Hi there Ann:

I use a Canon system for my birding pictures. My primary lens is a 75-300
mm Image stabilizer lens that I use on a tripod with a doubler. This gives
me 600 mm. When I do eagle and owl picture expeditions I rent a 600 mm lens
w/ a 1.4 converter from Glazers in Seattle. This gives me an effective lens
of 840 mm. Glazer's has lots of lenses that you can rent. I would
recommend trying some before you buy. Their website is
http://www.glazerscamera.com/ To do effective bird photography you need long
and fast lenses. Conditions are often low light. A doubler causes a loss
of two stops of light and a 1.4 causes a loss of 1-stop. Generally you do
not want a lens any slower than 5.6. Faster is better. I tend to use Kodak
slide film. My favorites at the moment are the E100VS and the E200. Both
these films are fine grained and can be pushed 1 or 2 stops with no problem.
The E200 pushed to 320 gives good results even with the doubler on my IS
lens.

Rosalind Philips
Olympia, WA
rosalind at starlingconsulting.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Jay A Peterson [mailto:jayofpa at worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 10:02 AM
To: Tweeters
Subject: request for information


Tweeters -

After reading Cathy's account of taking pictures of the Snowy Owl
and having already decided to invest in a new lens for my camera
(a Pentex ZX-M) - I would like some opinions from Cathy, and
other tweeters, on what size (focal length) and speed (f-stop)
you would recommend for taking distance birding pictures.

Also, could anyone recommend a book (with the author) that
contains maps, direction, etc. to the sites so many of you
mention in your reports. Thanks in advance.

Ann Peterson
Port Angeles, WA
annofpa at att.net