Pascal Photography Studio

Living with a Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens in the wild.

Whether I like it or not, I have made a conscious educated choice the day I decided to by my 100-400mm zoom, I have made my bed and I have to live with it. But how well am I living with it?

After 11 days and some 3500 photos done with my 2 lenses, the other being a Canon 24-70mm f/2.4 L, I thought I’d report on the experience.

First if you are going to use a zoom lens for wildlife a few setting are going to be required, either put your camera on sport or set it to centre auto focus, ISO 400/800, it’s highest f-stop (4.5 to 5.6 in this case) and in continuous shooting, this is important as most wildlife will not wait for you to setup your camera or to have the perfect frame. Most wildlife photographers end up cropping their photos to re-frame anyways. I admit that though I knew about all this the day I got to the park I was so excited I forgot to do the settings… It cost me a lot of bad and unusable photos.

Next, what of the Image Stabilizer? I tried both with and without to be perfectly honest as long as you are getting a speed above 1/250 of a second leave it on, just remember that IS does not compensate for the subjects movement, it only compensates for camera shake. So, if your are like me and forget to change your settings, movement blur of the subject will be your punishment, see leopard’s paws and legs bellow? 

The IS was on, the camera told me the the photo could be taken but at ISO100, 1/100 of a second, f/4.5 I got motion blur, so the IS was a problem in this case as it allowed me to take a photograph that did not represent what I wanted. I subsequently raised the ISO to 400 and the results were quiet different. This in flight Ground Hornbill was taken with far less light the IS was on with the settings at ISO400, 1/640 of a second, f/9.0 and has very little unwanted movement blur.

So if you follow some simple principals it is possible to catch wildlife action without too much grief.

What really amazed me about the lens was the image quality and focusing speed, my Sigma never game me those qualities. The drawback, the 1.3kg added to the extended body, it can get tiring at times but a bean bag or window mount solves that problem.

Finally, the big question is whether I can live with the lens or if I wasted my money, I can assure you that I did not waste a cent, though I had to get accustomed to the lens’ character I am very impressed with the results. look at he hippo head bellow and I could never had shot this photograph of a crocodile suddenly turning away from a hippo at a rather high speed and at a distance without it, the quality of the photographs speaks for itself. My only regret… I would love to have the Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L II IS USM but the price is rather prohibitive though f/2.8 would be handy.

Focal 400mm, ISO 100, 1/400, f/7.1

Focal 400mm, ISO 100, 1/400, f/7.1

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L – First impressions.

It’s Wednesday and as always it’s a photography Wednesday.

I finally got hold of the infamous Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens, let me say that it was a mission on it’s own, there must be a serious shortage of these lenses in South Africa. Here is are first impressions.

I can really understand why journalists love it, as an action and low light photography lens it just blows my mind. Though a realistic 38-112mm on my Canon EOS 400D it has the range I was looking for plus MACRO facilities. Able to focus at 30cm from the subject and getting the shot every time, it just is incredible.

Enough raving, the truth of the mater is in the results. I have not had the chance to put it in an action situation yet but MACRO and general photography have been tried. The first comment I have to give is that the lens is fidgety, not in a bad way but compared to the kit or 100-400mm f/4 IS L you will need to get used to it, it takes more work and a lot more interventions, the days of point and shot are nearly over. The flip side is the implacable colour reproduction. I always wandered how my wife’s little Canon PowerShot A570 IS got better colour reproduction than my Canon EOS 400D ever did, until now. This lens changed my mind about my Canon EOS 400D across the board. Additionally, the results are as sharp as a Japanese samurai sword, making is a very impressive walk around lens.

Playing with the depth of field is a joy as seen here bellow:

68mm,1/8 Sec,f/10.0, ISO 100	68mm,1/100 Sec,f/2.8, ISO 100
58mm,1/80 Sec,f/3.2, ISO 100	58mm,1/100 Sec,f/3.2, ISO 100

MACRO photography is just as easy as seen in this Ice-cream and Cake here:

70mm,1/100 Sec,f/3.5, ISO 10

Needless to say that so far I am rather impressed.

Next is the field test on wide angle, low light and action photography.

Edited typo: f/2.4 to f/2.8

Teleconverters are they worth it?

I have herd many times that Teleconverter are useless, they take away too much from the lens native abilities. I agree that they do take away a lot, but I also believe that the Canon EF 2x II Extender has a place in my camera bag. Think of the price of an entry level 800mm lens, now think of the price of a Canon EF 2x II Extender coupled with my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens…

The major drawbacks I experienced are:

• A loss of about 2 stops
• Loss of auto focus
• Extra weight of 280g
• Compatible with selected EF lenses
• Needs a support to be useful (Bean Bag, Tripod, …)

The major advantages are:

• Far cheaper than having to buy a specialised lens
• L lens with fluoride optics
• Easy to mount
• Doubles the selected lens’ reach

It is a “speciality” piece of equipment, getting used to it and it’s acceptable use can be difficult, even with a Image Stabilised Lens such as the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens. So what can it be used for? Any photography where a support can be used, I personally used it for bird, sky photography, paparazzi style photography and the odd wildlife photography but the latter is rather difficult as I used it with a bean bag in the past, I have bought a Car Window Mount since, though I have not field tested it yet.

