My SLR cameras and lens history
Canon EOS 5000N 35mm Film SLR Camera with EF 80-200mm F4.5-5.6 zoom lens
Ah! My old EOS 5000N. Great for landscapes and family snapshots, but not great for bird photographs, at least not in my
amateur hands. What frustrates me about using film SLR cameras is that you can't easily experiment, because you can't see
the results until you get the film developed. Experimenting can be an expensive business. All that film had to be bought
and processed and most often I didn't get a single decent picture. I probably would have if I'd taken the trouble to
understand more about photography at the time, but I just wanted it to be easy in those days.
Another disadvantage was the lens. The maximum zoom of just 200mm was just not enough for bird photography. To get decent
bird photographs you often need to get close. I definitely needed something with a bigger zoom.
Canon EOS 5000N 35mm Film SLR Camera with EF 100-300mm F4-5.6 zoom lens
On a business trip to America I was lucky enough to buy the EF100-300mm F4-5.6 zoom lens for a much cheaper price than the
same lens cost in the UK. (Actually most things are considerably cheaper in the US). The 300mm zoom gave me more
magnification (i.e. got me a little closer) but the film SLR camera still suffered from the same problems, namely I
couldn't see the results until the film was developed. Besides, although the 300mm zoom was better it still wasn't great in
most cases. I still needed something bigger!
Canon EOS 5000N 35mm Film SLR Camera with EF 100-300mm F4-5.6 zoom lens and
Jessop's x2 converter
In my quest for more magnification at low cost, I purchased a x2 converter from
Jessop's. This cheap bit of kit (shown on the
right) fits between the camera body and lens (as shown on the left) and effectively doubles the magnification of the lens.
So my 300mm zoom suddenly becomes a 600mm zoom. Fantastic! Or is it?
Actually, it has some serious drawbacks. The image quality suffers a bit. Not good if you're struggling to get it right in
the first place and inserting this between camera and lens stops the cameras auto focus from working. Manually focusing is
much more difficult and takes quite a bit longer. When it comes to photographing birds, your subject may not hang around
long enough for you to get it right.
Another issue was camera shake. This is a problem even with just the 300mm zoom. With zoom lenses, unless you mount the
camera on a tripod, your hands are liable to shake and blur the resulting photograph and this problem gets worse the
bigger the zoom.
The converter did give more magnification, but was it worth the modest expense? I would say no! I got even less reasonable
pictures.
Canon EOS 300D Digital SLR Camera with EF 100-300mm F4-5.6 zoom lens
January 2005 and I finally go digital. Only now do I start enjoying bird photography because the digital camera allows you
to experiment and see the results almost immediately. I started just taking pictures in my back garden, experimenting with
the camera settings to see what can be done. I was amazed. Pictures that I would have considered rubbish with my old film
camera could, with some clever use of software, be cropped and enhanced to make them reasonable. With a 1 megabyte compact
flash card, I could take 50 pictures in a short space of time and pick out the ones I liked the best. No film costs and no
development costs. Of course, there is the initial cost of the digital SLR camera and the compact flash card, but after this
expense, no more film or developing costs!
I still had the problem of lack of magnification with my 300mm lens. The
Jessop's x2 converter had been rejected at this point as I
really needed that auto-focus to stand a chance with most fast moving birds. However, cropping the picture and enlarging
what's left with a photo editor does give the impression of being closer, although there is a limit to how much cropping and
enlargement you can do without seriously reducing the picture quality.
This model digital camera also helped by virtue of the fact that it appears to crop the picture by a factor of 1.6. Some
describe this as increasing the zoom by a factor of 1.6, so a 300mm zoom would become 480mm. However, it is just that the
picture sensor is smaller than a 35mm film and effectively crops the picture. This isn't very good for those landscape
photographers but it is great for me, because this cropping does make the subject occupy a larger percentage of the frame
and so makes it look like the lens has a bigger zoom than it really does.
