A Good (Old) Setup For Wildlife?

[Spleenrippa]

Someday I'll add a reealllly long bit of Canon L glass (or at least the Sigma 'Bigma') to my inventory, but until then I've been wondering about acquiring an older manual focus body or two and some lenses.

I mainly just want to shoot the odd bird or Sasquatch around town, on hikes, etc. There are some wicked Eagle vs. Seagull scraps at the local landfill 😀

No particular loyalty to any brand or format, as long as the glass is... Er... Long. No idea on a budget until I have some ideas 😱

Any suggestions, guys? I've pretty much been a rangefinder guy since I started in film a few years ago and I have to admit that I'm fairly clueless when it comes to older SLRs.

 

[gavinlg]

Canon fd? It's fairly cheap and fantastic optics. Something like an F1 body. Or maybe a t90 if you can stretch that far.

 

[newspaperguy]

If you're looking for a low investment, Canon FD is a good suggestion - great glass and not a lot of demand for it, unless you are trying for the wide-wides.

Lots lenses and lots of bodies available to fit those breech-lock lenses - check out the Canon historical site.

My wife is still using a Canon T-70 for some of her real estate work. My daughter has a T-50 that still works after spending the last 10 years bouncing around in the trunk of her car.

 

[newspaperguy]

FWIW - Konica SLRs are really underated, and undervalued, too.

Parts and repairs are available through Greg Weber.

Check out http://www.webercamera.com/

 

[Spleenrippa]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will definitely be checking out the FD mount.

 

[szekiat]

i'd invest in a canon 400mm 5.6 L EF. Its the main shooting lens for birds in flight for most nature photographers and cost next to nothing for what it delivers. I have 2 in addition to my 600 f4, 300-800. I use them more than any other lens for nature.

 

[kxl]

IMO, you can nevere have too much reach when it comes to wildlife, especially if shooting birds. I'd start with an angle of view from a 400mm (on 35mm format) as a minimum. That means one of the non-full frame Nikon/Canon DSLRs, or, as already suggested, m4/3.

 

[Igor.Burshteyn]

I use tamron 300mmf2.8 adaptall on OM bodies, with x1.4 it goes to 420mmf4. Was pretty cheap (~300$) for user grade sample (glass is clear, mechanically is good). Can be very good if you are able to focus long lenses manually