Nature Lover and Amateur Videographer Learning to do stills

[baetis]

Hello community! I am from MI and am working on a fly-fishing documentary and was hoping to get more into still photography as well. I have a canon t5i that I just purchased a week ago and was just curious to see what type of lens and approximately how much it would cost and perhaps where to buy for nature shots such as birds, deer and other animals. Also, curious if your recommended lens has or may have an image stabilizer for video, etc.? I currently have a 55 to 250 mm lens but it just not give the correct focus and or magnification for longer distance shots of birds, etc. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you much and if interested our Fly-Fishing Documentary will be available to view online at kmfproductions.com.

[Loupey]

Welcome to the site (nice username btw, from one fly-fisherman to another).

I assume your inquiry about a lens for nature shots is separate from your fly-fishing documentary project? I can't see shooting fly-fishermen with anything longer than 250mm.

For nature/wildlife, as I'm sure you already realized, no lens is long enough. 300mm is a good starting range, 400mm is much nicer, and 500mm+ is ideal. But cost is a huge factor. What is your budget? We're talking about lenses that can range anywhere from $1k to well over $10k even though the focal ranges may be the same. Price varies primarily with the maximum aperture required. The maximum aperture required varies with what and how you shoot.

[baetis]

Thank you Loupey. Hope you are seeing a few steelhead there in OH. The Michigan bite has been a bit slow as of late. Regarding the lens I am doing some extended research and finding that the 400mm is more than enough to capture tight nature/wildlife shots. My budget is around 8 to 1,000 now and am hoping to mak ethe best purchase based on recommendations, research, etc. I know very little about aperture and other technicalities regarding focus, light, etc. Again, really an amateur with the desire to learn. For those that are reading this what would be your overall recommendation for A.) video of action shots from fly-fishing and B.) Tight shots of wildlife/nature such as birds, deer, fish, etc. Again, looking for a lens or lenses that will go onto a Rebel t5i. Thank you!

[Loupey]

From your post in the Nature & Wildlife forum, I see that you purchased a Tamron 150-600mm.

But based on your original inquiry and now knowing your budget, I would have also recommended a good used EF300mm f/4L IS or a used EF100mm-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS (original version). With the Mark II version of the 100mm-400mm zoom now available, the used market will be flooded with the original version.

[baetis]

Thanks guys....I will start with the Tamron 200-600mm and perhaps upgrade here in the near future. Still wondering how to adjust shutter speed on T5i. I believe I am getting closer to crisper still of nature, etc.