Canon 135mm f/2.0L for Bird Photography

All of you great photographers out there, here is a question for you I have been pondering for weeks. I have long believed that one may not need a long lens for specific types of bird photography. Specifically here I am talking about Hummingbirds. The 135 f/2.0L is one of the sharpest lenses ever produced by Canon (2nd sharpest if you go solely by MTF numbers behind the 200mm f/1.. I have contemplated (since I am going to Brazil in 2 months and will have some time where birds will be coming in close to feeders) of purchasing this lens. I know from experience in Costa Rica and Ecuador that this lens on an Eos10D would easily be long enough to photograph hummingbirds, as they are completely fearless and pretty much ignore you when coming in to feeders and feeding. I was wondering what people think of the sharpness and detail resolution this lens would provide versus say a 400mm f/5.6 or any of the other longer lenses. One could also easily couple a 1.4x on this for a 135*1.6(crop factor)*1.4 = 302mm Lens.

Another lens I have thought of for this is the 180mm f/3.5L Macro by canon (or possibly the new Tamron 180mm DI Macro which seems quite good for much less money). Any thoughts regarding this one as well?

Any thoughts welcome,

Chris,

For certain types of bird photography, such as you describe with fearless hummingbirds this could be a viable option, provided your background is far enough away. Do note, however, that taking a shot of a bird with a 135mm lens will result in a significantly different shot than when taken from more of a distance with more focal length. DOF and distracting background elements are eliminated by the compression factor of longer lenses and will become an issue much faster with shorter focal lengths.

Just for more background...

For what I am truly envisioning this for, my background would be the Andes Mountains across the valley

I am planning to go back to Ecuador next may, and at Tandayapa, which is the lodge where I will stay, they have some 13 or so hummingbird feeders on their balcony. A few of the feeders are really close to a bench right next to the lodge back door, and by sitting on this bench and photographing hummers in flight as they come to these feeders, the backdrop would be the Andes Mountains several thousand feet away across the valley.

I can understand where you are coming from though. That is why I asked the question. I need real good feedback from experienced photographers. It was just a fascinating thought that I have had over the past few months. There were instances with some Tanagers and Warblers where this could have been useful too with some of the fruiting trees that were right next to the lower deck at Tandayapa, where even a 300mm lens (which is what I had at the time) made it difficult to keep the bird in the frame.

Definately sounds like a place I want to get to someday

One thing I would check before plucking down the hard earned dollars is AF speed. The small lenses with large apertures tend to AF very slowly because they have to move a lot of glass and were intended as studio lenses where AF speed was not a design consideration. If you've ever used the 50mm f/1 or the 85mm f/1.2 you will know what I mean - they are excruciatingly slow in AF - the 180mm Macro is the same way. So I would try before I buy on this one as a slower lens like a 135 f/2.8 might be significantly faster in AF due to the lens design.

In general I have found that in the Canon systems, for equal focal lengths, the f/2.8 lenses are always the fastest to focus. It seems to be the optimal compromise in getting enough light for the AF system to work at peak performance but keeping a simple enough design to move the focusing elements fast enough.

EJ,

This is great information that I had not truly considered. I have not been able to try the 85/1.2 or other lenses of the same category, but I have read many reviews stating the excruciatingly slow AF speed. This would be a serious issue when photographing hummingbirds, as you only have a few seconds to get focused, metered, and get a shot off if you want to get them hovering away from the feeder, and sometimes less than that. The 180mm f/3.5L USM Macro is slow to focus? That is certainly a detractor.

Chris Fagyal wrote:The 180mm f/3.5L USM Macro is slow to focus? That is certainly a detractor.

Yes, its a macro lens so AF is more of an afterthought since you don't really use AF in maro photography.

Chris Fagyal wrote: The 180mm f/3.5L USM Macro is slow to focus? That is certainly a detractor.

Although I love this lens, calling it slow would be a understatement IMHO.

I think the 100 2.8 Macro will be of more use to you, and much cheaper, than the 135 f/2.
Matt