Birding without a tripod!
Okay, there may never be a small handholdable lens that can get birds as good as the expensive big guns with white barrels (not to mention their OIS and tighter lengths); but this works for me. Get something in range of the tight (but perhaps not birding-tight) 100mm, and the crazy f/2 aperture usably stops birds in motion in many cases.
I don’t have too much experience with this lens as of this writing, but one recent trip to Anacortes had this lens capture songbirds far easier and clearer than all my other gear. This lens is great paired with a body capable of high burst rates, though that hardly befits the description “budget”. (Counterpoint: Buying a prehistoric high-end camera body with a good burst rate is a thought here!)
Since this lens doesn’t have its barrel extend for any reason and has the fast and quiet USM focus motor, it isn’t liable to disturb any wildlife near you any more than you are inherently. One drawback to USM is that it can often outrun cheaper or adapted bodies’ autofocus, but that’s on the body and not the lens.
What made me buy this lens?
One dark day at Whatcom Falls, I was awful close to some kinglets inhabiting some shrubs. My 50mm 1.8 wasn’t tight (zoomed in) enough, and my 55-250mm f/4-5.6 wasn’t bright enough. The pictures at 50mm need too much cropping and often had the autofocus distracted, whereas the 55-250’s pictures simply came out way too blurry. Thus began a search to see if something relatively affordable and handholdable could find balance between the 50mm’s speed and the 55-250mm’s reach
Since 100mm is coincidentally the classic “macro” length, I came close to buying an EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM or a similar 105mm Sigma. However, I wanted something smaller and lighter. I found this EF 100mm f/2 used at Glazer’s at a price low enough to almost pay for a future EF-S Macro on the side. (Glazer’s was also nice enough to include a used hood as a bonus, without it being mentioned anywhere when I bought it.)
Joe R. Stead 