Canon lenses

Has anyone who can't afford a 500mm f4 lens figured out the best Canon lens to use as a compromise of price/performance for filming birds?

My friend is trying to figure it out and he needs some help. I use Nikon gear so don't understand all the Canon related issues. (I use a 300mm f4 prime and TC's).

Thanks for any suggestions.

I would also like a 500mm f4 , but right now I'm saving for other things

My workhorse lens , the 100-400, works very well with a TC on the 30d apparently, but is terrible with the 20d, Rebel series and 40d. That will give you a reasonable reach while retaining half-decent quality images.

I have just purchased a 30d for this such purpose.

A prime lens , such as the 300mm F2 , or 4 with a 1.4 TC is another great combo.

I have no experience with third-party lenses such as Sigma or Tamron, but they both offer cheaper 500mm alternatives to the Canon 500mm F4.

thanks Nick.

Bill, there is another choice if the budget is slim, and that's the Canon 400mm f/5.6. Downside is the 5.6 but the upside is a VERY sharp 400mm prime. For $1229 w/free shipping it's a great start. I've seen nice ones on eBay go for $900. It's relatively inexpensive because there's no IS, but on a tripod you don't need IS anyway.

I recently purchased a Sigma 150-500 for my Rebel XTi, have had limited chance to use it, but so far have been pleased with it.

EF 400 f/5.6, hands down. I've owned a couple 600mm f/4 IS and a 400mm f/4 DO.....currently lacking a good supertelephoto due to financial considerations - gonna pick up a 400 f/5.6 at the first of the year, and I expect to be well satisfied for the price.

I haven´t used the 400 F5.6, I´ve heard it´s very good but it does lack IS.

The 300F4 when paired with the 1.4 extender is a good combination which I´ve used on a regular basis and my wife Angie uses. The only advantage over the 400F5.6 is that it does have IS. The disadvantage is I imagine you lose a little sharpness with the converter compared to the 400F5.6. In my opinion the 300F4 with the 1.4 is superior to the 100-400 zoom.

Does Canon make a 1.7 TC? Sounds like (as with Nikon) that a good combo would be the 300/4 with a 1.4 or a 1.7 extender.
If Canon don't then can a Nikon TC be modified to work on a Canon camera?
Anyone know?

no 1.7 converter for canon exists.

I'd also vote for the 400 mm f/5.6. It works well with the 1.4 X extender but I then lose auto focus with my 7D. For fast, small birds lack of autofocus is very frustrating. I like it more than my 100-400mm f/5.6 because it seems sharper. I think the prime lens focuses faster too. The lack of image stabilization for the 400 mm motivates use of lower exposure times and higher ISO settings. I don't use the 100-400mm with the 1.4X. However, the zoom lens has so much flexibility that I find myself packing it when I must select only one lens to carry....but then I do miss the 400mm!

FWIW, this is a quick grab shot with a 400mm/5.6 on a 5D Mark II using a monopod. The deer was far away so I beat this image up, yet detail is still good. I shot at ISO 800 for starters (@f5.6), then I cropped the 5616px-wide image down to 1000px wide. Then in order to get it small enough for upload I used Save for Web in PS CS4, knocked it down to 640 and had to push Quality down to 80. Given all that, there's still an image! The 400mm is quite good, especially for the price.

thanks all for the comments, they are very helpful.

Bill

thanks Cindy,

Bill