Ain't that a B!T@4!

[sk66]

One of my favorite things to photograph is wildlife (birds largely). Previously, I used a D300 and a Sigma 500mm f/4.5. On that camera the lens was effectively a 750mm.

I "upgraded" to a D3 for high ISO and better overall performance (frame rate, etc, etc).
To get the same effective focal length I also upgraded to a Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6. The upgrade to the body gained me about 2 steps (arguably more) and the upgrade lens cost me 2/3 stop...

That's quite a bit of money for aprox 1 1/2 stops and 50mm improvement! (even if I sell the D300 and 500mm f/4.5)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...I'd do it again (for many rewasons, and because I don't "only" shoot wildlife). BUT, the point here is that nothing's easy, it's all a trade-off, and the cost for incremental improvements is exponential dollars.

[dcclark]

Sounds like you knew what you needed and went and got it! Good job.

Too often, I see the opposite: users posting things along the lines of "I read that I should buy a X, so what kind is best?" where they don't even understand what X is!

[gturner]

I have just been with a buddy who has gone from a 40D to 5Dmk2 Canon. He lives in the african bush and although he is experienced, I don't think he has done his maths on the 60% loss on his 400mm and 200mm F2.8 lenses.
I suspect his next purchase will be a 1.4 converter

[vandergus]

Originally Posted by gturner

I have just been with a buddy who has gone from a 40D to 5Dmk2 Canon. He lives in the african bush and although he is experienced, I don't think he has done his maths on the 60% loss on his 400mm and 200mm F2.8 lenses.
I suspect his next purchase will be a 1.4 converter

He's not really losing that much, though. Considering that the two cameras have similar pixel densities, he could just crop the 5D image and be right back where he was with the 40D. The 21 MP 5D cropped by 1.6x gives about 8.2 MP compared to the 10 MP 40D. Pretty similar resolving power, there.

[gturner]

Ah, but it will not feel that way when in the bush tracking a cheetah at full tilt or a fish eagle fishing

[vandergus]

Very true. Kind of a psycological hurdle. He's going to feel much further away, even though he may still be able to get the same types of images.

[spencer28n]

I wonder what's better in terms of IQ, the converters or crop sensors. Guess it depends on MP count vs. quality of glass.

[sk66]

IME, a crop sensor is WAY better than a converter. A converter tends to add more diffraction and causes a lot of light loss. There are times that if I put a 2x on the image goes "foggy" due to diffraction. (It's a Sigma EX 2x used with Sigma EX lenses so it's not a "cheap" nor mismatch issue)

[FrankLamont]

That's why you switch to Canon, so you can use the 1D MK IV.

Just kidding of course. But really, it's worth it. I mean, you don't just shoot wildlife, eh?

But sole wildlife photogs sometimes now choose Olympus for the reason... notably, Mitsuaki Iwago. But heck, the D3's a good body.

[i speak in math]

People really need to understand what "crop factor" means.