).
All the mid range/lower end SLRs only focus to f5.6. Adding a 1.4X
takes it
to a max aperture of f8
(2X = f11).
Sorry this relates to Canon - have no idea about Nikon but assume
it to be
similar...Alistair or Paul???
Cheers
Dave Stowe
PS- i agree with the comment about getting better glass before a
better
body. Digital cameras (SLRs included) are like computers and get
outdated/better every year. A good lens will last a lifetime.
And forget the twin lens kit with the Canon! The longer lens in
that kit is
crap and i know a few people who have ended up getting 100-400 in
the end
anyway due to the disappointment in the performance. It is cheap in
the kit
because it is cheap.
On 09/12/2008, at 6:54 PM, Bob Cook wrote:
Russell
Yes, I think that for bird photography, the lens appears to be the
key.
The
just above entry level bodies, either latest or nearly latest,
seem now to
be excellent for supporting a variety of suitable lenses, either
good
quality zoom or up to the 500mm high quality better aperture
lens. And it
appears that using a 1.4 or 1.7 teleconverter is OK, as long as it
is a
good
quality converter, but you do lose one f stop.
It is interesting to conclude that $3000 to $4000 is the cost to
get to
that
"better than entry level" with one good lens.
Then, one day, we can dream about the $25,000+ setup that the pros
use.
Bob Cook
-----Original Message-----
From: Russell Woodford
Sent: Tuesday, 9 December 2008 6:22 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Digital SLR for bird photography
Hi Bob
Thanks for posting that summary so birding-aus readers can keep up
with the info you've been collating from around the web.
Much appreciated - I'm also thinking of heading down that path
myself.
I have access to a Canon 400D at my school and I've enjoyed using
it -
was even allowed to take it to Cairns for a holiday break! BUt of
course it goes back to the AV dpt once I'm back at school, so it
would
be nice to have my own :-)
Apparently the 450D is a reasonable step up from the 400D. Canon
introduced the 1000D as its entry level "cheapie" so now there is
the
choice of 3 levels before you get into the really expensive ones.
From
what I've gathered from friends, it is worth spending as much or
more
on the lens as on the camera. The canon 400 lens is a very nice
unit,
but I wouldn't want to be carrying it a long way! I've only used
the
kits lens 75-300 at school but another birder let me try his 400IS
and
it really was very nice to use.
Anyway ... just a dream at this stage, but it's good to have the
info
- and of course important that this sort of data gets added to the
birding-aus archive!
That's birding-aus, not Oz!
Cheers
Russell
Russell Woodford
Learning Technologies Coordinator
Sacred Heart College Geelong
An Apple School of Excellence
http://www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/
On 09/12/2008, at 6:06 PM, Bob Cook wrote:
Thanks to you all!!
Much appreciated, excellent information has been forthcoming. And
the issues
I should consider.
It seems that for my needs / desires (budget) the way to go is with
the one
generation ago body, i.e. Canon EOS40D or Nikon D80 together with
the
100-400 IS or 80-400 VR lens. Still likely to be just over the
$3000 and
without any spare battery, filter, tele-converter, bag, etc.
Comments I have seen on the Nikon 80-400 VR lens is that it is
slow to
focus. Many user reviews have mentioned this. Is this the same
with the
Canon 100-400 IS? Any experience?
Regards
Bob Cook
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