Best lens if price is no object

by Joan
(UK)

I am currently doing a Masters degree in animal behaviour and for one of my proposals I need to know which is the best camera/lens to photograph gazelles. The lens will need mega magnification as I would want to be able to see ticks on their bodies.

I also would like to know of any computer photograph enhancing programmes that could help me in this. This is an academic proposal and as such price would not come into the equation.

Many thanks in anticipation of your reply.

Regards Joan

Answer

Thanks for your question Joan. I believe the very best lens if price is no object and you need a vast amount of magnification is the Canon 600mm f/4L IS coupled with a Canon EF 2x extender.

That gives you an effective magnification of 1200mm at f/8 which will allow you to see the ticks on a gazelle clearly if you are reasonably close to them when you take the photograph. And the quality is still good enough to publish.

Canon manufactures a 800mm f/5.6L IS too but if you add a 2x extender to this lens you won't be able to use autofocus. So you would get a 1600mm f/11 lens but you would have to manually focus it and it would be difficult to use in low light conditions. But if magnification is your primary concern then this lens would be the one to go for.

One of the best cameras to use with these super telephoto lenses is the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III.

Then you can use Adobe Photoshop to crop the picture even more if you still need to zoom in closer.

For those of us who are subject to financial constraints these are top telephoto and zoom lenses for wildlife photography.

Hope this help

Bruce