Arnoud Quanjer Wildlife Photography

On my first trips to Africa in 1996 I carried a 75-300mm telelens and I noticed that 95% of the time I was using this lens at 300mm. Unfortunately most zoom lenses don't perform well at their maximum zoom range so the pictures I took on my first two trips to Africa were not top quality. I learned two things from this. The first thing was that you need to have quality telephoto lenses, and the second was that a 300mm lens is the absolute minimum for wildlife photography. I've since invested in my equipment and these days I use a 500mm, 300mm, 70-200mm, 24-70mm and a 10-22mm. When selecting a lens for wildlifephotography you can choose between fixed focal distance lenses and zoom lenses. The fixed focal lenses generally speaking have the edge over zoom lenses in the quality of the images, but zoomlenses are more versatile. What you prefer depends mainly on how you want to use the lens. If you only want to use a lens for wildlife photography then you might want to invest in for instance a fixed focal 300 or even 500mm. Should you also want to use the lens at home for general purpose photography then you might want to consider a quality zoomlens like the Canon EF100-400mm.

Zoom versus fixed focal distance

I decided to buy a fixed focal distance lens because typically these lenses give better results then zoom lenses. Zoom lenses obviously have the advantage of being able to zoom, but they also tend to be slow lenses at the long end. For instance a Canon EF100-400mm L IS at it's maximum aperture will be f/5.6 while my 300mm gives me a maximum aperture of f/2.8, a full two stops faster than the 100-400mm. For wildlife photography that is a major difference as most of the photo's you make will be either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Still I must say that the EF100-400 impressed me last year. I had the opportunity to use it when I was in Africa and I was surprised at how well it handled and performed. I recently purchased the ultimate wildlife lens; the Canon EF500 f/4 L IS. I haven't had the oppportunity to use it on safari yet, but the initial results are very promissing.

Focal length

As I've said earlier if you're serious about wildlife photography you will need to get at least a 300mm lens. If you want to get into bird photography it gets worse, you'll need at least a 400mm or 500mm lens. The ultimate lens for wildlife photography is a 500 or 600mm f/4. The 600mm will cost about the same as a small car and will weigh about 6 kilos, so for most of us mortals a lens like this is not a real option. The Canon 500mm weighs 3.7kg and costs around 5000 euros so that's more or less affordable these days. If you're just starting with wildlife photography then a good lens to start with would be a 300mm f/4. A lens like this is affordable and you'll be able to use a 1.4x converter on it which gives you a very usable 420mm f/5.6. I've used a setup like this for a couple of years and it has gave me some great results. I've even used a 2x converter to get a 600mm f/8. While I have gotten some excellent results with this combination it is too slow for action photography and only really works for static objects.

Image stabilization

Both Canon and Nikon have developed a system that reduced lens vibrations. Canon has named this system Image Stabilization (IS) while Nikon has named it Vibration Reduction (VR). The rule of thumb normally is that you can handhold a lens for shutter speeds of up to 1/focal length. This means that you can handhold a 300mm lens at 1/300 sec and get sharp results. Image stabilization will give you a two- to three stop gain on this rule. This means that you can hand hold a 300mm with IS at 1/75 sec. While this image stabilization technology is a blessing for low light photography it also carries a hefty price-tag. When the Canon 300 f/2.8 L IS was introduced in 1999 it was 50% more expensive then the non-IS version. Still if you can afford it I'd recommend getting a lens with image stabilization, I've gotten loads of shots with IS I would have never been able to make without it.

What lens is best for wildlife photography 

One of the questions people ask me the most is what lens they should choose for wildlife photography. I use Canon equipment so all the lenses mentioned in this article will be Canon made. Other brands have comparable lenses to the ones that I mention in this article. 

The question of what lens to buy is not easily answered as a lot of factors come into play. The most important questions you need to answer for yourself before buying a lens are: 

• How much money are you prepared to spend;
• Will you use the lens primarily for wildlife, or do you also want to use it for general use;
• Are you planning on making money out of wildlife photography.