Canon EOS 300D Digital SLR Camera with EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS zoom lens
A major step forward for me came with the purchase of the large EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 L IS lens. It is huge compared to the
old EF100-300mm EF 4-5.6 lens. It is still only a relatively small leap forward in magnification but it has a feature called
Image Stabiliser. This almost eliminates camera shake, with the lens compensating for the small movements of your hands. This
means that a tripod isn't needed and you can take great hand held pictures. I've found this feature to be fantastic. I still
rarely use the x2 converter as I still prefer to be able to use the cameras auto-focus feature. However, the extra
zoom and the ability to crop and enlarge enabled me to increase the number of satisfactory pictures I have been taking.
The only disadvantage with this lens is that the zoom from 100-400 is a sliding motion rather like a telescope. My other
Canon lenses use a rotating motion to zoom in and out which I think is much easier to use and finely adjust. However, as I
almost always shoot bird pictures at full 400mm zoom this isn't really a problem for me.
Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR Camera with EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS zoom lens
December 2005 and I've bought myself a canon EOS 20D body. This camera has faster auto focus, faster frames per second and a
bigger buffer so I can take more frames in continuous shoot mode before the buffer fills up.
This camera also has the 1.6 cropping factor but it also has an 8 mega-pixel sensor (The EOS 300D has only a 6 mega-pixel
sensor). This means that your pictures can stand a little more cropping and enlarging before picture quality declines beyond
what is acceptable.
On the down side, the shutter is the noisiest I've ever come across. Not good if you are close to your subject as it is loud enough to
startle birds if everything else is very very quiet.
Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR Camera with EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS zoom lens & EF x2 Converter II
OK having complained about the quality and lack of auto-focus with converters, I have bought another. This time I paid the price for the new Canon EF
x2 Mk II converter. The advantages over the old Jessop's model are a definite improvement in quality and the ability to convert my 400m at F5.6 to 800mm at
F11. I have used it and found that in some circumstances it can be great. Usually only when I have an obliging subject.
To get the best out of it, it needs to be a bright day as you are reducing the light reaching the sensor by quite a bit. You can compensate for this by
increasing the ISO to 400 but I only recommend this if you must to be able to get any sort of shot, AND if you will end up with an image that will need
little or no cropping and/or enlargement. The real disadvantage is that you can't auto-focus. I've found this to be not such a problem if the camera is
tripod mounted or rested on bean-bags. The lens is too long and heavy to hold one handed (finger on the shutter button) and turn the focusing ring at the
same time. You just get too much camera shake. The image stabiliser system in my lens does work with the converter so this reduces camera shake considerably
but not enough to compensate for the amount of shake you get trying to manually focus an unsupported lens. Of course, you also need an obliging subject that
isn't moving about rapidly.
Finally, I have to say that it is also a pain only having one camera body and long lens. If you put the converter on to photograph some relatively sessile
subject some distance away, and a rare or fast moving species appears nearby, you can't unmount the converter quickly enough. However, unless you have
a lot of money to spend that's something that you'll have to live with.
Canon EF x1.4 Converter II
At the same time at purchasing the x2 converter I also purchased the x1.4 converter. This give pretty much the same advantages and disadvantages as the x2
converter except that it increases the magnification by x1.4 rather than x2 (obviously) but does allow more light in than the x2 converter. So my 400mm F5.6
lens becomes a 560mm F8 instead. I can also stack both the x2 and x1.4 converters to make my 400mm lens a 1120mm. It works OK for fairly static birds like
ducks and resting waders.
To be honest I only bought this because I intend to splash out on the 500mm prime lens that will auto-focus using this converter making it a 700mm
auto-focusing lens.
Canon EOS 30D Digital SLR Camera
OK, I've bought the new EOS 30D body. Pretty much the same camera as the EOS 20D with a few refinements, notably a much larger LCD for viewing the images.
So why buy it? Well I've finally sweet talked my good lady into allowing me to spend a vast sum on the 500mm prime lens.
