What is the absolute best wildlife lens I should buy for my new Canon EOS R7?
I'm super new to photography and honestly have no idea what I'm doing yet. I just bought the R7 last week because I really want to take pictures of birds and deer in my local park here in Oregon.
Right now I only have the kit lens that came in the box but the animals look like tiny little specks because I cant zoom in far enough. I keep reading about focal length and aperture and crop factor and my brain is kinda melting trying to figure out what actually fits on this camera.
My budget is around $800 to $1000 max and I want to get something before my big camping trip next month. Do I need some kind of adapter for older lenses or does Canon make something that just clicks right on? Sorry if this is a really basic question I just dont want to buy the wrong thing...
I was in your shoes last year shooting elk in Oregon with my R7. The most logical choice under your budget is the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM. It clicks right onto your camera without any adapters. Thanks to the R7's 1.6x crop factor, you get a 160-640mm equivalent field of view, which is plenty of reach for park deer. It only weighs 635 grams so it wont tire you out. Another route is adapting the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary using the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R. I tried this combination too. You get massive reach, but the autofocus can occasionally pulse on the R7, and it makes the setup very heavy. For a beginner, the native RF 100-400mm is much easier to handle.
Yeah the RF 100-400 is definitely the easiest starting point, but if you really want to zoom in close on tiny birds, another native option to look at is the Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM. It retails for around $800 and doesnt need any adapters. Since the R7 has that crop factor, a 600mm lens actually gives you the field of view of a 960mm lens. That is massive reach for the price. The main catch with this one is the fixed f/11 aperture. Basically, it lets in less light, so you need decent sunshine for it to work well. If you are shooting in dense, dark Oregon forests under heavy tree canopy, it might struggle a bit, but for open parks it is surprisingly good. It is also crazy light and easy to pack for camping. Definitely check out Duade Paton on YouTube. He has some really detailed setup guides and tests specifically for the R7 and this lens. It helped me a ton when I was trying to figure out if f/11 was actually usable. You can also search Flickr for the group dedicated to this lens to see what kind of quality real people are getting. It might be a bit too much zoom if a deer pops up right in front of you, but for distant birds, it is a fun option.
I actually started out trying to stretch my budget as far as possible when I got into wildlife stuff. Went the refurbished route directly through Canons online store and saved a couple hundred bucks, which let me grab the Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM within my limit. Honestly, for birds, you want all the reach you can get. The 800mm is a bit of a weird beast because of that fixed f/11 aperture. It needs plenty of light, but on sunny days in the park it works surprisingly well and the stabilization is solid. It is super light too, which is nice for hiking. If you want to save some cash for your camping trip, definitely check out refurbished stock or used sites like MPB before buying brand new.
