Advice on 400mm reach

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Jed Shields

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Jed
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Hi guys,

I've got a 70-200 f/2.8 Mk1 non IS and a 17-55 f/2.8 IS for my Canon 7D that work well together, but I need to add something with more reach. This is mainly for wildlife photo's, birds, zoo's, safari parks etc, but I'm also off to my first airshow in years and hope to add this my yearly list of daytrips.

So... my budget would be £1k or less, second hand route probably, which leaves the Canon 400mm f5.6, Canon 100-400mm f4-5.6... and maybe a 300mm f4 plus 1.4 TC Mk2(?). I'm not looking at replacing my 70-200 f2.8 as I love it too much :)

I briefly used a friends 100-400 a few years ago and didn't have an issue with the push pull system. I can also see the benefit of having the full range of 200-400 that I don't have at the moment, plus the ability to track and zoom in to moving subjects. However, I'm also aware that the 400mm f4 has the focus speed advantage.

When it comes to airshows, will I find myself shooting at the maximum 400mm most of the time? I'd probably have a second body to save switching lenses for close up pics of planes on the runway etc.

I'm looking at hiring a lens for the Royal Air Tattoo in July, with a view to purchasing something towards the end of the year.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Jed
 
For shooting birds reach is everything, so also consider the new Sigma 150-600, and the older Sigma 150-500 and Sigma 50-500. I used a Sigma 150-500 for several years and it has an awesome OS system far better than the Canon 100-400.
 
With a 1k budget you might as well just look at the new lens so the Tamron 150-600mm and the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary model.

If you're happy with 400mm and fancy something smaller/lighter (and probably still sharper) then the 400mm F5.6 lens from Canon is still good but there's no IS.
 
Have you thought about a 2x converter for your 70-200?
 
Canon Bob said:
This would be my sub £1k approach too.

Bob
Click to expand...

I didn't read the original post properly. That's what I would do. I have the 70-200 IS mk I with 2x and it's good, but the mk II will be better.
 
With regard to airshows, the longer the better, particularly given that the display line at Fairford seems to have crept further from the crowd line in recent years. If you're thinking of hiring a lens for RIAT I'd order it sooner rather than later as it'll be a very popular weekend for longer lenses with the hire companies.
 
Some good ideas, plenty to think about. What's a MkI TC with the 70-200 Mk I like? And what about a MkII TC with the 70-200 MkI? This may be a decent first step with a view to selling on the 70-200 MkI in the future, plus I could save on hiring a lens and put the £70 towards the TC. This makes a stronger case when I put it forward to my wife ;)
 
70-200mm lens might provide decent results with a TC fitted but personally I'd always follow this:

If the majority of your shots will be at 400mm then don't buy a 70-200mm and 2x converter and expect to be happy :/
 
Phal said:
70-200mm lens might provide decent results with a TC fitted but personally I'd always follow this:

If the majority of your shots will be at 400mm then don't buy a 70-200mm and 2x converter and expect to be happy :/
Click to expand...

This is a very good point
 
Yep. The 400 f5.6 is a great place to start.
Depending on your body it works well with a 1.4 extender also.
 
Phal said:
70-200mm lens might provide decent results with a TC fitted but personally I'd always follow this:

If the majority of your shots will be at 400mm then don't buy a 70-200mm and 2x converter and expect to be happy :/
Click to expand...

twhite87 said:
This is a very good point
Click to expand...


Well I normally use a 400mm 2.8 prime at that focal length , but I do have a 70-200 F/2.8 mk2 and the x2TC mk3 extender which I've never used together. So having read this thread last night, I thought about having a quick go with the zoom combination, first impressions are that image quality is much better than the mk1 100-400 I've owned historically. The jury is out at the moment on AF speed for birds in flght but then I'm rather spoilt by the prime lens in that regard - so anything will seem slow in comparison.

This was shot at 400mm, wide open at F/5.6 and is the full image resized to 1200x800, I've then taken a 100% 1200x800 crop from that image and shown that below.

18987452831_aabc8732e2_o.jpg


18979049022_3ea7969fc1_o.jpg
 
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I've got a mk1 100-400L and use it on my 6D and its really really good. I do with the reach was longer at times but then thats my fault for not using a crop body.
If wildlife was my main subject I'd use it with a 7dmk2. I find the Image quality to be outstanding, its very sharp and contrasty and theres very little distortion and virtually no CA.
It impresses me every time i use it. Here's a couple from me, sorry about the link and no BB code for the direct images
.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/njwimages/18282661199/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/njwimages/18470639941/
 
Thanks guys, plenty of options available then(!)

Surry Sam - I'm impressed with the quality of the 70-200MkII and TC MkII...
 
Hi Jed

The 300 F4 IS lens is a great lens and takes a 1.4TC very well.

There is a very good model in the classifieds at present :rolleyes:
 
Having been to the RIAT for years and watched the displays from totterdown farm rather than in the show, I would say that you'll be disappointed with your photographic opportunities from the crowd line as the display line for aircraft is getting further away from the crowd. It's ok for landing and taking off and the fast flyby's, static displays, but majority of the rest of the displays are further away even for a 400mm lens on a cropped body, depending on what you want out of your images. So if you are going inside your 70-200mm will be useful for the runway shots, but nothing else, as for the MKI performance on the 2x TC, sorry rubbish for anything moving, the MKII 70-200mm and MKIII TCs offer significant improvement there, but still not sure I would use that combination primarily for airshows and wildlife. So your options, 300mm f4 with 1.4x TC, I've used that very successfully, 400mm F5.6 would be better suited to wildlife, the sigma and tamron offerings xxx-500mm or xxx-600mm or you could look at a used sigma 120-300mm f2.8 non OS or sports versions, although not sure what the used price of the OS version is nowadays, or you could fund a used Sports version if you sell your 70-200mm f2.8 MKI.
 
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