Long and fast lenses have been the standard in wildlife photography for years, and it hasn’t changed with the advent of digital. Wild animals and birds are a challenge to approach and long lenses allow high magnification for a close view without scaring the subject off.

Additionally, animals are most active at dawn and dusk when available light is low – or they are most frequently under tree cover where sunlight doesn’t reach easily.

Tamron's excellent 200-500 f5.6-6 lens is a good value in this group of high performance lenses. This is the super telephoto favored by many of our local birders for bald eagles out on the river or turkey near the woods. The 5.6 to 6.3 max aperture is fast for this length zoom at this price! I like the lightweight feel of this lens mounted on a camera. Definatley requires at least a monopod!

From both Canon and Nikon the 70-200 f2.8 image stabilized lens works for film or digital cameras. The 70-200 f2.8 is another common choice for serious birding. Add a 1.4X converter to make a 98 to 280 f3.5. Save hundreds compared to purchasing a 300mm f2.8 by itself!

Look for any brand 300 f2.8 lens. Such as Nikon's 300mm VR II 2.8 as an example. These lenses are highly favored by professional wildlife photographers. High-power magnification with large and fast optics make these lenses heavy and bulky, but no other lens can touch them for crystal clear and sharp wildlife images. At over $5,000 they only seem expensive... OK, so they really are expensive, but a 300mm f2.8's is actually the lowest priced fast super telephoto lens commonly used by avid wildlife photographers.

The lenses listed above are the real thing, these are the lenses that a serious wildlife shooter would want in their kit. But what if your interest is a little more casual? Do you have to give up on wildlife photography? No, not at all! In Porter's Printable Media Library we have a Beginner's Wildlife Photography PDF you can print out that can give you some tips I think you will appreciate. Yes, big and bright lenses do a superior job of wildlife photography. But when you are face to face with the desire to shoot, the best lens in the world is the one on your camera right now!