Hi,everybody. I'm a keen butterfly lover.I recebtly bought rebel 2000 with 75-300 lens. But i would like to consult the pros here before i set off to capture the butterflies. What i want to know is the techniques and experiences. Also,i want the photo to be 8"x10",will iso200 film,eg kodak gold 100,yield grainy photo?

-- carto reiner (flying@mail.com), February 26, 2002

Answers

hi,

that lens is not really good for any such photography you mentioned. its very soft at the longer end. you really need to be careful with it, especially when you are planning to enlarge the photo to 8"x10". you will have to get some long primes or a macro lens.

what do you mean by "iso200 film,eg kodak gold 100,yield grainy photo". kodak gold 100 is a iso100. its a good film but good enought when the subject is steady and when you are shooting with a tripod or light sufficient enough to give you high shutter speed.

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), February 27, 2002.

The Kodak Gold series is consumer grade. They do a decent job for 4x6 prints, but are not designed for high quality enlargements - you'll see a loss of color, and perhaps some noticable grain. Kodak Royal Gold is a better choice. But if I were shooting the little winged beauties, I'd use Kodak Portra 160 VC (or 400 VC if you need the speed). It does a great job with enlargements and will give you excellent color. I have only gone up to 11x14 with this film, but I suspect I could go even bigger. Don't be afraid to manual focus, and watch your shutter speed at the long end of your lens. The general rule (hand held) is a shutter speed greater or equal to focal length. good luck!

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), February 27, 2002.

I don't use negative color film, so I'll pass on that one. The 75- 300 would work well for butterflies with the addition of a Canon 500D close up lens or a Nikon 5T close up lens. In fact, I prefer to shoot closeups with my EF 100-300/4.5-5.6 to using my 70-200/2.8L. The lens may not be as sharp but, with a closeup lens, it's lightweight and easy to use handheld while you chase around the butterfly. Don't buy the cheap closeup lenses, the only ones worth buying are the two-element Canon 500D or the Nikon 5T and 6T lenses. I use the Nikon 5T. Works great.

-- Lee (Leemarthakiri@sport.rr.com), February 27, 2002.

I agree with Lee on the use of close up lenses such as the 500D, 5T, or 6T. Regarding film, 100 ASA film should yield acceptable 8x10's. If you are scanning with grain reduction software, such as GEM in the Nikon scanners, then you can get pretty good 8x10's from even 800 speed film. If you are dealing strictly with prints from negatives, however, you might be satisfied with 400 ASA film and probably would be OK with 200 ASA. You'll need to burn a lot of film anyways on butterflies since they are so active. 100 ASA film might be too slow if you are not using a flash, as your maximum shutter speed may be too limited with an aperture that yields acceptable depth of field (often f11 or f16).

-- AC Gordon (cgordon@stx.rr.com), February 28, 2002.