The 30D is a great camera (like the 20D) and the larger LCD is a real bonus. Having a second camera body, means that I can use both the 500mm prime lens
(when I get it) with the 30D (for long range shots) and my 100-400mm lens with the 20D (for closer shots). Saves time by not having to switch lenses,
reduces amount of dust contaminating the sensor and hopefully means I won't miss so many good photo opportunities. Of course, that assumes I'm able to
carry it all.
Canon EOS 30D Digital SLR Camera with EF 500mm F4 L IS lens
I finally have it. The 500mm F4 L IS prime lens!. F4 (bigger aperture) means that it can take pictures at lower light levels (without a converter that
is - with the x1.4 converter it will auto-focus but effectively becomes a 700mm F5.6 lens). It's also reported to be one of the sharpest lenses about. It
still has Image Stabiliser which still works with the x1.4 converter. On the downside it's big and heavy. I've only taken it out a few times in
the first month I've had it and I found it awkward to hand hold. It's OK resting on bean-bags, but better still on my tripod with a Kirk King Cobra head
(shown in the picture). The Kirk head is great as it allows you to pivot the camera to any position and it will stay there, perfectly balanced. I use it in
preference to bean bags, even in a hide using a hide clamp and my tripod centre column and head.
The size is also a bit of a problem when it comes to carrying it around. I've got a specialist camera rucksack that's pretty big, but with this lens and
the 30D inside I have no room for my 100-400mm lens, 20D and scope. So the scope stays at home these days and the 20D and 100-400mm only go with me
occasionally, carried outside the bag.
Finally, I have to admit to being a little nervous about lugging around such an expensive piece of kit. I have already had two 'scallies' try to mug me
of my 20D and 100-400mm (until I threatened to rip their heads off their shoulders and scoop out what little brains they had) and there is always the risk
of dropping or damaging the heavy lens. But I guess there's no point having it if you're to afraid to use it.
Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR Camera
Well I had hoped to go the whole hog and treat myself to the EOS 1D Mk iii body. One thing I've learned when it comes to bird photography: as well as learning how to get the best out of your photography
gear, you also need to buy the best photography gear. You may have learned great technique and have great skill but your percentage of good shots will improve
if you have good gear. However, the 1D Mk iii will have to wait. As this year (2008) marks 25 years of marriage for me and my Mrs, I've spent the money on a diamond ring
and booked a fancy holiday to the Seychelles. I have to say that she deserves it as she is fairly tolerant of the ridiculous amount of time that I spend on this hobby (a.k.a. obsessive compulsive disorder)!
Anyhow, as a compromise, I've bought the 40D. Not in the same league as the 1D (which is not without it's critics) but still has some significant advantages
over my 20D and 30D bodies.
Firstly it has 10 mega pixels, instead of 8 with an improved sensor design and 14-bit analogue to digital converter (as opposed to 12 bit on the older models).
The extra mega pixels and improved sensor give a much improved image quality and the 14-bit analogue to digital converter allows millions more colour tones to be
recognised giving a richer over all colour image.
The body also has a much larger LCD display, larger view finder and still retains the 1.6 cropping factor of it's predecessors (a
distinct advantage to bird
photographers). It also has a fully up and down motorised mirror, rather than motorised up and spring down, making the whole 'shutter release'
a lot quieter.
I've been impressed with my early experiments, especially with higher ISO ranges. I was never a big fan of photos taken with ISO above 400 but this body seems to
be a big improvement of digital noise reduction at high ISO levels. That's
great because it means that I can take more reasonable pictures in poor light conditions (i.e.
most of the time in the North West). A great buy in my opinion.
The only serious disadvantage is that I unexpectedly had to upgrade from Adobe Photoshop CS2 to CS3 (at considerable expense) as Adobe have chosen not to support the 40D RAW format in CS2. Scandalous! Good
job we all don't have to buy a new version of Microsoft Office or Windows when we buy a new printer!
