A Good (Old) Setup For Wildlife?

Spleenrippa

Yes, Right There
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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 :D

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 :eek:

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