For wildlife photography you need at least a 300mm lens. Your lens choice depends primarily on how you've answered the questions above. If your budget is limited then your choice of lenses is limited to a consumer 70-300mm zoom lens. If you have a bit more money to spend and plan to use the lens primarily for wildlife then a fixed focal 300 f/4 or 400mm f/5.6 would be a good choice. If you plan to use the lens for general use besides wildlife then a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom lens will be your best choice. If your budget is large, or when you want to make money with your pictures, then your best choice would be a 300 f/2.8, 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4 or a 600 f/4. These lenses all cost in excess of $4000, but they all deliver top quality images. 

Canon lens line-up

In the Canon line-up the best lenses for wildlife photography are the ones shown in the table below. These are all Canon 'L' graded lenses which means that they are part of the professional line-up of lenses. These lenses are a lot more expensive than the consumer lenses, but the image quality is also much better than that of the consumer lenses. If you're not on a tight budget then go for an 'L' class lens. You'll never regret your choice.

When you're planning on buying a long lens then it's important to consider the weight of the lens. Anything over 4000g will be impossible to handhold. The 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 lenses all fall in the 'impossible to handhold' category which in my opinion restricts their usefullness. These lenses are also difficult to transport on airplanes in handluggage due to their weight. Of all the lenses listed above the ones I'd recommend as wildlife photography lenses are: 

Best focal lenght for wildlife photography

For wildlife photography you'll mostly use long lenses. Any 70-200mm lens is not really a "wildlife" lens, but it can come in handy when shooting large animals, such as elephants. Most of the pictures you'll take on a safari will be at 300mm or more. The picture below shows the difference in magnification at 100, 200, 300 and 500mm. I didn't have any animals in my garden so you'll have to excuse me for using a bottle as example.

Pictures were made using a Canon 1D Mark III so effective focal length should be multiplied by 1.3x.

From 300mm on you'll get the magnification that you'll need for wildlife photography. Up till recently I used an EF300 f/2.8L IS for my photography. I decided to get an EF500 f/4L IS a couple of months ago as I was primarily using my 300mm with a 1.4x converter. That meant that most of my shots were taken at 420mm, and even at that length I felt that I needed more magnification. The 500mm gives me that reach, and as it still produces high quality images when used with a 1.4x converter it gives me the option of shooting at a whopping 700mm.

Lens size comparison

Generally speaking the longer the focal length of the lens the better it is suited for wildlife photography. There are some limiting factors though, one of which is the physical size of the lens and another is the weight of the lens. The picture below shows the size difference between the EF70-200 f/2.8L IS, the EF300 f/2.8L IS and the EF500 f/4L IS.

The 500mm is shown with a neoprene lenscoat and a CP51a tripod foot replacement. As you can see the size difference between the 70-200mm and 300mm is quite substantial, but the difference in size with the 500mm is the real shocker. The 500mm f/4L IS is probably the best lens that you buy for wildlife photograpy, but it is large and heavy.

Travelling with lenses

Any 70-200mm or 300 f/4 lens will easily fit in any camera bag. Taking a 300mm f/2.8 L IS with you is already more of a challenge. To take this lens with you, you need to get a backpack as it will not fit in any shoulder bag. For a 500 f/4 you need to get a large backpack like the Lowepro Photo Trekker AW. The 500 f/4 just fits in this backpack, anything larger than the 500 f/4 will need to be transported in a separate case. All Canon 'L' lenses are delivered including their lens, or travel, cases. The shorter lenses are delivered with soft drawstring lens cases while the longer, and more expensive, lenses are delivered with carrying cases.

 In my opinion the carrying cases are good for storing your lenses in, and even for transporting the lenses when you're travelling by car, but they are not suited for airline travel. The cases are bulky, heavy, and they just scream 'steal me!'. When you can't fit your lens in your backpack then make sure that you use an unmarked carrying case to transport the lens in.