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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

7dmark 2 EF 300mm F/2.8 II EF IS L (1 Viewer)

I have never found a need to fine tune any Canon lens, maybe I'm missing out! I never switch the IS off either as on more recent lenses, your instruction book will indicate as much, it can detect when the lens is on a tripod and if you are attempting to hand hold it will be advantageous.The lens might seem monstrous when you first get one but it soon shrinks in size and panning BIF should be possible once you have had a little practice and some weight training.
If you are making big crops perhaps the problem is atmospheric distortion caused by the heat.
 
kim said:
Many thanks for all the helpful advice and suggestions. I think that the main problem was probably because I was just too far away, it was impossible to get any closer without falling off a cliff!! When I return home I will do as suggested and get a calibration tool.

Once again, many thanks for all your help;.
Click to expand...

Have you thought of using the Canon Mk3 extenders? Both the 1.4 and 2 x work very well with it.
 
Hi and thanks for the replies I am in France, on the coast, and the weather has been simply atrocious, I think perhaps I have been overly concerned because I have just spent a fortune. I think perhaps I should reserve judgement till I am home again and in more normal weather conditions. I have the 1.4 extender but not really had an opportunity to try it.
 
I think it's easy to forget the effect of atmospherics on images which are a distance away. Especially as someone else mentioned earlier when you are by the sea. Its not something you hear mentioned very much but it can have a big impact on quality and very often you just dont notice it with the naked eye.

Incidentally I always find a quick fix for images like that is the de-haze option in Lightroom... quick and easy!
 
Good point Bryan!

On small birds I find 6/7 meters a long way with my 300 F2.8 and try not to go beyond 10/12 meters with my 800 F5.6. Naturally on larger birds (Bitterns etc) one can go quite a bit further but it is still surprising how much the atmosphere can muck up the detail.

For me long lenses are not to get more range - they are to get the subject a decent size in the frame.
 
Thank you all for your advice on this post . I have discovered that it was a childish error on my part that caused all the problems. I had selected the wrong F number and I discovered this when getting exasperated with the continuing problem by changing from AV to P and the problem disappeared. I changed back to AV and adjusted the aperture accordingly and had no further problems. Cannot imagine how I could be so gormless....old age I guess.
 
kim said:
Thank you all for your advice on this post . I have discovered that it was a childish error on my part that caused all the problems. I had selected the wrong F number and I discovered this when getting exasperated with the continuing problem by changing from AV to P and the problem disappeared. I changed back to AV and adjusted the aperture accordingly and had no further problems. Cannot imagine how I could be so gormless....old age I guess.
Click to expand...

We've all been there.... I was on a night drive in Kruger and couldn't get my 500 f4 to focus - turned out the focus option switch had got turned from full range to close range only. Luckily I had the sense to focus manually in the absence of the nous to realise my error, but I still probably didn't get as sharp shots as I could have.

Under less pressure back at the camp I discovered what the problem was.

John
 
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