Knowing that I had the opportunity to photograph these endangered birds, I knew that I needed a better lens. After much research I decided to rent a lens from a company called: BorrowLenses.com. The company is based in California, but for how easy lens rental was, they could have been down the street. Their prices were extremely reasonable and their selection was fantastic. I really appreciated how thorough BorrowLenses was with their customer verification. They ensured that someone wasn't ordering a bunch of expensive camera gear in my name and running off with it. The key to the rental was that I had to basically request the lens the day before I needed it and be home to sign for the fedex delivery. Needless to say I set aside that day to be in ear shot of the door because I couldn't miss the delivery and get stuck photographing the eagles with my everyday lenses: I can see myself now pointing to the pictures of the dot...see that...yup that's an eagle...awesome.
Before going on the outing, I debated about which lens to rent. A photographer, that photographs the eagles quite often, recommended at least a 300mm. Looking at many of the canon lenses and weighing the speed and focal length with every photographers limitation (ie funds) I decided to rent the Canon 400 mm f/5.6. Many factors went into this decision among them was the fact that I didn't want to have to only use the camera on the tripod. For how quick the eagles movement is, I wanted the option to hand-hold the camera for the photographs. This hand-holding limitation basically made anything more than 400mm out of the question. Canon had some pretty fantastic 400mm options. The Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM looked very tempting until I looked at the weight and the price. The 2.8 was about $300/day to rent and weighed about 8.5 lbs. Not so much hand-holdable. When compared to the $30/day rental fee and 2.8 lbs, I was able to accept the slower f/5.6. I was worried about the fact that the 5.6 didn't have image stabilization like the 2.8, but we were lucky enough to have a sunny day and photographed at shutter speeds fast enough that the lack of image stabilization was not a factor.
I was so happy heading out to photograph the eagles with my 400mm lens. I thought that the lens looked enormous on the camera body and would definitely be sufficient to capture the eagles....until I got to the site. I have to say a little about the photographers who are regulars at the eagle site. Unbelievable camera equipment. I had heard that their lenses would put the Super-bowl photographers to shame, but I didn't believe it until I saw it myself. I am pretty sure most of the gentlemen needed wagons or at least a reasonably sized horse to get their lenses from the car. I had never been so close to that much ridiculously sized glass. Most of the photographers head to the spot every weekend looking for "the shot." These lenses not only captured the eagles thoughts but what the fish was thinking as it was snatched out of the water. Just unbelievable.
I am including a couple of my favorite photographs from the outing.
Today's take-aways:
2) Definitely photograph eagles in continuous shooting mode and shutter speeds faster than 1/1250 unless you want to capture a blur of motion.
3) If you are looking for a place to rent lenses check out BorrowLenses.com I definitely will use them again to try out camera gear. Rental is a great way to use gear you don't intend to everyday or to try gear before making the investment.
4) There is always a photographer next to you with bigger, faster, wider aperture lenses/gear so it's best to be happy with and learn how to use what you have (until you buy that photographers gear next year on eBay when the newer model comes out).
Happy Photographing!
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