wildlife lens choice

[NickCantle]

Do you know if you will be bringing it to a meet this year Graham?

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Do you know if you will be bringing it to a meet this year Graham?

The proposed Potteric Carr is almost certain Nick, I may be able to get to others, if I'm there I'll certainly have everything with me.

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by glsammy

The proposed Potteric Carr is almost certain Nick, I may be able to get to others, if I'm there I'll certainly have everything with me.

Sounds good mate I had a long think last night and even though the comment about a 70-200 mm f/2.8 L IS was in jest, I was thinking about how much I really do need a medium range, good quality lens for general photography. I do a little bit of pet and human portraiture (though not commercially), so I think the f/2.8 might become a possibility. I presume it's a top notch lens?

[richardwebb]

Thanks for all of the advice. I am going to hire a Canon 100-400 and a Bigma in the next couple of weeks and test them out to see which one i prefer. I am swinging towards the Canon but have concerns that i may get a duff one as I would be purchasing second hand.I will let you know how i get on with them

[NickCantle]

Definitely a wise move Richard. As we know, holding a lens and seeing if it is compatible within your hands is as important as the image quality.

[colincurry]

I have a 100-400 and it works well enough for me. I believe the older versions are not so sharp as the newer ones. When I was researching this, (and I did an awful ot of research) I found a thread giving the serial numbers of the various versions. Mine began with UU and was thought to be more modern. You might want to check this out on the web. It should be a simple request to obtain the serial number of any lens you think of purchasing.

There is a current WAB thread on using a 1.4 taped (Canon in my case) TC which has prompted me to try the combo out again over the past two days. I will post some shots; but I have been very pleasantly surprised at the results and pleased with the extra range. Good light yesterday and today which helps greatly, and I have tried for snaps without too much background to help the AF.

It will be interesting to see how you find the pump compared with the Bigma.

Colin

[colincurry]

PS I have not found the combo much good for birds in flight as the AF is not really fast enough for the best results IMHO.

Colin

[colincurry]

PPS see thread 100-400 1.4 tc combo thread for some pics.

Colin

[Keith Talbot]

im joining this thread a bit late but i'll throw my opinion in the ring,

i owned the 100-400mm for just over a year and was very pleased with it for a long time but was noticing 2 things,i very rarely used it at less than the full 400mm and at this range there was a slight ' softness ' to the picture.

after much deliberation and recomendations (thank you graham ) i changed it for the 300mm f4 and added a 1.4x converter,the advantages i found imediatley were;

its lighter (i always hand hold so this helped)
it has a built in hood (saved carrying one around)
being a prime the quality of picture improved
it has a min focus of 1.5mtr

so all in all im very glad i made the change,i did however manage to change it at just the right time,im helping a friend buy one and its gone up over £200 in the last 4 months!!

so the 300mm f4 wins for me

keith