Lens for Polar Bear

[jacky8087]

I am going to a cruise tour to Arctic Circle for polar bear but I dont know how far will they gonna be, the guidance suggests to bring 10x to 25x binoculars. And I just realized I dont have any long focal length lens for my 6D mark I. My original thought was to buy a canon 100-400mm II paired with the extender 2x, but after I did research found out that this combination is not practical.

I would like some sugguestions for new lens and probably extender, also is the tripod necessary as I never use these large lens before?

Thanks in advanced.

[ebiggs1]

Its OK.  There isn't much to a monopod.  Its just a pole that can hold a camera/lens.  But if I were going to spend that much money on a mono, I would get something like the Manfrotto Carbon Fiber XPRO.

You don't need that goofy head that comes with the other one.  Remember you won't be using it all the time.  But you will be carrying it all the time.  Light weight is worth a lot.

[Waddizzle]

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@TCampbell wrote:

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"I think I will get the Tamron G2 and monopod with a gimbal."

You don't really need any head on a monopod.  You can get a ball head but it isn't necessary.  Just bolt the monopod to the lens.  Less is more sometimes.

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I agree... since it's a monopod, you can tilt it as needed.  If you want to do some extreme tilting... then maybe a ballhead would be an nice addition.

 When you're on a monopod without a head, you can also swivel or tilt as needed ... just not as extreme on the "tilt" side of things.  e.g. to point "striaght overhead" would require that you lay the monopod down on the ground.  That's the limitation.  But as you're unlikely to need to point to anything nearly overhead, that's usually not an issue.  

If you want to be able to tilt it up or down to more extremes without having to lean the monopod so much, you can add a ballhead to it (I use a ballhead that has a "tension" know in addition to the brake knob.  This allows me to apply some friction so I can push it around without needing to lock it in place and it still gives me support.

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I would disagree with using a ball head. 

With a monopod, you want movement along two axis, panning and tilting.  A ball head will introduce a third axis, roll, which can mean an unlevel horizon.  You would need a ball head with a very strong friction control, such as Tim alluded to, and even then that will not stop the camera/lens from rolling.

Yes, a monopod can be used without a head in many scenarios, probably including shooting polar bears from a moderate distance.  One drawback of using no head is that tilting will mean moving the camera towards or away from you.  If you go with no head, you might consider purchasing a quick-release clamp, though.  The Tokina lens is made for one.

With a tilt head, you can tilt without moving the camera towards or away from you.  Good tilt heads do not cost as nearly as much as good ball head.  The Kirk MPA-2 is one of the best out there, due mainly in large part to its' very good friction control. I used to use a Benro B3 on my monopod, which is very strong ball head, but not as fast and easy to use as the MPA-2.

[Tronhard]

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@jacky8087 wrote:

I am going to a cruise tour to Arctic Circle for polar bear but I dont know how far will they gonna be, the guidance suggests to bring 10x to 25x binoculars. And I just realized I dont have any long focal length lens for my 6D mark I. My original thought was to buy a canon 100-400mm II paired with the extender 2x, but after I did research found out that this combination is not practical.

I would like some sugguestions for new lens and probably extender, also is the tripod necessary as I never use these large lens before?

Thanks in advanced.

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The fact that you are going on a cruise would suggest to tme that it is likely you will be kept at a decent distance from the bears for health and safety reasons.  You COULD get quite close if you are on a boat and they are on an ice flow - I have seen RIBs get within 20m of a polar bear on an ice floe.  For that reason I would suggest that you might want to consider a zoom with a fairly wide range, and I would suggest the Canon 100-400 MkII with the 1.4 Mk III extender.

HOWEVER, such a configuration will not give you autofocus and autoexposure on a 6DMkI: you would need an 80D, 7DII, 5DIV or maybe a 6DII to get those features - suggest you refer to Canon's compatibility list for lenses, extenders and bodies.  Using a crop sensor will give you a FoV equivalent to 1.6 x focal length which may come in handy if the bears are some distance away. For example the 100-400 would have a FoV of a 160-640 and with a 1.4x extender, it would give you an equivalent FoV at 224-896mm.  The results with this lens combination I have found to be really good. There is a post on this site with images from exactly this combination.

So here I have a question... do you think you will need this combination of ranges on a permanent basis.  If not, I would suggest renting a kit for the event.  Something like a 5DiV (FF) or 7DII (APS-C) will be weather resistant and will give you all of the features of the lenses and extenders.  You could take your 6DI with a wider angle lens to get panoramic shots - that way you have all the ranges covered and you don't have to open the camera to switch lenses in the field.  The rental cost should be fractional compared to the outlay to purchase.

[jacky8087]

thank you I have considered rent those gear but I am going for almost a month. It cost so much to rent them, I would rather buy them in second hand or sell them after the trip, if I not going to use them in the future.

[TCampbell]

10x for your full-frame 6D camera is about 450mm.  (the sensor measures just over 43mm diagonally.  the magnification is based on dividing the focal length of the lens by the diagonal measure of the imaging chip.  Technically a 430mm lens would be 10x but nobody makes a "430mm" lens.

25x would be 1075mm.  

If you use a 2x exntender you have to multiply both the focal length AND the focal ratio by the extender factor.  This means if you had an f/2.8 lens you would multply by a 2x and get f/5.6.  If you have an f/4 lens you can multiply by 2x and get an f/8 lens.  But if you have an f/5.6 lens... you end up at f/11 and the phase-detect auto-focus wont work at f/11.

Also, when you use an extender you'll notice there's a reduction in focus speed.

I would probably look into one of the 150-600mm zooms.  

You might also consider renting a lens.

[davidandjess]

I agree. Either one, a Tamron or Sigma 150-600mm super zoom is the way to go.