Topics

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Lenses / What the 300mm f/2.8 II did for me

« on: May 16, 2013, 09:14:09 AM »

Justin, after some forthright comments from me, challenged me to do a review of the 300mm f/2.8 II. I am not up to writing a review but I will say why I bought the lens and give a few examples of how it has performed for me. Perhaps this thread will encourage others to submit their thoughts and photos.

I drifted into bird photography after going on safari 3 years with a 7D and brand new 200mm f/4 L IS, then progressed to a 400mm f/5.6 L and then 100-400mm f/5.6 L. After a birding holiday in Brazil, I was introduced by a Belgian to the birdpix.nl site where I submitted photos. Most were rejected for being too soft, and I was astounded by the quality of the mainly Dutch amateurs with their big white primes, usually 500mm but with the occasional 600mm or 400mm f/2.8, plus teleconverters. I needed to upgrade my gear.

After much thought and studying all the websites I plumped for the 300mm f/2.8 II, which is not the favourite lens of bird photographers, for my personal following reasons. Firstly, I do not use a tripod but always do hand held as I like to wander around with my camera swinging from my hand or sit in a hide.  The 300mm is far lighter than the big 400, 500 or 600mm and is very easily carried all day. It is heavier than the f/4 400 DO but that is the same price and has little better IQ than the f/5.6 400mm and only two stops of IS. Secondly, the Canon MTFs and the TDP tests showed that the lens was exceptionally well matched to the new 1.4x and 2x TCs. So, the 300mm with the 2xTC is an exceptionally light and effective 600mm lens, and f/5.6 isn't too slow.

I collected the lens from Jessops on a Saturday morning a year ago and immediately rushed out before AFMAing and took some bird shots. The following full size (reduced to 1200x800 for uploading) and 100% crop from the middle (800x880) was about the 10th photo I took and just blew my mind as I had got no where near this quality before. It is of a sedge warbler collecting insects for its nest - 300mm, f/2.8 Canon 7D. I'll follow these with examples with the 1.4x and 2xTC.

I hope these show that the 300mm f/2.8 II provides us with outstanding 300, 420 and 600mm primes.

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PowerShot / SX50 and Obama

« on: April 29, 2013, 04:28:29 PM »

Just in Washington DC for a few days to attend the National Academy of Sciences meeting, and I slung the SX50 into my bag, just in case. Then, this morning a surprise visit by the man himself. I was in a better position than the press with their big white lenses. Sorry the images are so small but the BA lounge has very slow internet.

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Lighting / Recommendations for flash for telephotos and birds

« on: April 21, 2013, 06:26:58 AM »

Having seen some excellent results on bird photos recently posted using flash and Better Beamers, I'd like to give them a try. I'd be grateful for advice based on my wanting flash for bird photos (using a 5DIII and 300mm f/2.8 plus extenders).

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Lenses / 400mm L f/5.6 vs 100-400mm L IS f/5.6

« on: April 18, 2013, 11:23:59 AM »

It is frequently asserted that the 400mm L f/5.6  is very sharp and a much better lens than than the 100-400mm L IS. As someone who has used both, I know that they are of very similar sharpness, and they are not as sharp as sometimes stated. So, here is a summary of quantitative measurements of both from three very reliable sources: Photozone, SLRgear and Canon MTFs. In all cases, the 100-400mm is at least as sharp in the centre, which is what counts if you are using them for bird photography. For the fun of it, I have also compared them with the now out-of-production Sigma Apo Tele Macro f/5.6. Whereas, the two Canon lenses hover in the "very good" category of Photozone, the Sigma reaches the excellent - and it really is much better. If Canon had put in some effort, they could have made a super sharp 400mm f/5.6, preferably with IS. I wonder why they never did?

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / New Online Camera/Lens Information Tool

« on: March 26, 2013, 09:45:30 AM »

The reproducibility of focus on my 7D for some lenses was poor and I had to take many shots to get keepers. The main reason I upgraded to a 5D III was Lensrentals measurements of the consistency of focus showing that the 5D III is much better. FoCal are now publishing on-line the collected results of users on lenses:

http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/online-tools/lenscamera-information/

The ones I know well from experience are borne out in their surveys.

•  Variability indicates the range of focus results you might expect.  A Low value means most shots will be very close to ideal.
•  Accuracy indicates the average focus result compared to ideal – as this number increases, you would expect less perfect focus across a number of shots.

5DIII 100-400mm L Variability = low (3.6%), Accuracy is good (2.1%)
5DII 100-400mm L Variability = significant (11.3%), Accuracy is acceptable (4.4 %)
7D 100-400mm L Variability = significant (13.3%), Accuracy is acceptable (6.0%)
5DIII 70-200mm L Variability = low (3.0%), Accuracy is excellent (1.6%)
5DII 70-200mm L Variability = low (4.2%), Accuracy is excellent (2.6%)
7D 70-200mm L Variability = moderate (4.5%), Accuracy is excellent (2.3%)

Just what I have found: the 100-400L has been given new life on the 5D III, and the 7-200mm L IS pretty good on the 7D and slightly better on the 5D III (the 5D II was thrown in for comparison). It is a useful free tool.

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Technical Support / Unusual rapid battery drain with 5D III

« on: January 09, 2013, 03:28:50 PM »

Last night during FoCal calibrations, the LP-E6 ran down very quickly. I ignored the problem, and put in a freshly charged battery, whihch also ran down in 30 minutes or so. Today, I put in a charged battery, which dropped to 92% after 78 shots at lunchtime. This evening, I noticed that despite not being used, but the camera being left turned on, it had dropped to 46%. Previously, the various batteries have been fine. Has FoCal set something in the camera or what? Any advice please.

ps Last night I was using a 300mm f/2.8 II with a 2xTC III, today with the 1,4XTC III

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Technical Support / EOS Utility 2.11.4 Updater for Mac OS X doesn't install

« on: September 13, 2012, 09:29:32 AM »

The old EOS Utility stopped working on OS 10.7.4 on updating the firmware for 7D to 2.0. So, I downloaded the latest updater. It gets as far as "Extracting files". Then, no more happens.