The major advantage is the reach, with a 400mm lens you will achieve 800mm, however couple with an APS-C camera that brings it to a whopping 1280mm, for birding and sky photography it’s absolutely brilliant and a tripod can (should) be used in both these activities.

Here are some shots done with a Canon 400D, a Canon EF 2x II Extender and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens.

As you can see a Teleconverter when used for the right reason can be very useful.

Choosing a lens to suit indoor sports and wildlife photography.

I use to use a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens for my indoor sports photography and had a lot of problems even with a Canon Speedlite 430EX flash. I eventually figured out that the optics and lens construction were really not up to standards for this and most other kind of photography. It’s an entry level lens with no features to speak of and is the cheapest Canon lens available. So the question is what will I replace it with?

Because I have a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, see previous entry “Choosing a lens to suit wildlife photography”, I was exposed to the L series lens which spoiled me. The lenses I looked at were the Sigma AF 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC, the Sigma AF 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG macro, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS and the Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L. I quickly opted to stay with Canon L Series Lenses, the price is worth it. So the debate was the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS or the Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 USM L.

First I would like to state my requirements for this lens:

1. It must be able to catch (freeze if needs be) motion is low light with or without a flash, depending on the situation.
2. It needs a fair range for indoor sports but also for outdoor wildlife and optionally wide angle.
3. It will become the permanent replacement for my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens.

In truth, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS is the best replacement lens for the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens, it complements the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM perfectly and would be the obvious choice, it is the lightest, cheapest and most versatile . But it has two problems, it does not fulfil two of my requirements, the first two to be exact. I need a fast lens to be able to take action shots like those here below in low light conditions. The Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 USM L IS has 2 problems, firstly an f-stop at f/4 is just no low enough, the first photo below was shot at 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO800 with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens and you can see the issues, motion blur and grain. The second shot was far better with the same settings. I am looking for a lens I can do these kind of shots without the motion blur.

Choosing a lens to suit wildlife photography.

A while back I decided to go into photography all the way, I proceeded to buy a Canon EOS 400D and chose to kit it up with good lenses. Once I would have the lenses that are appropriate for what I do, wildlife photography, I would then proceed to buy a better camera, another Canon as you may have guessed. Good Canon lenses do not come cheap and I consider them an investment, but I digress.

Just over a year ago, I needed to replace my Sigma APO 170-500mm F5-6.3 DG after an unfortunate accident, I was in no ways unhappy with the lens, it was cheap and did the job as you can see from the photo of the African Fish Eagle taken near Lower Sabie in the Kruger National Park with a Canon EOS 300D here bellow. However, it was a very hard lens to use in low light conditions as well as being extremely sensitive to camera shake.

After the accident, I started to look around for other lenses that would do the job in the conditions that I had to deal with when photo hunting. Conditions that are not always ideal, low light, camera shake and movement from the vehicle caused by other passengers are all considerations that I had to take into account. From my experience with the Sigma APO 170-500mm F5-6.3 DG I knew that it did not cater for my needs anymore. I opted to invest into a Canon lens in staid, this was to lead me to my downfall. I bought the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM.

So why was it my downfall? What is wrong with it? The answer is quiet simple: NOTHING! Except the price… One thing is certain though once you have been exposed to a Canon L lens, you will never go back. Hence my downfall.

This lens has 4 features that put it apart from the rest:

1. It is a Canon L lens, thus a professional grade lens, the definition goes as follows “Canon’s fluorite lenses are top of the range, with a lower dispersion value than normal optical glass for sharper images with reduced aberration for recording sharper focus and better colour rendition”, in my experience it is true.
2. USM, the definition is as follows “Instead of a motor, ultrasonic vibrations power the lens, making focusing precise, virtually noiseless and incredibly quick – some lenses focusing literally faster than the human eye. The USM starts instantaneously and stops the moment focus is achieved, with no overshooting. What’s more, the USM requires minimal battery power so you can shoot for longer on a single charge.”, it is so quiet that I sometimes wander if it works, the Image Stabiliser is noisier. What is not said is that it also has the facility to readjust the focus manually during or after auto-focus.
3. Image Stabiliser, the definition is as follows “Canon’s optical stabiliser uses micro gyroscopic sensors that detect light camera shake and inform the onboard computer which then actually shifts the IS lens group to compensate for the movement in your hands. With this system you can shoot at much lower shutter speeds and still achieve sharp pictures.”, in this case the IS gives an equivalent of 2 extra f-stops, it makes all the difference when you are out there.
4. On an APS-C camera like the Canon EOS 400D the actual zoom range is a whopping 160-640mm making it ideal for wildlife photography.

There are a few drawbacks too, the lens is heavy at 1380g you will feel you muscles working quickly but the image results outweighs that inconvenience as seen below, this photo of 2 hippopotamus was taken at Lengau Dam in the Pilanesberg National Park done with low light, it was the first time I used the lens.

But the reality of the quality of the lens can be seen in this next photograph taken by my wife, who had no experience with either the camera or the lens, in Kruger National Park at 06:58 in the morning in terrible lighting conditions and from a safari 4×4 vehicle with other people in it. Trust me when I say that I am jealous. I will be publishing her photos of that trip on Flickr shortly.

In brief, I think I made the right choice for the use I have for it, however L lenses as brilliant as they are make all other standard lenses feel a little antiquated and cheap, I still use my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II kit lens and I long for the day I can replace it with an L lens.