I am in Bar Harbor as I write. Tomorrow morning we head back up to Cutler for the boat ride back to Machias Seal island and the Puffins, Razorbills and Murre. I will be taking a 50D with a 300mm f/2.8L IS and 30D with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS. Last year I used a 400 5.6 and the 70-200. The Puffins are literally on top you when you are in the blind. The Razorbills are close as well. The Murres are a little farher off but you can still get them at 400mm. I will have a 1.4x and 2x TC to use with the 300 if I need it. SO no, I don’t think you need to rent a 500. As a matter of fact the 100-400 may just be the ideal lens for this. Enjoy. Hopefully I will have some more photos to post after tomorrow. Finally, check you visit dates for the puffins. They come on the islands to breed and then they are gone around August or so.

Thanks

Rick Eyre
Wisconsin

Glad you found my blog and found it to your liking. Please do check back frequently.

Actually, the template is so old that it may start to look new. I think it is called Classic and I believe it is the first template that WordPress offered. I picked it because it allowed me to post larger images and include 10 posts per page.

May I ask what template you are using? Its unusual–did you do some modifications to the CSS yourself?

Thanks again for sharing.
qpb

The 5D is a wonderful camera. I say that not owning one. The 5D has a full frame sensor meaning the image size on the sensor is equivalent to 35mm film. I use a 50D and a 30D. They are both 1.6x crop cameras. The sensor is smaller than 35mm film and has the effect of cropping in on the subject. I use the crop cameras because I do a lot of bird photography and the crop helps me get a tighter image. For example, if I put a 400mm lens on a 5D, my effective focal length is 400mm. If I put that same lens on a 50D, the effective focal length (35mm equivalent) is 640mm. And the 50D costs half as much as the 5D.

As far as macro lenses, they are really all good. Canon makes excellent macro lenses (the 60mm which will only work on a 1.6x crop camera and the 100mm and 180mm “L” lens which will work on any Canon camera. But I use Sigma lenses for Macro – either the 70mm or the 150mm. I use the 150 more than the 70 but either will do a great job for flowers. The 150 does give you more working distance but that is more of an issue with critters that move – butterflies, insects and such. Flowers aren’t going anywhere so you can get as close as you wish and the 70 will work fine.

Hope that helps. And I am glad you found my site inspirational. Come back and visit often.

Unfortunately, I have selected a template for my blog that, while very good for showing photos, doesn’t allow for any of those cool add-ons. I can’t even add a blogroll. But I did bookmark your blog and will visit it often.

Re:lenses – The first thing I learned about bird photography is that the lens is never long enough! I have two lenses that I use – a Canon 400mm f/5.6L and a Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS that I use with a 2x teleconverter to give me the equivalent of 600mm at f/5.6. The 300 2.8 is a superb lens and one of just a few that I would trust with a 2x TC. There is very little, if any, image degradation. And I should hasten to add that I use either a 50D or 30D camera body with a 1.6x crop factor so I am shooting at an effective focal length of 960mm. And it often still isn’t long enough especially for the small songbirds we have around here. The 500mm f/4 or 600 f/4 would be nice.

Just wanted to share two more postings of mine, in case you don’t run across them. One is of a chicory (love your shot, by the way) here:

http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/blue-chicory/

And the other is a quick series of shots of birds at a bird feeder at a little park near my home:

http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/birds-of-a-feather/