starting out

[Eric_Seitter]

I am starting out and was offered a job to document a Osprey relocation site. I have not done any of this type of photography (yet) and was wondering:

1) I have to come up with a rate.. any I ideas?
2) I will need to purchase a long lens, being on the starting end what would be the best bang for the buck in the lens.. tele-converter combo...

and last but not least.. What should I expect....

Your equipment needed is based on your customer needs. What does your customer want and can you do the shoot with the equipment you have,most importantly know exactly what your customer wants are.

[Daniel_Bliss]

www.luminous-landscape.com has good reviews of the better Canon glass, including a 400 5.6 lens that might be appropriate (sharp enough that it should surely be OK with a converter too); check out www.naturfotograf.com for Nikon reviews. The latter site also has useful information for economically retrofitting older (i.e. cheaper) manual focus Nikon glass to work with all the metering functions and exposure modes of the latest cameras.

Consider focusing. If you go (relatively) inexpensive and lightweight with something like the Canon EF 400 5.6 as opposed to a big f2.8 or f4 telephoto, if you then also stick an f5.6 lens on a converter, you then run afoul of the f5.6 limit on autofocus with most consumer and mid-range cameras (the Canon EOS 1D series and Nikon D1 series as well as the top film bodies do better than that).

Consider what the previous poster said about customer needs. Also consider how close you can get to what you're shooting, and practical details such as how much of the frame your client needs you to fill with the actual bird for certain shots as opposed to its overall setting.

[Francis_Specker]

It sounds like this assignment is really client driven. If your client want close-up photos and you need a big telephoto lens, you can rent it (Roberts in Indiana will ship it to you, www.robertsimaging.com) and maybe they will pay for it. If they won't, you'll have to factor the cost of your lens into your equation in charging them. You might not need a big telephoto, are you working in a blind or can you set up a radio triggered camera close to a nest? This type of photography is very technically demanding and requires a lot of work. Communicate with the client first on their needs and figure out cost accordingly. I don't what kind of camera equipment you own, so suggesting a lens is difficult. A 600mm f4 lens will set you back around $4-6 thousand used and about $8000 new. And then another for $300 each for teleconverters. You could rent by the week for $315 at Roberts for the Canon 600 f4. or $180 for the Canon 500mm. That may be your best bet. You can even rent the Pocket Wizards for radio remotes there at $75 per week, make sure you get the cords for your motor drive. Unless you intend to use the big telephoto lens on a regular basis, renting is better. If you live near a big city, maybe you can rent for a day and then see if you like/need the lens.