Letter: What Lens Does Malcolm Fincham Use For His Bird Photos?

Published on: 4 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 4 Sep, 2018

Malcolm Fincham

From Len Walker

I met The Dragon’s bird-watching columnist Malcolm Fincham some time ago on the path near Triggs Lock, and I subsequently subscribed to his excellent diary.

I now have more time on my hands and am looking into buying a better lens for wildlife (birds, animals and not insects) photography – and I do not want to make a mistake and purchase the ‘wrong’ lens.

Would he remind me of the lens he most often uses to take the photos for the diary?

I look forward to his reply.

Malcolm Fincham responded:

Dear Len,

Always happy to help (where I can) with my limited knowledge.

I have, and still do, use several lenses for my photography, but, for me, the one that outshines them all, is the all is my Sigma 150-600mm contemporary lens.

Although a bit weighty on long walks, it’s much lighter than the more robust “sports” version. I expect Canon and Nikon do an equivalent or even a better version, though, at a price beyond my affordability.

What I most like about this model, is that it has a manual override setting, which allows me to autofocus, then refocus manually if there are objects, in the way of the subject that it may prefer to focus on.

Hope I’m of some help and that you continue to enjoy reading my reports.

All the best,

Malcolm