First pics Canon 100-400 IS (1 Viewer)

Neil Grubb · Aug 7, 2005

After a lot of agonising, and after some helpful advice from BF members (like "buy it!") I now have a Canon IS lens, with a 1.4 x teleconverter. First impressions are very good. The image stabilisation is excellent and is especially useful with the teleconverter added, where camera shake is very obvious otherwise. The optical quality seems much better than that of my old Canon 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM lens. Autofocus is quick and accurate, although does not operate with the teleconverter (I understand there is a way round this).

My local buzzards were an obliging first target. These pics were hand-held and manually focussed with the teleconverter giving 560mm focal length (equivalent to about 800mm with a film SLR; I use a Canon 300D digital SLR). Yes, I know one of them has an overexposed background!; that is because the buzzard was near the line of the sun (and I had to be careful not to blind myself). The little grebe was a fair distance away for the other attached shot.

christineredgate · Aug 7, 2005

Very good Neil,keep at it,this is an excellent all round lens which does produce great images.Your first attempts are very good.

IanF · Aug 8, 2005

Very good indeed Neil. It's still on my short list. The quality of it I'm happy enough with though what's it like weight wise to hand hold? It looks and sounds awfully chunky and heavy but how does it feel?

postcardcv · Aug 8, 2005

Nice shots - especially for a first time out with a new lens. I'm not suprised that you are seeing an improvement in image quality over the Canon 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM - the 100-400 IS is a much better lens.

Neil Grubb · Aug 8, 2005

IanF said:
Very good indeed Neil. It's still on my short list. The quality of it I'm happy enough with though what's it like weight wise to hand hold? It looks and sounds awfully chunky and heavy but how does it feel?

It is quite chunky and significantly heavier than my old lens. However, I am not built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and had no problems spending an afternoon using it hand-held. It seems to balance well with the camera, and I quite liked the feel of the various controls.

Pied Kingfisher · Aug 9, 2005

Very good first attempts, Neil. Many camera shop staff tend to advise against shooting it handheld but most of my fellow birders enjoy it in their own hands. Interesting.

graham catley · Aug 9, 2005

I must admit that I still hand hold my 100-400 with 20D most of the time when not using it out of the car window---yes you do loose some sharpness but I think I get more shots which I would otherwise miss by taking the chance on a hand held reaction shots---the Roseate Tern attached was taken while I was sliding around on seaweed covered rocks and it happened to fly in and around me before heading off out to sea again--now if I had had to set up the tripod and then get into position behind it and find the bird I fancy I would not have this shot albeit with the head in shade due to ehstrong sun

christineredgate · Aug 9, 2005

Ian if I can hand hold the 100-400 then I guess you can quite easily.I must admit I do have to brace myself agains't a wall if handholding up into the air,but that is only because my standing upright is naff.It is a great lens,good value.

IanF · Aug 10, 2005

Thanks for that everyone - it's still on the list

Neil Grubb · Aug 10, 2005

What a coincidence

Wow Graham, what a coincidence. Have a sandwich......

These were some other shots I took in my first week with the 100-400 lens, they're uncannily similar to yours!!

Neil

Jos Stratford · Aug 11, 2005

Thanks Neil, this lens is still on my list and will be good to see how you get on with it - keep us posted and how you think it is, with and without the converter, with and without a tripod.

Keith Reeder · Aug 11, 2005

So am I right in thinking that this lens only works when pointed at terns?

bosquebirds · Aug 12, 2005

Yes, Keith. There's something about this bird that automatically "terns" the 100-400mm in its direction (even in New Mexico)!
Ingrid

Keith Reeder · Aug 12, 2005

Wow!

That's some advert for the lens, Ingrid - superb image!

graham catley · Aug 12, 2005

the 100-400IS works with all sorts of terns and stones

bosquebirds · Aug 13, 2005

graham catley said:
the 100-400IS works with all sorts of terns and stones

So Graham, we should leave no tern unstoned...?! Sorry, my generational references are showing.

But seriously, aren't terns just wonderful to photograph? Wish they weren't such a rarity in New Mexico.

Ingrid
:bounce:

Neil · Aug 13, 2005

I just had a look at the photos in this thead and they all look very soft to me. I suspect that they all have been cropped a lot from the original. I know the Canon IS lenses can produce very sharp results so also maybe the birds were going too fast for the shutter speeds used. If that is the case (and with terns it usually is ) I would would increase the shutter speed to try and freeze the action.I had a quick fiddle with one of Graham's tern photos and it looks like there is more details there. Neil.
ps I'm having similar difficulties with my Nikon D100 and 80-400ED VR lens with the Autofocus not being fast enough to track fast moving birds. I'm going to move up to a prime AF-S lens soon.

Neil Grubb · Aug 13, 2005

Neil said:
I just had a look at the photos in this thead and they all look very soft to me.

Nice pic, Neil, and thanks for the advice. My tern pics were shot at 1/2000 sec, but were taken panning, hand-held and with manual focus. I think it's overstating the point to say that the pics on this thread are very soft, they aren't. However, certainly my own pics could be improved but were put up as examples of first attempts, as the thread title states.

Neil

Neil · Aug 13, 2005

Neil Grubb said:
Nice pic, Neil, and thanks for the advice. My tern pics were shot at 1/2000 sec, but were taken panning, hand-held and with manual focus. I think it's overstating the point to say that the pics on this thread are very soft, they aren't. However, certainly my own pics could be improved but were put up as examples of first attempts, as the thread title states.

Neil

Neil,
My use of the word 'very' was probably a bit excessive. Sorry about that. I'm not putting myself up as an expert on flight shots because if you look at my gallery you will see that I'm not putting any in there. But if you look at some of the best flight photos in this forum you will see that most of them are taken with prime lenses in the late afternoon (it's easier to be out in the late afternoon than at sunrise I guess) which is why I'm saving up to to get one of the new fast 300/400 mm lenses from Nikon. You're a brave man to use manual focus as it's difficult to judge for fast objects , like terns, but I understand why, as I get very frustrating with the 80-400mm continually hunting on moving objects. Flight photos are a real challenge so good luck with your new lens and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them from you. Neil.

Neil Grubb · Aug 13, 2005

Thanks Neil,

Yes, I'd got quite frustrated with autofocus on my old 75-300mm non IS lens and resigned myself to manual focus for flight shots. So it's a bit of a hit and miss affair with focus; for every half decent shot many have to be discarded. I'd love one of those prime lenses but you can't have everything!

I agree with your comments about the best flight shots, and lens type and lighting. I will post future shots on the gallery and have registered a domain name for my photo website http://www/roslinnature.com. I have only been doing bird photography for just over a year so it's a project in progress. Most of the shots were taken with a cheapo lens or digiscoped.

Hope you get your prime lens soon!

Neil

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