Werribee Zoo - Looking for Lens guidance

[Iscariot]

G'day

For those that have been to Werribee Zoo in Melbourne what gear did you take? I'll be down there next week and while Im definately taking my 35mm for the city visit Im tossing up between the 70-200 or the 120-300

For anyone familiar with the place which is more useful:

The longer reach of the 300

or

The wider bottom end at 70 rather than 120?

[jjphoto]

There are open plains in Werribee where you need as much reach as you can get, more than 300mm, then there are the enclosures where you might be very close to an animal, if you're lucky. If I had to take just ONE lens I would take the lens with the longest reach.

[Iscariot]

There are open plains in Werribee where you need as much reach as you can get, more than 300mm, then there are the enclosures where you might be very close to an animal, if you're lucky. If I had to take just ONE lens I would take the lens with the longest reach.

Yeah thats what I was thinking. Might also take the grip of the D7K and through the 35mm on it just in case. Will have to see what the bag weight is like.

- - - Updated - - -

Did you try this:

http://www.zoo.org.au/werribee/wild-encounters/open-vehicle-adventure

If you have, how was it?

[chappo1]

If you can get there when it opens try for the first bus trip and the back of the bus up high. It is pot luck which side of the bus is best on any particular journey but last time we were there I took the left side :sad68: and my wife had the right side which was RIGHT in both senses of the word !!

I would take the 120-300 as the lens and hopefully either your camera body or the lens is image stabilised as it can get bumpy....john


I forgot to add- make sure you post your bag of kills !!

[Lance B]

The 120-300 would be about a perfect fit at Werribee. I have been twice and on the first time I took my 300 f2.8 VRII and used a 1.4xTC but also took my 70-200 and had to use both. The second time I just took my new 80-400 f4.5-5.6 and this was probably the best option.

[Iscariot]

The 120-300 would be about a perfect fit at Werribee. I have been twice and on the first time I took my 300 f2.8 VRII and used a 1.4xTC but also took my 70-200 and had to use both. The second time I just took my new 80-400 f4.5-5.6 and this was probably the best option.

Thats good to hear. With the abilty to switch to either DX mode or crop with the D800 hopefully I shouldnt miss the extra reach on the long end. What was the most used focal length the second time round?

[Lance B]

Thats good to hear. With the abilty to switch to either DX mode or crop with the D800 hopefully I shouldnt miss the extra reach on the long end. What was the most used focal length the second time round?

Good question. I really don't know, but a seat of the pants thought would be about 400mm, the maximum of the 80-400 zoom, which is what I probably mostly used when I took the 300 f2.8 + 1.4x TC and 70-200. However, this does not dismiss the value of the shorter focal lengths when required.

[salnel]

I have been to the zoo a couple of times and used my 300 f4+1.4TC. I would be using the longest lens..most of the animals are a fair bit away except for the giraffes which can get very close to the bus :)

[CapnBloodbeard]

Took my 70-200, but I also took the safari tour so got fairly close to the 'open range' animals, and up to 200 is a fair length for the more 'locked up' ones

[Iscariot]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sounds like I should be pretty right with the 120-300. Might have to use a crop mode though. Will post when I get back next week.

[Warbler]

It's been many years since I've been to Werribee, so I'm not sure the vehicles are still the same. If they are, the buses are difficult to get a big heavy lens out the window unless as Chappo mentioned, you're up the back sitting high. I used the Sigma 50-500 a lot there. It was great for the enclosures too. The photography tour was a bit problematic though. Ideally, you'd want to stand off a bot from the animals to get a lower perspective and to blur out the background. The drivers I had were not photographers and drive up as close as possible meaning you were always shooting down. This wasn't helped by all the numnuts with their 3x zoom P&S who wanted to get closer to get a snapshot. It can be a frustrating experience. Hope that doesn't happen to you.

[Iscariot]

The trip went well the zoo is an interesting place. The 120-300 worked well. however the animals were not particularly active and the driver did get a bit closer than I would have liked in some cases but I can understand why so no complaints here.

Here are a few:

1)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2843/10266519566_03a7cc106f_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10266519566/)
DSC_8974 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10266519566/) by Iscariotau (http://www.flickr.com/people/iscariotau/), on Flickr

2)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7357/10266857646_163c836aaa_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10266857646/)
DSC_8916-Edit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10266857646/) by Iscariotau (http://www.flickr.com/people/iscariotau/), on Flickr

3)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3700/10267046986_17cf9e62e3_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267046986/)
DSC_8838 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267046986/) by Iscariotau (http://www.flickr.com/people/iscariotau/), on Flickr

4)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5446/10267491163_40e6a82741_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267491163/)
DSC_8748 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267491163/) by Iscariotau (http://www.flickr.com/people/iscariotau/), on Flickr

5)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/10267786583_42751f37c7_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267786583/)
DSC_8651-Edit (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iscariotau/10267786583/) by Iscariotau (http://www.flickr.com/people/iscariotau/), on Flickr

[Doktaduck]

Nice work Gavin.

I particulary like the sharpness of the Hippo and the composition of the Zebra.

Not personally a fan of that much vignetting on the Hippo, but overall a very nice set.

[Iscariot]

Nice work Gavin.

I particulary like the sharpness of the Hippo and the composition of the Zebra.

Not personally a fan of that much vignetting on the Hippo, but overall a very nice set.

Thanks.

My partner didnt really like the vignetting either but I feel like the hippo is giving me a sideways look and it just felt appropriate :-)

[Hayaku]

Curious but were there ever times you felt that the 120 was not wide enough?

[Iscariot]

Curious but were there ever times you felt that the 120 was not wide enough?


Yeah there was indeed. During the open wheel adventure tour we took the guide parks right next to the animals and in some cases I would have used something wider than 120. Having said that, had I opted for the 70-200 instead I would have missed the 200+ more than the range between 70-120.

Had we just taken the tour included in the price Im not sure I would have missed anything below 120 at all.