Guardian wildlife kit recommendations

I know I shouldn't be surprised but I was a bit dissapointed to see this on the Guardian website:

link

Headlined as "Best buys for wildlife photographers" but really just listing the latest Canon and Nikon cameras and their pro wildlife lenses. No attempt at any comparisons or alternatives - just the opinion of Chris Gomersall.

If they're going to recommend the Nikon D7000, 300mm f4 and teleconverter for £2,041 they may as well recommend the Pentax K5, DA* 300mm f4, and Kenko converter for £1,752.

(ok, so maybe the Kenko converter isn't quite up to the quality of the Nikon one. I don't know.)

Think that is a problem with poor Pentax adertising - if have a look at any photo related websites or magazines most of adverts are from other brands (at least they more eye-catching).

Obviously Pentax don't have the financial clout of Canon or Nikon to pay for this kind of advertising, which is what it is after all!

I'd also argue with anything saying £2k worth of kit is the "best buy"!

I'd be slightly more impressed with an article explaining that you can get decent shots with cheaper kit and how to get the best results from what you have.

Quote from article mentioned above:- "Gomersall, who was a judge for the 2009 wildlife photographer of the year competition, has suggested the following equipment for amateur wildlife photographers wanting a "start-up" kit. He has concentrated on Canon and Nikon, the cameras most commonly used by those taking part in the competition every year".

This would suggest that if you submit an entry with any other make, then you have no chance!

Credit to the Guardian, you can comment on any of their stories on the same page as many do (not many papers encourage that). I'm going to go back and have a full read.

There, I've made my contribution. Over to you K20D K5 and K7 owners to chip in!

It does seem to be true that Canikon dominate mag competition entries.

Wildlife kit recommendations, I recommend a large lottery win.

Nice cheap lens here.

Thanks for the link, WobblyGoblin. I've joined Bill Barnes in making my views clear in the comments section for the article using my alter-ego of GarrulusApis (geddit?).

Jon

Andrew Marrs book "My Trade" explains the phenomena, cannot recall the precise figure quoted but in the region of 75% of ALL newspaper content is directly or indirectly paid for, because it is not live news it can be written and formatted in advance, makes publishing a Newspaper far easier.

Davex.

The simple fact is Pentax do not cater for wildlife photographers, unles your prepared to look for used lenses or go for third party your stuck at 300mm

An affordable lens similar to Sigmas line up of long zooms could put Pentax in the running, you have to remember that not all photographers are "enthusiasts" who dont mind playing with old kit, many prefer to keep up to date and stick with currently available equipment.

I'm amazed people think a 35mm equivalent of 450mm is hard done by. How time have changed.

I have a 2x tele adapter I use manually but to be honest a simple crop is all that is needed for that bird shot the wrong side of the lake.

I managed what I consider an excellent shot of a wild bird with the DA* 50-135mm shortly after buying it. Mostly due to the fact that with this lens you can crop images mercilessly without losing much quality.

Length isn't always needed. If the last couple of frames on my latest slide film work as intended then they should be excellent shots of a highly vocal robin taken with a 200mm f4. He was too busy singing to worry about the human creeping to within a handful of metres!

My theory on Red Kites, on the other hand, is that they can tell how long your lens is and stay an appropriate distance away. Go with a 50mm and they'll be close enough to make out markings (but still tiny in the viewfinder), go with a 500mm and they'll just cruise around on the thermals taunting you!

Long lenses are not essential for all wildlife photography. I know someone who takes stunning close-ups of Kingfishers using a 100mm lens. He just knows how to go about it.