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Beginner lens for beginner
- Thread starter gboy
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- Name
- Stewart
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The Canon 400mm f/5.6 is an excellent lens which is optimised for photographing birds in flight.
Advantages:
+ Very sharp
+ Very fast to focus
+ Very light for a 400mm lens
Disadvantages:
- No zoom
- No image stabilisation
- Minimum focus distance is quite long
- Maximum aperture only f/5.6
The disadvantages listed above can be quite limiting in some circumstances, depending on what kind of wildlife you're planning to photograph.
Advantages:
+ Very sharp
+ Very fast to focus
+ Very light for a 400mm lens
Disadvantages:
- No zoom
- No image stabilisation
- Minimum focus distance is quite long
- Maximum aperture only f/5.6
The disadvantages listed above can be quite limiting in some circumstances, depending on what kind of wildlife you're planning to photograph.
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- Darragh
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Hi Geoff!
If you are after my 400mm, I'll give you some advice as to whether or not its suitable.
A 400mm lens is quite 'zoomed in', it magnifies like low powered binoculars. It's not a versatile lens, by which I mean you cant really go on a holiday and shoot everything with it, just because the magnification is strong and you wont fit much in. Also it has a minimum focus distance of 3.5 meters, so if anything is closer than that the lens wont focus on it.
With that being said, if you are shooting birds or wildlife the lens is excellent, its amazing the detail you can pick out of a small bird with this lens. Excellent for any field or track sports, or motorsports.
The lens itself is very very sharp, a big step up from any kit lens. It's lighter than a 70-200mm f2.8, so not too heavy to carry around. The focusing is very fast thanks to a professional USM motor. There are two switches on the lens, one switches from manual focus to auto focus (this rarely needs touched as AF would mainly be the preferred option), and the other switch is a focus limited that stops the lens focusing on anything under 8.5m, which speeds up the focus if you are shooting far away wildlife or sports.
Have a look here for a great review: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-400mm-f-5.6-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
If you are after my 400mm, I'll give you some advice as to whether or not its suitable.
A 400mm lens is quite 'zoomed in', it magnifies like low powered binoculars. It's not a versatile lens, by which I mean you cant really go on a holiday and shoot everything with it, just because the magnification is strong and you wont fit much in. Also it has a minimum focus distance of 3.5 meters, so if anything is closer than that the lens wont focus on it.
With that being said, if you are shooting birds or wildlife the lens is excellent, its amazing the detail you can pick out of a small bird with this lens. Excellent for any field or track sports, or motorsports.
The lens itself is very very sharp, a big step up from any kit lens. It's lighter than a 70-200mm f2.8, so not too heavy to carry around. The focusing is very fast thanks to a professional USM motor. There are two switches on the lens, one switches from manual focus to auto focus (this rarely needs touched as AF would mainly be the preferred option), and the other switch is a focus limited that stops the lens focusing on anything under 8.5m, which speeds up the focus if you are shooting far away wildlife or sports.
Have a look here for a great review: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-400mm-f-5.6-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
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- Darragh
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In short its excellent for wildlife. Using it on your 7D will crop the focal length to the equivalent of 640mm, that makes it excellent for small wildlife. It will focus very fast thanks to its USM motor and your 7D's excellent AF system. As Stewart said, the limiting factors are that it is a f5.6 lens, so it's not good when light levels drop, but fine in daylight. Also it has no image stabilization.
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- Name
- Vince
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As Stewart and daralough say above. But the main disadvantages for me where the lack of image stabilisation and its long mfd. These factors made it a not very practical/versatile lens for me. In terms of image quality you won't get better bang for your buck at this length though.
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- Richard
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It's hard to say if it is a good lens for a beginner without really knowing how 'beginner' you are.
Personally, I would say no. The main reason I would say no it the 400mm F5.6l while being a truly excellent lens it also required 'mastering' to get good results out of it. It is a very unforgiving lens, if you get everything right you will be rewarded with absolutely stellar results, but get it wrong and go home sad.
The reason it is unforgiving is basically all the cons that Stewart mentioned.
Relatively slow - F5.6 and combined with no image stabiliser means that whatever you shoot you will be looking for a higher shutter speed to guarantee sharp shots.
The 400mm with no ability to zoom out - well tackling composition brings it's own challenges and it is really hard to track birds at 400mm when you haven't had practise!
For years a lot of people used the 100-400mm L for wildlife. It is not quite as sharp or as quick to focus as the 400mm F5.6 but it is a splendid lens for learning on - it certainly was for me anyway.
Personally, I would say no. The main reason I would say no it the 400mm F5.6l while being a truly excellent lens it also required 'mastering' to get good results out of it. It is a very unforgiving lens, if you get everything right you will be rewarded with absolutely stellar results, but get it wrong and go home sad.
The reason it is unforgiving is basically all the cons that Stewart mentioned.
Relatively slow - F5.6 and combined with no image stabiliser means that whatever you shoot you will be looking for a higher shutter speed to guarantee sharp shots.
The 400mm with no ability to zoom out - well tackling composition brings it's own challenges and it is really hard to track birds at 400mm when you haven't had practise!
For years a lot of people used the 100-400mm L for wildlife. It is not quite as sharp or as quick to focus as the 400mm F5.6 but it is a splendid lens for learning on - it certainly was for me anyway.
