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Hi all,
Recently got my hands on the Nikon D7200, so would welcome any suggestions on which lenses to use and how to better photograph reptiles and amphibians. As my of my course and research will eventually also need to use the light box for documentation shots.
Also any suggestions for lenses to document wildlife and landscapes in general would be highly appreciated.
Cheers,
Rishab
Rishab,
Good to know that you have a Nikon D7200. You haven't received many responses because your question is open ended.
Between reptiles, amphibians, wildlife and landscapes the breadth is huge and one needs a wide gamut of lenses to shoot well. Nevertheless I would try to answer this question.
For amphibians you can buy a 100mm macro lens. Remember Nikon uses the term "micro" for macro lenses.
Though one can technically click a reptile with a 100mm macro lens, it becomes difficult to go close to the reptilian subjects as they may either run away or without training it may be too dangerous for us to go close. For such situations a general intermediate zoom lens would be a better bet. A 70-200 f2.8 or even a 80-400mm would be fine based on your budget.
For other wildlife subjects one needs a variety of lenses. Most of the times one needs a long lens for wildlife. A budget lens can be the 80-400. If you have higher budget than you can go for a telephoto lens of Nikon make 500mm f4, 600mm f4 or 200-400 f4 VR lenses. There are also third party lenses which are cheaper. If you are shooting an elephant upclose in a Safari, then you would prefer to use a 70-200. At times even a 70mm can be too close for elephants and at times even 600mm would be short. Such is wildlife photography.
Nikon has got many good lenses in the wide angle end. For most of the uses a 24-70 f2.8 would be good. However, if you are in treks and wanting to click some gigantic landscapes right infront of you, then an ultra-wide angle would be a better bet. Again it depends upon budget. Without that it would be difficult to list down the lenses and also it may not be helpful.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Hi Sabyasachi,
Firstly, apologies for my delayed response and thanks for taking the time out to give me some direction in the area i am looking for help in. I am looking into the macro lens you have mentioned and hopefully I will be deciding on one soon. Will have to keep the rest on hold as my current research focuses on reptiles and amphibians specifically.
Thanks a ton for the response, definitely helped me narrow down on my choices.
Cheers,
Rishab
Hi,
For herps, your first go to lens would be a macro lens. These are available in a range of fixed focal lengths, the 90-100-105 mm range is generally a good FL to work with for herps. For snakes, a standard FL lens like 50mm or so is sometimes better than a 1:1 macro, because it is easier to get sufficient depth-of-field and accommodate the whole animal in the frame with a shorter FL such as this.
Personally, I use a Canon 500D with a 100mm Macro and the bundled 18-55mm kit lens. I find this sufficient for all my amphibian and reptile work, and those are usually my primary subjects for photography. Both these lenses are great (although the kit lens is not top-notch in quality) for landscapes and habitat shots as well.