Advice needed.

[JohnP]

Anytime soon I am going to the Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo. What I would like to know is which lens would be most suitable, I don't really want to carry more around with me than I have to and I would rather not be changing lens all the time. One might straight away think macro lens, but mine is 100mm with no zoom and I think zoom would be an advantage when composing shots. I only have three zoom lenses and I've obviously discounted my 17-40mm so that leaves me with two lenses of 70-300mm & 28-135mm. I'm thinking the 28-135mm would be the one to use... what do you think?

 

Here's a link in case any of you are ever in the area and would like to visit.

 

http://www.butterflyzoo.co.uk/

[Guest]

I would go 28-135 thats the lens I use for the local carnival parade as it allows me to get whole floats in as well as get close ups of some of the people on the floats. I think it will cover most shots for you

[geodar]

I used the 70-300mm lens. reason being they are flighty (no pun) insects so shooting them from a slight distance when the had landed gave me a chance of some shots, also there is a 1:2 macro setting on the lens so if you do manage to get close then you can use that. not only do they do butterflies but have nice, different flowers and plants, also some now have various other animals in a separate room.

the biggest problem with butterfly houses is the heat and humidity, give the camera/lens plenty of time to adjust to it, I wouldn't change lenses in the house, have a cloth handy just in case you need to wipe the lens. 

Geoff.

[annie]

is it one of the tropical places john? when i go to them i only take my hs20 in with my raynox....i would be to scared of the humidity...

[bugmeister]

I'd echo the comments about using a zoom lens, whichever you go for.  The main reason is not to change lenses in the humidity which you're more likely to want to do with fixed length.