Essentially, many wildlife photographers will find themselves attracting themselves with the attraction of fast, foreign, super-talephoto lenses. These lenses offer unmatched optical abilities, as long as you pay the price and take weight. But, the good, most of these lenses have a hidden weakness: a disappointing close focus distance.
If you are mainly taking pictures of large mammals or big birds, it will probably not be an issue. But if your subjects are lukewarm, then small reptiles, or even insects, you will quickly become aware of how limited the minimum focus distance can be.
Inspiration for this article is one of the world’s smallest Hummingbirds from my recent experience, Goregated Woodstar (Chaitoceus HelodorThis bird measures about 60 mm in length. Its body, barely binds the scale to two grams, is transported by wings with a gap under 35 mm. A true short between Humingbirds also.
In some sense, taking a picture of this bird is not particularly difficult because it is usually not very shy. Its flight is similar to a bumble, which runs in a clearly clumsy and quite an estimated manner among the flowers. But with a large, fixed telephoto lens, insufficient minimal focused distance can make the frame almost impossible to fill the frame with this attractive bird.
To understand the challenge, let’s take a close look at the specifications of some fast supertelphoto lenses today. The major factors here are focal length and minimum focused distance, resulting in a special maximum magnification.
Nikon Z 400 mm F/2.8 TC VR S
- Minimum focus distance: 2.5 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.17 ×
Nikon Z 600 mm F/4 TC VR S
- Minimum focus distance: 4.3 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.14 ×
Sony fe 400 mm f/2.8 gm oss
- Minimum focus distance: 2.7 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.16 ×
Sony Fe 600 mm F/4 GM OSS
- Minimum focus distance: 4.5 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.14 ×
Canon is RF 400 mm F/2.8 L USM
- Minimum focus distance: 2.5 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.17 ×
Canon is RF 600 mm F/4 L USM
- Minimum focus distance: 4.2 m
- Maximum magnification: 0.15 ×
Given these numbers, it may seem that you are better with a 400 mm lens with a minimum focus. But maximum magnification is really important figures, and it hopes around the same (disappointing) value from about 0.14 × to 0.14 × to 0.14 × (disappointing), regardless of the lens. This means, on a full-frame camera, we are filling the frame with only a theme that is about 24 cm or 9.4 inches in size.
This problem is not universal in telephoto lenses – it is only common in foreign and very expensive people, for some reason. Some telephoto lenses have very close focus abilities, especially a lot of zoom lenses. Nikon Z 180-600 mm F/5.6-6.3 has a good 0.25 × magnification. Canon RF 100–500 mm F/4. -7.1 L has an impressive 0.33 × magnification.
This is often a perfect benefit for less expensive telephotos. With a small theme, it is a photographer with expensive 400 mm f/2.8 or 600 mm F/4 lenses who will envy their friends with 100–400 mm or 200–600 mm lens.
So, what should I do while shooting with my Nikon AF-S 500 mm F/4E, a lens whose maximum magnification is a paletry 0.15 ×? The first option is to use a teleconverter. The second option is to harvest the photo-or by harvesting in post-processing or using crop-sensor camera (or both).
To calculate how much small views you can capture with your equipment, just divide the width of your camera sensor by magnification found in the specifications of your lens. For example, using a 36 millimeter wide full-frame camera sensor, a lens with a magnification of 0.2 × can fill the frame with something that is crossing 36/0.2 millimeters. It calculates 180 millimeters (or 7.1 in). If your theme, such as the whoregated Woodstar Hummingbird, crosses about 60 millimeters, it means that it will fill about one -third of the frame with such a lens.
If you use a small camera sensor, math is slightly higher on your side. With a 22 mm wide APS-C sensor, the same lens can fill the frame with 110 millimeters wide (4.3 in), much better than 180 millimeters that you can get on full-frame. However, you have to take into account the resolution of the camera. Like Nikon’s Z50 II, 20-megapixel APS-C camera, 45 megapixel full-frame cameras insert the same number of pixels on the distant subject. But cannon’s 32.5-megapixel EOS R7 can match only A (Nonxist) 85 megapixel full-frame camera, so it has real advantage in these situations.
A teleconverter also helps. It only enhances the focal length of a lens, but also its magnification. For example, a magnification of 0.2 × on bare lenses becomes more respectable 0.28 × with 1.4 × teleconverter, and a very impressive 0.4 × with 2 × teleconverter. I have said it earlier, but I really enjoy using Nikon’s 400 mm F/2.8 TC VRS using the underlying teleconverter and hope that this feature makes its way in a low expensive lens one day.
So, does it make sense to use foreign super-telfotos on APS-C bodies for small subjects? Honestly, with Nikon at the moment, the benefit is not really, as their highest-resolution APS-C camera is 20 megapixels. I will instead shooting with 45-megapixel nicon Z8 or Z9 and crop. It is easy to keep the subject in the frame, and you will have more space for composition adjustment in the post. Most importantly, the image quality and the number of pixels on your subject will be almost the same. The story will be different if you shoot with one of the high-resolution APS-C cameras available from Fuji or Canon.
And I would like to bring another point, something else you can do when close focus on your lens is not enough: be more careful and creative with your composition. Consider with more negative space around a small subject. Or, find other elements in the environment to fill the rest of the frame with something interesting.
So, let’s go back to the central question of this article: Does it understand to take a picture of very small topics with large lenses? This is something that I am considering myself many times in the field. And whenever I do, I (usually) miss a scene from the check stage play called Blanti. In this, two knights faced in a duality – one sentenced to execution, the other tasked the task of distributing it. The executioner is almost comicingly given a small sword. A two meter long demon of a blade condemned is found. I will not spoil how this duality ends, but the recording of the play is Available here If you are eager.
What sticks to me, which says small-little nights say that he says middle-fight because he evaluates his weapon: “You know what? I am really happy that I have found it small. It’s nimbal. It’s easy to handle.” And this, in fact, it is how it also goes with the lens.
Sometimes the best fix is not the most expensive. If you aim to take a picture of small subjects, it can be done with a foreign supertelphoto, but only with some agreement. Instead, the best option is a zoom like 100–400 mm or 200–600 mm lens, and it will also be easy on your wallet.
So personally, I recommend putting a picture of small creatures with a small lens. The benefits of a fast supertelphoto Prime have been carried forward for these subjects. You are less likely to require sharp aperture (Note F/13 Note in the picture above), you would like to be more agile to keep the camera in position properly, and most, most, you will appreciate the low minimum focus distance.
If you have 400 mm f/2.8 or 600 mm F/4 lens, move forward and use a teleconverter and crop, and you will get appropriate results. But there are times when less expensive lens pays (in more than one way), and this is the correct example.
