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Which lens to buy?

limvo05
Rising Star

Hi All,

 

I am starting to look at lenses for birds photography. Below is what I am thinking of:

 

1. 300mm f2.8 IS mark 1 and 2x converter

2. 400mm f2.8 IS mark 1 and 1.4 converter

3. 500mm f4 IS and 1.4 converter

 

The reason I mentioned the 300 and 400 are that I was told they are much smaller lenses to be carrying out, especially for traveling.

 

I assumed all 3 lenses are equally great in sharpness and quality.

 

Suggestions? Thank you.

15 REPLIES 15

To keep it simple I state these crops as exactly what they are, as the percentage of the total camera sensor area so in this case ~4 MP worth from the 1DX III's 20 MP sensor.  (this particular crop is 2214 x 1788 pixels as cropped in DPP from the full 5472x3648 sensor resolution).

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video


@wq9nsc wrote:

To keep it simple I state these crops as exactly what they are, as the percentage of the total camera sensor area so in this case ~4 MP worth from the 1DX III's 20 MP sensor.  (this particular crop is 2214 x 1788 pixels as cropped in DPP from the full 5472x3648 sensor resolution).

 

Rodger


Okay, that's what I figured.  You did clarify it by saying "of the sensor."

 

I don't think many people realize that viewing an image at some ##% crop can vary widely, depending upon what monitor resolution you are using.  One would get different results if cropped at percentage of what is displayed, compared to a percentage of what was captured.  Most editing software crops to what is displayed, not what was captured.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

"To keep it simple ..."

 

Crop % is not a static term.  If you use PS you can see the enlargement value in the bottom left hand corner. If I crop to that screen size, than I call it a 100% crop, or whatever the % reads.

Keep in mind a 100% crop is simply a crop % of a section of your photo witout any resizing or resampling.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!


@wq9nsc wrote:

To keep it simple I state these crops as exactly what they are, as the percentage of the total camera sensor area so in this case ~4 MP worth from the 1DX III's 20 MP sensor.  (this particular crop is 2214 x 1788 pixels as cropped in DPP from the full 5472x3648 sensor resolution).

 

Rodger


I don't think that definition of a percentage crop has much relevance unless the portion being displayed has the same aspect ratio as the original image. I think the crop percentage should probably be the ratio of the pixel separation in the crop vs that in the original. Maybe that's what Waddizzle was trying to say in his follow-up? 

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA


@RobertTheFat wrote:

@wq9nsc wrote:

To keep it simple I state these crops as exactly what they are, as the percentage of the total camera sensor area so in this case ~4 MP worth from the 1DX III's 20 MP sensor.  (this particular crop is 2214 x 1788 pixels as cropped in DPP from the full 5472x3648 sensor resolution).

 

Rodger


I don't think that definition of a percentage crop has much relevance unless the portion being displayed has the same aspect ratio as the original image. I think the crop percentage should probably be the ratio of the pixel separation in the crop vs that in the original. Maybe that's what Waddizzle was trying to say in his follow-up? 


I think Rodger's definition of crop is spot on.  He defines it as a percentage of what was captured.

 

When editing software displays an image at 100%, that is not a crop.  It is displaying the image at a 1:1 ratio.  One pixel in the image will be displayed by one pixel on your display.  The 100% is describing a zoom resolution, not a crop factor.

 

This can be easily demonstrated by simply changing your display resolution.  Set the editing software to 100%.  You will see a larger portion of the image when viewed at the higher display resolution.  If the 100% were describing a "crop factor" then you should see the same portion of the image regardless of the display resolution.  

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

"The 100% is describing a zoom resolution, not a crop factor."

 

Which is just a play on words since a crop is just a simple mouse click.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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