Which of my lenses should I use at the zoo?

Hi all,

I'm pretty new here to the boards and would like to ask a question. I don't have many lenses but out of the ones that I have, which one should I use for zoo photos? I'm taking my 2 boys to the zoo and I want to get some good ones of the animals.....oh and the caged ones too. I only want to take one lens.....should I take the Tamron 28-75 or the Sigma 70-300? Thanks so much for answering.

It depends on how close you are to the animals (this varies between zoos).

If I had to take one lens, I'd take the 70-300 so you can possibly get some nice close-up shots of the animals.

I'd take into consideration how shaded the areas can be as well though. You may be able to bump the ISO high enough to achieve the shutter speed you need to prevent motion blur, but if I would also take a monopod just incase. I always shoot with a monopod when I'm at my local zoos. Again, this is dependent on the zoo though. If many of the exhibits are in open light then you may not need one.

The reach of the 70-300 would be best at a Zoo. Its nice to zoom in on an animal at close range.

the 70-300 sigma biggest aperture is 5.6 or there abouts at 300
if the animal is behind glass or a cage.. 5.6 from a close distance might not be enough to blur the glass or cage completey out of focus.. may be wrong.. just a though

molesrkool wrote in post #2017861
the 70-300 sigma biggest aperture is 5.6 or there abouts at 300
if the animal is behind glass or a cage.. 5.6 from a close distance might not be enough to blur the glass or cage completey out of focus.. may be wrong.. just a though

Unless the animal is right in front of the fence (or very close to it), even at 5.6 because of the long focal length, it will still get rid of the cage because of the shallow depth of field.

70-300.

Take your 70-300 for outdoor shots and bring along the 50mm for indoor shots and possible close pics if you got family with you.

Take them all, but you'll probably get the most use from the 70-300. Take a monopod too, if you can. Watch for camera shake at 300mm!

Thank you all. I'll take the 70-300. With two kids, I need to limit my load so I only wanted to bring one lens.