Like everyone else, I am spending a lot of time at home. Normally, I would be photographing high school Spring sports but, like almost everything else, those have been canceled for this year. I, instead, turned my attention to the wildlife in my own backyard.
Backyard wildlife photographed in Baldwinsville, New York during May of 2020.
Clockwise from top left, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Gray Squirrel and Blue Jay.
Photographing from my kitchen’s window, I used my Nikon 80-400VR lens on my Nikon D500. While this combination worked well for the squirrel who would venture close to the house. It did not work too well for the smaller birds who liked the trees at the edge of my lawn. I decided I needed more reach.
I looked over the inventory at LensRentals.com to see what they had on hand and decided on a week rental for the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E AF-S ED VR lens. This lens coupled with the Nikon D500 which, has a 1.5x crop factor, gave me an equivalent focal length out to 750mm. Even then, I still needed to crop the images of the robin, cardinal and blue jay in the collage you see here.
Look for more on this lens over the next few posts.
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Wow! I’ve been focused on the birds in my back yard too, and just today decided I needed to investigate a different lens. I have the Z6 Nickon and a 70-200 basic Nikon lens with the adapter so it fits the Z6. I’ll be interested to see what you think of the lens you’re renting. I used to have a 20-300 lens for my old cannon that I hardly ever took off the camera, wore that poor thing right out. I know a lot of people say that these ‘be everything’ lens aren’t great, but it sure was nice not taking the lens on and off. Of course what you’re borrowing will be way too big to lug around everywhere. Still, it should be fun to use for wildlife.
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Dawn, check out the post I posted following this one for more about this lens and a link to a review you will find most interesting. I have put this lens on my To Buy list once I get my income flowing again.
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