Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Only had the lens for a few days but here are my first impressions having come from a 400/5.6.
Having never seen the lens in the flesh before I was surprised just how big it was, especially when the hood is attached. Length wise it is about the same as the 400/5.6 but the hood is about 6" diameter - Makes the 400/5.6 seem very small indeed. Weight wise I knew it was about double the weight of the 400/5.6.
My first trip out was with the lens mounted on my tripod and Gimbal head and I carried it over my shoulder. One of my main concerns was the weight when on walkabouts but I managed a longish walk with no problem.
A lighter option is to mount the lens directly on a monopod and carry over the shoulder. I have not been on a long walk with the monopod yet but trying it out at home and it was quite comfortable over the shoulder.
The lens is also very hand-holdable by carrying via the lens strap over your shoulder, with the lens strap over the shoulder it is quite easy to pull the lens up to the shooting position while still retaining the strap over the shoulder. It may be that a Optech strap could be better than the supplied Canon one.
I have not got a 2x tc yet but tried it out with stacked 1.4’s (Kenko Pro + Canon) and was pleasantly surprised how well it auto focussed. IQ is looking good. I was shooting into the light and from a distance yesterday but still got some nice shots even though I had to crop heavily.
What surprised me most with the two converters attached was just how little sharpening was needed, shooting in RAW they were very sharp and only needed the slightness amount of USM.
The IQ with a 1.4 tc is superb with lightening fast AF. Having read all the hype about the sharpness of this lens I was not disappointed, it is mega sharp. Other things that I have noticed is the great colour rendition and superb bokeh.
I have no previous experience with I.S. but to my mind it seemed to kick-in almost instantaneously. You would not know it was there apart from the very faint whirring noise. Messing around in the garden I got sharp shots at 1/100 sec when hand-holding.
So far I have left the IS on mode 2 which seems to work well both hand holding and on the tripod – apparently the I.S is tripod sensing which means that when it does not detect any intentional panning movement it turns off the horizontal I.S.
My main reasons for getting the lens was for more distance and better low light performance and to this end it is looking very good at the moment.
The Wheatear and Godwit shots were taken at 420mm hand held ISO 800, both medium to heavy crops and the Gull shots were at 600mm on a tripod - heavily cropped and harsh light (the gull shots only show 420mm because only one tc shows in the EXIF).
Having never seen the lens in the flesh before I was surprised just how big it was, especially when the hood is attached. Length wise it is about the same as the 400/5.6 but the hood is about 6" diameter - Makes the 400/5.6 seem very small indeed. Weight wise I knew it was about double the weight of the 400/5.6.
My first trip out was with the lens mounted on my tripod and Gimbal head and I carried it over my shoulder. One of my main concerns was the weight when on walkabouts but I managed a longish walk with no problem.
A lighter option is to mount the lens directly on a monopod and carry over the shoulder. I have not been on a long walk with the monopod yet but trying it out at home and it was quite comfortable over the shoulder.
The lens is also very hand-holdable by carrying via the lens strap over your shoulder, with the lens strap over the shoulder it is quite easy to pull the lens up to the shooting position while still retaining the strap over the shoulder. It may be that a Optech strap could be better than the supplied Canon one.
I have not got a 2x tc yet but tried it out with stacked 1.4’s (Kenko Pro + Canon) and was pleasantly surprised how well it auto focussed. IQ is looking good. I was shooting into the light and from a distance yesterday but still got some nice shots even though I had to crop heavily.
What surprised me most with the two converters attached was just how little sharpening was needed, shooting in RAW they were very sharp and only needed the slightness amount of USM.
The IQ with a 1.4 tc is superb with lightening fast AF. Having read all the hype about the sharpness of this lens I was not disappointed, it is mega sharp. Other things that I have noticed is the great colour rendition and superb bokeh.
I have no previous experience with I.S. but to my mind it seemed to kick-in almost instantaneously. You would not know it was there apart from the very faint whirring noise. Messing around in the garden I got sharp shots at 1/100 sec when hand-holding.
So far I have left the IS on mode 2 which seems to work well both hand holding and on the tripod – apparently the I.S is tripod sensing which means that when it does not detect any intentional panning movement it turns off the horizontal I.S.
My main reasons for getting the lens was for more distance and better low light performance and to this end it is looking very good at the moment.
The Wheatear and Godwit shots were taken at 420mm hand held ISO 800, both medium to heavy crops and the Gull shots were at 600mm on a tripod - heavily cropped and harsh light (the gull shots only show 420mm because only one tc shows in the EXIF).
Attachments
Last edited: