p.1 #1 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
You know the story. We're taking a vacation to a national park and are likely to see wildlife. I'm not sports photographer (any more) or a birder so my need for a telephoto longer than 100 mm is very limited. My 70-300 (on DX) rarely gets used let along something longer.
But still, taking these trips, if we see elk in the park or bison on the plains, I'd like to get some good pics.
So, which vacation telephoto seems best? I feel like the 180-600 is the one to pick but suspect it will simply sit unused in the lens cabinet until the next trip. I could rent but that would be $100+ per week trip.
Or do I just pick up a used 70-300 DSLR zoom to use on my Z body with the ZTF adapter?
p.1 #2 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
What body are you using? If youre using a DX body like the Z50II or such, the 50-250 is essentially perfect. It is super compact, gives good reach and good stabilization, with decent image quality.
I find having up to around 400mm equivalent is desirable, but I would not want to bring the 180-600mm unless the purpose of the trip was shooting wildlife.
p.1 #4 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
While $100 for a week-long rental seems like a lot, it's better than spending $2,000+ for a lens that you'll almost never use. You could rent the lens 20 times and break even. Even at 2 trips per year that's 10 years before buying the lens would pay off over renting it. I'd recommend renting either the 100-400 or 180-600. The 100-400 should be a lot easier to carry around and should be better suited for large mammals. I'd only go with the 180-600 if you anticipate seeing and photographing a significant number of birds.
p.1 #5 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
Not sure what lenses you already have, or what your budget is.
The Tamron 70-300mm for Z mount gives you a native Z lens that has quite decent image quality, and is rather lightweight. Doing an adapted DSLR lens could work too, though in this range, some of those aren't the best optically. Another option is picking up an F mount 300mm f/4 PF, which would give you that extra reach, while also being quite compact and light weight. You can often find these for around $700 used, but if you don't have a good lens that fits this range already, renting might just be the best option, despite the cost. A 100-400S would cost you $150 a week from lens rentals. Not a terrible option, and while not super light, it's an exceptional lens that would cover you well.
You CAN bring the 180-600, and it is, of course, wonderful for wildlife, but it's up to you as to whether you'd want to carry that around all day. Personally, I would not. But I know there are other photographers who carry a 600/4 around all day.
p.1 #6 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
The Tamron 50-400mm could also be an option. It's cheaper, smaller, and much wider than the 180-600mm, while giving more reach than a 70-300. But I think you need to decide if you will be disappointed not to have 600mm if you see an interesting subject, but it's too far away for 300mm or 400mm.
There is also the Nikon 28-400mm. I have been happy with mine, using it as an f8 zoom in good light for times when changing lenses isn't really feasible. It's very convenient if you want something close to a do it all lens, but there are definitely better options if you want a more dedicated telephoto / wildlife lens.
p.1 #7 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
You may ask yourself how many trips per year that you need the 180-600mm ?
I would rent a AFS 70-300mm ( if there is available ) or just get one for around $300.
There are couple copies on KEH for under $300
p.1 #8 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
There is no way in hell I would recommend the one 180-600 for the average national park trip, this is where the 100400 shines. Add in the 1.4 teleconverter for maximum flexibility at almost no extra weight. I guarantee you I do this a hell of a lot more than you do 😁
My standard two lens kit for any national park is the 24120 and 100400.
p.1 #9 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
darwinphoto wrote:
You know the story. We're taking a vacation to a national park and are likely to see wildlife. I'm not sports photographer (any more) or a birder so my need for a telephoto longer than 100 mm is very limited. My 70-300 (on DX) rarely gets used let along something longer.
But still, taking these trips, if we see elk in the park or bison on the plains, I'd like to get some good pics.
So, which vacation telephoto seems best? I feel like the 180-600 is the one to pick but suspect it will simply sit unused in the lens cabinet until the next trip. I could rent but that would be $100+ per week trip.
Or do I just pick up a used 70-300 DSLR zoom to use on my Z body with the ZTF adapter?...Show more →
Where are you going and when? You don't get the best images at random.
p.1 #10 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
RoamingScott wrote:
There is no way in hell I would recommend the one 180-600 for the average national park trip, this is where the 100400 shines. Add in the 1.4 teleconverter for maximum flexibility at almost no extra weight.
My standard two lens kit for any national park is the 24120 and 100400.
