Vics Blog

For photographers interested in taking quality images of wildlife a good telephoto lens is paramount to the task. Good lenses come in a variety of shapes and sizes and like the mechanic who uses many tools to work on your car, lenses are used for different purposes as well. A zoom lens makes it easier to get in as much or as little of your subject as you want without the need to physically move yourself around. For example, I use a Canon 100-400mm f4.5 IS which is a zoom lens and means the focal length can be set from 100-400mm, has a minimum F stop of 4.5 and uses image stabilization. A prime lens is one that has a fixed focal length and cannot be adjusted. If you want to get more or less of your subject in the photograph then you need to physically move yourself in or out.
Prime lenses take sharper photographs than their zoom counterparts because they make fewer compromises in the internal design. However, zoom lenses are less expensive, usually don’t require the use of a tripod, are compact and lightweight in comparison and let you move quickly in rapidly changing situations. Both have their place in nature photography, but I prefer zoom lenses because I feel that mobility outweighs everything else. Let me give you an example.
In my opinion, moose are the most dangerous animal that I photograph. They have short tempers, are unpredictable and can run like a race horse which is a lot faster than yours truly. Bulls are tough to find, but last year I found a big one in a swampy area over by Grand Lake. He was standing in a bunch of gnarly willows munching on leaves and every time he moved there was a sucking, sloppy sound as his hooves pulled out of the muck. To get good pictures I had to get down in that junk as well, but I kept my distance at about forty yards and began to shoot. The willows were so thick that I needed to move a bit to my left for a clearer shot and for some reason that triggered a temper tantrum in the bull. Without warning, he laid his ears back and charged. I tried to move, but the mud yanked at my boots and as I fell, lens in hand, he closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. In an instant, his antlers whooshed directly over me. Luckily he kept right on going and laid down in another thicket several yards away. As I got up, mud and yuck dripping from every part of my body, I think I could see a grin on his face. We had words for several minutes.
Had I been using a primary, fixed focal length lens and tripod, he would have destroyed them and probably me in the process as I tried to save thousands of dollars in equipment. As it was, I just had to scrape a bit of mud of my camera and lens. It’s one of the best examples I know for using a zoom.