L-Fever: What next?

[Steve U]

Hi Swiss, my original comments regarding a 500mm or the 400mm were made mainly in relation to what is missing from your kit now. They were not made based on buying a wedding lens.
One of Australia's leading pro landscape photographers says that the lens that has given him the most creativity and the lens that sets his landscape work apart from the other pros is the 600mm. This lens has allowed him to get shots that were and are still impossible for most of his contemporaries and competition to get.
Purchasing a quality lens that develops and encourages your own creativity with your photography is in my opinion, priceless.
On your present kit I think the long end does need attention and the 500/4 is a very fast very high IQ lens and could be complimented with the 200-400 when it is released. Or buy the 400/2.8 now, then in the fiture sell the 70-300L and buy a 300/2.8.
Good luck with it.

[jrw]

Having had the new 300mm for a while now I must confess that I use it a fair bit with the 1.4x TC at sports events when I am further away, am wanting to reduce distracting backgrounds by reducing the FOV, or am trying to get some tighter portrait style shots which is an interesting niche to be able to provide. It works well enough with the TC on it that it is becoming 2 lenses in one for me.

Would I want to trade it in on a 400mm? Definitely not!! The native 300mm focal length is too often used. Would be nice to have both but then I'd want a pack mule to help carry everything around too!

The only other interesting thought that has occurred to me is to get another 1.4x TC to allow having one on each of the 300mm and the 70-200 when occasion calls for it. The 200-400 would be nice, but not available to purchase.

[Richard Lane]

3. 300 2.8 II, Would be much faster than my 70-300 and the IQ is better. What I like about it: It is handholdable. But for what would I use this prime? Sports no doubt and Wildlife. For both you can't have enough focal length in my opinion. So wouldn't be the 400er the better choice?
4. 400 2.8 II, great lense, Perfect for sports and wildlife. You could use it with a 1.4 or without. But the weight? Is this lense going to be so inconvinient that I would avoid using it? You have to take into account that I am not a pro and I love traveling without a tripod.

I look forward to your thoughts!

Here's a few more thoughts. First off all, the 300mm is pretty long for your friends wedding and it will most definitely draw unwanted attention, plus it's white! It's not like it's a big black canon as in Nikon! I do agree that you can buy a lens coat and bow tie for it though! I can see using it up in a balcony for a few select shots, or isolation candids during the ceremony when everyone is seated, otherwise it's way too long. You wan't be able to shoot with it too easily once everyone starts walking around, as you will be having to back up to much and people will be walking in front of you and ruining the shots, and forget about group shots.

Since, you mentioned we're back to the 300mm vs 400mm scenario.

As I mentioned in another thread, for sports I would recommend the 300mm on the 7D (1.6X), the 400mm on the MKIV (1.3X), and the 400 or 500mm on FF (35mm).

If you want to use the 300mm on FF, then you will need to add the 1.4X extender. Another option is getting a 300mm f/2.8 and a 7D for sports and/or wildlife.

Unless you really need the 400mm, I would go with the more user friendly and hand-holdable 300mm f/2.8L IS, and the version II's seem to hold the extenders very nicely. If you're thinking about a 300mm "version I" then there may be a few for sale shortly, as people upgrade to the 1DX as they will require longer glass for that body.

Rich

[Swiss]

@jrw: I like how you see the 300vs400 question

@Busted: I haven't seen things from that angle. A valid point I guess :-)

@Rich: You are raising a question in my mind which I thought I had answered myself some time ago. Is a 7Ds image as good as (or even better) than cropping a 1D X image to the same frame? I thought no is the answer.
(Sorry for any confusion if my. Nglish is incorrect but I guess you get the point)

[Richard Lane]

Your English is fantastic!

I don't know, but the general consensus around here is that a 1.4X extender or the 7D (1.6X) is usually better than cropping.

If you think about it, a 1.4X extender is $500 and for about another $1000, you can get a 7D with a longer crop factor and still retain f/2.8 and without losing AF speed, or an f-stop.

I would say that a crop camera like the 7D, would provide 1.6 crop, uses the best center part of the lens and retains f/2.8. The extender puts more pixels on your subject which is always a good thing, however you loose one f-stop with the 1.4X and you decrease AF speed by 50% according to Canon.

I do feel that the 7D has the AF and metering capability, as well as the frame rate, so it certainly makes for a great choice for sports and wildlife:


7D $1600 + 300mm f/2.8L IS IS II $6800 = $8400 (480mm @ f/2.8)

7D $1600 + 300mm f/2.8L IS IS II $6800 + 1.4X $500 = $8900 (672mm @f/4 lose some AF speed and IQ)

7D $1600 + 400mm f/2.8L IS II $11,500 = $13,100 (640mm @ f/2.8)



MKIV $5000 + 300mm f/2.8L IS II $6800 = $11,800 (390mm @ f/2.8)

MKIV $5000 + 300mm f/2.8L IS II $6800 + 1.4X $500 = $12,300 (546mm@ f/4 lose some AF speed and IQ)

MKIV $5000 + 400mm f/2.8L IS II $11,500 = $16,500 (520mm @ f/2.8)



1DX $6800 + 300mm f/2.8L IS II $6800 + 1.4X $500 = $14,100 (420mm @ f/4 lose some AF speed and IQ)

1DX $6800 + 400mm f/2.8L IS II $11,500 = $18,300 (400mm @f/2.8)

1DX $6800 + 400mm f/2.8L IS II $11,500 + 1.4X $500 = $18,800 (520mm @f/4 lose some AF speed and IQ )


Rich


PS. "not responsible for errors"

[jrw]

With regards to the 7D, 1D4, FF, and cropping, there was a lengthy thread earlier with lots of sample images as it relates to capturing bird images. The pixel density of the 7D sensor is capable of capturing a lot of detail. Images require more work to clean up in post processing though.

7D AF is up to sports action. Used to use a pair of them at events. 5D3 AF system is superior as will the 1Dx be once you receive yours. Would suggest renting one before buying and trying it with existing lenses in a range of lighting situations and with different distances to subjects to see how you like the results of cropping, TCs, cropped sensors and various ISO settings in your final images. The test shots in Bryan's 7D review compared to the 5D2 would give you some idea of what to expect for image quality.