What lenses do you generally carry with you when you go out to shoot wildlife? This past year I have kept my Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera the majority of the time and sometimes switch to my Tamron 180mm macro lens. The third lens that I have with me generally is a Canon 50mm lens that I use only occasionally.
While I was going to be away in Vienna, I decided to lend my long lens to a friend. We got into a conversation about the lens when I delivered it to him and I noted that one of th disadvantages of the Tamron zoom was that it is slow, with a maximum aperture of f/6.3 when extended to 600mm.
I contrasted the speed of the long lens with that of my “nifty fifty” that has a maximum aperture of f/1.8. In order to demonstrate how much more light I could get at f/1.8, I had him hold a couple of his guinea pigs and I took some portrait shots handheld in the limited available indoor light with the lens wide open. With a human subject, I would probably have been uncomfortably close, but the guinea pigs didn’t seem to mind.
Finally I took a few shots using the 180mm wide open at f/3.5. It was quite a bit harder to frame the squirming guinea pig at the greater distance, but I got a few shots that look almost like I used studio lighting.
I think my friend learned a bit more about the lenses (and I ended up lending him the 50mm lens too) and I rediscovered the joy of switching lenses and zooming with my feet.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice shots! I wonder if they stay still!
What a cutie – great shots Mike!
You got some pretty astonishing results and the lesson on lenses was really helpful.
Thanks, Charlie. It was fun taking advantage of the moment. I never know when photo opportunities will come about, but love to try to take advantage of them when they do.
Such great photos of cute little subjects. I absolutely love guinea pigs and you really captured the different expressions they each can have. They are such curious little animals. I had one for years – his name was Chester. I cried for days when he passed away. He was my little buddy. Thanks for sharing these very special photos.
Thanks so much, Ginny. I had never interacted with guinea pigs before, though I had a hamster for a while and now have a rabbit. They were definitely a lot of fun to play with and to photograph.