Lenses

[witter1631]

What is a good lens for shooting wildlife i have a cannon rebel xt. I am also wonder what prices would be thanks

Matt

[Steve Foss]

Hi Matt:

If you let us know your price range we can help you better.

There are any number of lenses in the 70-300mm zoom range that cost from $150 to $600. Lenses in that price range vary widely in quality. These are the so-called "consumer" grade lenses. Least expensive is the Tamron 70-300 at about $150, up to Canon's 70-300mm image stabilizer for a bit over $600 if I remember right.

If you want top glass and a focal length up to 400mm (shooting small birds, you'd need that much), you're talking Canon's L series. The least expensive L series supertelephotos are the 400mm f5.6L for a bit over $1,000 and the 100-400 f4.5-5.6L image sabilizer for $1,350, and prices go up from there to over $6,000 for the Canon 400mm f2.8L IS and over $7,000 for the Canon 600mm f4L IS. The better the lens you can afford, the higher image quality you will get. Canon's L series will give you tremendous sharpness and color saturation and contrast.

Other non-Canon lens makers such as Tamron and Sigma also make lines of lenses that are professional grade. Generally, their quality is just a bit under the L glass, but they cost somewhat less, too.

So give us a bit more to go on and we'll start talking.