What lenses do I need for butterfly photography?

If you have a passion for butterfly photography and want to get the best butterfly shots you possible can you need to use the right camera lens. Arguably, you can use whatever lens you want to take photos of butterflies but using one of the lenses I use (please read on for details) makes butterfly photography easier, will result in an increased keeper rate and hence more fun – using the ‘wrong’ gear leads to a lot of frustration.

I typically use two different types of lenses for butterfly photography, and these include:-

Canon 100mm – 400mm f4.5 – 5.6L IS tele lens (Full review here)

Focal Length – Full frame/APS-C:- 100mm - 400mm/ 160mm - 640mm/ Aperture:- 4.5 - 32 / 5.6 – 38/ Min focus:- 38.4"/ Dimensions:- 3.7" x 7.6"/ Weight:- 56.1 oz/ Image stabilization:- Yes/ Price (approx.) $USD/£GBP:- $2,000.00/£1,950.00 

The 100mm – 400mm tele lens I use for taking photos of butterflies is the Canon 100-400 L IS lens, and it does everything I need it to.

The build quality of this lens is superb, the image quality is superb and the 100mm – 400mm focal length is versatile and allows me to zoom in for a frame filling shot, or pull back to include the butterfly and a bit of background.

The 100mm – 400mm zoom lens is best used to take photos of butterflies when they are active and on the wing, which is during the day time. When butterflies are flying around going form flower to flower and not staying still for more than a few seconds the zoom lens will let you track the butterflies, get them in the frame and take a shot before flying off. 

Canon 100mm f2.8L IS macro lens (Full review here)

Focal Length – Full frame/APS-C:- 100mm/ 160mm/ Aperture:- 2.8 - 32/ Min focus:- 11.8"/Dimensions:- 3.1" x 4.7"/ Weight:- 22.1 oz/ Image stabilization:- Yes/ Price (approx.) $USD/£ GBP:-$800.00/£685.00 

The macro lens I use for taking photos of butterflies is the Canon 100mm f2.8L IS macro lens. Even though the 180mm macro lens is supposed to be the “best” Canon macro lens I found it heavy, cumbersome and not nice to use. The 100mm macro lens is the best compromise between size, image quality, easy use and cost.

The build quality of this lens is superb, the image quality is superb and the image stabilization is very useful to capture sharp handheld shots.

I find the macro lens the best lens to use when the butterflies are less active and a dozy which is typically first thing in the morning and late afternoon, i.e. just after and just before rest time. When the butterflies are in this state you can get nice and close without spooking them and take true ‘macro’ and super close-up shots.

If you want to capture the best photos of butterflies you need just two lenses – a long reach zoom lens and a macro lens, and nothing else. 

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