“What is the range of this lens? I'm a novice wildlife photographer and looking for a lens with some distance on it, but not necessarily the distance provided by a $12,000 lens.”
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This is not easy to answer. Range is not a way to compare lenses as it is the field of view that gives the perception of magnification. Any 800mm lens on a full frame camera has a field of view of about 2.58 x 1.72 degrees. At 30 feet away, an area of 1 ft 4 in x 10 in will fill the frame, say a squirrel will fill the frame. At 240,000 miles away, an area of about 10,000 x 7,000 miles will fill the frame, say the moon fills most of the frame. Photographers will sometimes refer to the narrowing field of view as the reach of the lens, or how well it makes distant things look bigger. The more expensive lens can provide a better image of a small part of the frame, but will not change what fills the frame. This 800mm has a great reach for the buck, but would be better for wildlife mostly at rest. Birds in flight, with this narrow field of view, make it difficult to track and focus.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.One way to get a sense of a lens reach, or range, is to compare it to a 100mm or 50mm lens. A picture taken at 10 feet distance with a 100mm lens will look the same if taken with an 800mm lens at 80 feet distance. So, an 800mm has 8 times the reach of a 100mm. Or, an 800mm has 16 times the reach of a 50 mm.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.The difference between this and the $12000 lens you mention is that you will need better ambient lighting for this one, so pre-dawn or dusk shots will be harder to get. Otherwise this has the same ability to capture at a distance.
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