Canon 100-400 f4/f5.6 IS Zoom

[MeadsMan]

Thats fantastic news,I been reading this over as it`s one of the lenses on my shorts list.I can only echo what Gslammy said though.

[willing to learn]

Glad its all working out, look forward to seeing some pics.
Regards
Colin

[Ollie]

That's great news, look forward to seeig the comparison shots
Roger

[Surrey Sam]

That's good news Gerry; I have been following this thread quite keenly as another 100-400 user. I've had my example for some 14 months now and to be quite frank I have not been blown away with its results, this has mainly been down to images been a fraction soft in my minds eye. I have always put this down to user error and have been improving my technique for using the lens, as after all it is a 1k piece of L glass which should deliver good results!

Unfortunately for me I've never had reason to doubt its performance, as it was my first L lens and have never had anything to compare it with. This was until recently where I have now been able to add a 24-105 L lens to my collection and that has been a joy to use. I have now been able to get images that give me the "wow, did I really take that" factor; so I've turned to my 100-400 accusingly, thinking that perhaps it's not firing on all cylinders.

I think that I've decided in my own mind to send it off and get it checked out, it's a shame that I can't do it under a warranty now, so can only hope that it's a reasonable cost to tune the lens and get it working as it should. Here is a 100% raw crop saved to a tiff format to give an example of what results I'm getting, you will need to click on the bar at the top of the photo for the full size. The Nuthatch was still and the camera mounted to a monopod.

All critique is welcomed and I’d especially like to hear anyone’s experience in getting a lens calibrated and an indication on what sort of cost to do this work?

400mm, 1/160sec, F/7.1, ISO 800.

[GerryNick2]

Well since the lens came back from being recalibrated the available light has been very poor so not really been able to put the lens through its paces yet.

Did however grab this shot of a sparrow on the bird feeder, camera technique not brilliant, but it has picked up some of the detail in the feathers. A faster shutter speed would no doubt have improved the head detail and frozen the slight movement. Please excuse the appalling background.

Would welcome comments and any advice.

Shooting details:- Canon 40D, 100-400mm + Canon 1.4tc, manual focus,tripod mounted, 1/100sec, f8, ISO 200, 560mm



Gerry

[Surrey Sam]

I can't add my image to my previous post so here it is, you will need to click the top bar for full size :





That's good news Gerry; I have been following this thread quite keenly as another 100-400 user. I've had my example for some 14 months now and to be quite frank I have not been blown away with its results, this has mainly been down to images been a fraction soft in my minds eye. I have always put this down to user error and have been improving my technique for using the lens, as after all it is a 1k piece of L glass which should deliver good results!

Unfortunately for me I've never had reason to doubt its performance, as it was my first L lens and have never had anything to compare it with. This was until recently where I have now been able to add a 24-105 L lens to my collection and that has been a joy to use. I have now been able to get images that give me the "wow, did I really take that" factor; so I've turned to my 100-400 accusingly, thinking that perhaps it's not firing on all cylinders.

I think that I've decided in my own mind to send it off and get it checked out, it's a shame that I can't do it under a warranty now, so can only hope that it's a reasonable cost to tune the lens and get it working as it should. Here is a 100% raw crop saved to a tiff format to give an example of what results I'm getting, you will need to click on the bar at the top of the photo for the full size. The Nuthatch was still and the camera mounted to a monopod.

All critique is welcomed and I’d especially like to hear anyone’s experience in getting a lens calibrated and an indication on what sort of cost to do this work?

400mm, 1/160sec, F/7.1, ISO 800.

[RichBrew]

Surrey Sam:

Are you using long lens technique when shooting? 1/160 sec is perilously slow for a lens of this focal length. Mirror slap alone can cause vibration and produce slightly soft images, irrespective of whether it's tripod mounted or not. Having said that, long lens technique still has to be used with a fast(er) shutter speed to produce crip images. Unless you have a duff sample, it's almost always down to user error when getting into the realms of using super-telephoto lenses.

RichBrew

[PMG]

There is a huge difference between these two lenses Surrey Sam! As Rich says a 60th is almost 99% guaranteed to bring at the least a soft image - if not a downright blurred one!!

The other thing to consider with the 100-400 pump is that it has an optimum working range - as do all lenses - and as I'm hopeless at maths I can't put it down here as a formulae - but its closer than you might think - you do still need to creep up on things.....

I have been using the pump for two years now and even since getting a 400 prime (one lens between two people) means I will be continuing to use it at least until I can find another windfall!

By all means have it checked out as the possibility of it not being quite spot on does seem rather high - and peace of mind will increase your confidence and use and help you to push the lens to its highest capabilities Good Luck

Pauline

[christina]

I have been using a canon 100-400mm pump lens for just over a year and never having used nor seen one of these lenses before (relative newbie to photography) I took no notice of the fact that when I push the camera button to focus on the subject, the central focal point moves down and to the right to such an extent that I have to move the camera back to the left. When I read in this thread about "tilt and centering" I wondered if perhaps my lens is a rogue. I bought it from ebay without warranty. Could someone let me know whether the workings of the lens is supposed to move as it does? I hope what I've written is understandable as I'm not techy lol. Also most of my shots are rubbish but do get one or two good ones and I usually use camera and lens handheld when out walking, may invest in a monopod. I can take 100 pics and only get one good shot. Here are two shots I've taken, blue tit was quite a close subject, Buzzard was high in sky and far away both pictures have been heavily cropped.





All comments welcomed.

PS I aspire to get pics as good as glsammy, PMG and ollie, there are others but cannot recall their names, sorry.

[Bub-les]

Originally Posted by christina

I aspire to get pics as good as glsammy, PMG and ollie and others.

Me too


Like the Blue tit can't see how you could improve on it.
As far as the lens is concerned I'm sorry I can't help.
Barbara