Went to Great Smoky Mountains with the 180-600 because my wife told me there would have lots wildlife that I like to photograph. I was like doing weight-bearing exercise the whole trip, lol.
I only had the lens out from my backpack once at Cades Cove, there were several black bears far away over 2000 feet.
They came across the grassland around sunset which means the 180-600 completely useless with small aperture.
I took several photos with ISO25600 but all of them were still underexposures. What a experience!
There is only one national park I may have 180-600 with me ~ Yellow Stone.
p.1 #11 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
zi464 wrote:
Went to Great Smoky Mountains with the 180-600 because my wife told me there would have lots wildlife that I like to photograph. I was like doing weight-bearing exercise the whole trip, lol.
I only had the lens out from my backpack once at Cades Cove, there were several black bears far away over 2000 feet.
They came across the grassland around sunset which means the 180-600 completely useless with small aperture.
I took several photos with ISO25600 but all of them are still underexposures. What a experience!
There is only one nation park I may have 180-600 with me ~ Yellow Stone. ...Show more →
I had sort of the opposite experience at Cades...I had gotten slightly off trail and heard a lot of people chattering all of a sudden. Turned around and had a black bear about 100' away...this pic was with the 100-400 AFTER I got some distance away from it
p.1 #12 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
RoamingScott wrote:
I had sort of the opposite experience at Cades...I had gotten slightly off trail and heard a lot of people chattering all of a sudden. Turned around and had a black bear about 100' away...this pic was with the 100-400 AFTER I got some distance away from it
When those black bears came cross the grassland, I was like 50 feet from them but the sky was almost completely dark.
Below pic was captured from a video that my wife recorded me.
p.1 #13 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
Yea, sorry, all - I didn't give you the full story.
I recently moved from Fuji to Nikon. Have the Z5-II plus a couple primes from 15 to 50mm. Trying to map out my plan for the telephoto side of life. My APS-C Fuji had a 70-300 for telephoto coverage.
I don't use the 70-300 much but when I have, 300mm has sometimes been too short. And this is on APS-C. I'd need the 100-400 to get my FF rig up to parity with my APS-C system.
Parks to be visited include the big ones in the west that are prime places for elk, sheep, deer, wolves, bison, etc.
And I lean toward the 24-120 plus some tele-thing as a two lens kit.
p.1 #14 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
Second the recommendation for the 100-400. The 100-400 Z is a fantastic lens, and would be great for roadside wildlife, particularly if the size and weight of the 180-600 zoom scares you off. Its a versatile lens that also works great as pseudo-macro for in-close small critters.
As a combination of the posts above, suggest renting the Z 100-400 along with the Z 1.4TC, which works decently on this lens. The rental route has served me well many times in the past for special trips/events.
p.1 #15 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
If you don't need telephoto much, essentially what you're saying is that you want reach but don't want to carry around weight when it's not on the camera. If that's the case, the Tamron 50-400 is the most ideal.
If you do use telephoto a lot, and don't mind a medium level of weight, the 100-400 is great, and you can get a 1.4x teleconverter for a little extra reach. This is best if you're operating in the 300-400mm range (more on this later)
If your focus is wildlife, and you'll be operating near the trunk of your car, the 180-600 is great, but it is too heavy to hike with unless you are really dedicated. But it's the go to lens if you need 600mm on a budget.
Which national park you're talking about matters, since the topography is different for every park. In Yosemite for example, you have a lot of canyons and gulleys, so on the rare occasion that you encounter wildlife, it's usually in the 200-400mm range. If you're in Yellowstone, you have a lot of vast wide open space to account for. Even 1200mm sometimes is not enough.
p.1 #17 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
For the usage you describe I would also recommend the 100-400 with a 1.4 TC to use when needed. I have both the 100-400 and the 180-600, the former for most of my sports photography, and the latter as a dedicated bird/wildlife lens.
Remember also that with the 100-400, or any equivalent lens, you can switch to DX mode to narrow your field of view, giving you the effect of more reach.
p.1 #18 · Which telephoto for national park visits?
Oh, hey, I found out about the 300 f/4 PF. AF-S lens but I have the FTZ adapter so it would work. Light weight, small size, costs less than the 100-400 or 150-600 and works well with the 1.4 TC.
I'm thinking the 24-120, 300, 1.4x TC for a national park kit that wouldn't be too terribly heavy to carry around.
