canon ef 600 f4 l usm lense (1 Viewer)

Hi i had a chance of buying canon ef 600f4 l usm lense second hand ,but now i have got it wow didnt relise it is so heavy , what sort of tri pod would i need or have i made a big mistake

blacky said:

Hi i had a chance of buying canon ef 600f4 l usm lense second hand ,but now i have got it wow didnt relise it is so heavy , what sort of tri pod would i need or have i made a big mistake

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Blacky,
I wouldn't say you've made a mistake although you have bought quite a monster.
I use a Gitzo 3540LS to support mine,as well as the tripod you need some kind of expensive Gimbal head. Between £500 and a grand for both I'm afraid, but once you've got it your sorted.
Good luck.

I also got my 600mm without a great deal of planning and then had to face the problem of supporting it. I've got a Gitzo 1325 carbon fibre tripod and one of those Wimberley gimbal heads. You can get the tripod in metal rather than carbon fibre, which is considerably cheaper, but it's also a lot heavier and I decided than I needed to save weight wherever feasible. And it's just as well really, because the gimbal head is pretty heavy by itself, although I've got the original version and I believe the newer version is a bit lighter. Yes, it's pretty expensive and I have to admit that if I'd looked into it a bit more then I might have bought something else and saved myself a few quid. But having got the lens, I wanted to get out and take pictures ASAP!

Of course it's an excellent lens, you just have to work out a system for carrying it around that works for you. I've got one of those multi-compartment rucksacks which is good for carrying lots of stuff over long distances, plus I also got a custom made canvas bag from Wildlife Watching Supplies which enables me to carry it as hand luggage on planes. When out birding I carry the camera and lens over one shoulder via a padded strap (attached to the lens, not the camera) and I carry the tripod in the other hand. It's not ideal for making the most of quick opportunities since you've got to mount the lens on the tripod but it's the best way I've found so far. Then of course you have to learn how to get the most out of the lens which is a long-term, on-going task (one which I'm still very much involved in myself). Persistence will, or at least should, be rewarded though!

thanks clive and mike for all your advice any idea were i can get a manual for it

No idea, but there isn't that much to change on the lens itself. I normally leave the image stabiliser on and in mode 1 and I usually use AF (autofocus) but sometimes change it to manual. There's been some debate on this forum about which settings people use under different circumstances so I can't say that these are necessarily always the right settings. The top button (focusing range) is quite useful, I normally have it on 5.5-infinity but I've been doing a lot of small birds at feeding stations recently and for that I change it to 5.5-16.2m, this cuts down the amount that the camera 'hunts' in and out, looking for something to focus on, which is a real pain if the bird is in a cluttered area with lots of twigs, leaves etc in the way. Otherwise pretty much everything you'll need to change is on the camera itself.

thanks clive i think i will join the local gym to