Need More Focal Length And Don't Want To Have To Buy An Expensive Super Telephoto Lens? Here's A Work-A-Round

See original file below.  This file is an example of what I write in this post.  The birds were very
small in the frame, too small actually, but I knew with good technique and modern software, I could
edit the image in a fashion to achieve the final image I had envisioned. (click to enlarge)
OM-1; 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens @ 400mm; 1/320th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Many of us need a piece of kit but either can’t afford what we want or just don’t want to pay out the big dollars because we feel we may not get the use out of it to justify spending the money?

For example, on occasion you might like to go out and photograph wildlife or birds.  You would love to have a lens longer than the 200mm or 300mm maximum focal length you already own but you don’t feel that you’ll get your money’s worth as your wildlife photography forays don’t happen often enough.  Just occasionally.

How about an upcoming trip in which a long telephoto lens would be perfect but you don’t want to buy one for just this one occasion.  I have a couple of hacks or work-a-rounds a that may work for you for a lot less money.

First, you could rent a lens when you need one.  That is quite common and I’ve done that myself.  I've rented several lenses over the years either for an occasion where I only needed the lens once or to just try one out and test it to see if I would be happy before purchasing it.

Second, you could send a couple of hundred dollars or less and potentially get the results—maybe not the absolute best results—you want, but good enough which is better than not getting any photos at all.  How?  Software and perfect technique.  Let me explain.

It is not unusual for me to be out photographing, see something, want to make the photograph but the longest lens I have with me isn’t long enough for the composition I envision or to have the subject large enough in my viewfinder.  That happened a few weeks ago when I saw three killdeer standing on a railroad track.  They were just too far away for the longest focal length I had with me.  I very carefully made several shots anyway.  Why?

Original file, slightly underexposed so as to not blow out the white feathers around the birds' necks
and focus just a tad off but shooting at 800mm (FF equiv.) using 1/320th second, I'm not surprised.
Even with ~800mm equivalent, it still wasn’t enough for what I envisioned.  (click to enlarge)

I knew that when I returned home, I could check the files for which was the sharpest, crop in heavily to achieve the composition I wanted then send the file to either DXO PureRaw 4 or Topaz Photo AI for further enhancement.  In this case, I sent the file to Topaz Photo AI.  The software suggested a sharpening algorithm and amount, a bit of noise reduction and then upsized the file so I could view it on the web as well as post it here.  The software programs aren't free but they are an awful lot less expensive than a $2000 US or more lens.

Over the past couple of years, I've done this many times.  In fact, if you look at my grizzly bear photos from Yellowstone National Park earlier this year, a significant number of them were edited the same way.  The bears were so far away that even 1120mm (600mm +1.5X DX crop + 1.4X tele-converter) was not enough to capture the bears at a size that I desired.  Using those types of optical gyrations and given the great distance with associated atmospheric haze, I knew that I would need to have to heavily rely on editing software to achieve the final images I wanted to share.  You can see the images of the bears here, here and here.

Of course, success largely depends upon the quality of lens you use and more importantly, your technique.  If you have the best and sharpest lens in the world and your technique is poor, you might as well just pack up your kit and go home.

Of course, it is always to have is gear that will get the job done as needed but if you don’t happen to have the best tools for your photographic job, a work around such as outlined here can be a viable substitute.

Here is another example from the same time.  My AF just missed sharply focusing these two
birds.  However, with a quick round trip to Topaz Photo AI, the result is below. (click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

To wrap this up, there may be some viable alternatives to spending money for a long lens.  You might want to try one of these two suggestions and see how you fare.  I try not to rule out any option I may have and leverage technology as much as necessary.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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