New 400mm f5.6 lens

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by Roy C

How do people hand hold this lens and get great flight shots?

With a great deal of practice and experience at long lens technique is the answer to that one.

Even with a tripod, you should be bumping up the shutter speed to get pin sharp shots. With the digital crop factor of your camera, you will see every little bit of vibration on a 400mm lens. From what I can see, it's not the lens that's the problem, you just need to practice.

Duncan

[Roy C]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I will keep trying with the lens. My main concern was that I had a duff lens but thankfully no body has suggested that.
There is obviously a bigger difference between 70-200 + 1.4tc (effective 448mm) and the effective 640mm of the prime than I realised.

[Christine]

Roy,keep practising.I have this lens,and I have taken some very sharp images.I have not,as yet,used a tripod,I am waiting until I use the converters.I have found it takes sharper images than the 300F4 and much better than the Sigma300F2,so keep going and and I am sure that you will be be happy with it.All my shots have been taken handholding and I am not the steadiest of people.

[Tannin]

Roy, I think you have three problems: shutter speed, shutter speed, and shutter speed. I forget what camera you have .. no, by looking at your EXIF I see it's a 350D. As I understand it, the 350D sensor is similar to those in my 20Ds: in other words, you have plenty of room to increase your shutter speeds up by increasing your ISO. With my Canon 100-400 and 500 f/4, I use these numbers as a rough guide:

100 ISO: have never, ever used it with these lenses

200 ISO: use only when the light is really, really bright (e.g., I'm getting something like a 4000th or a 6000th at ISO 400). (Depends on desired depth of field also: sometimes I'd rather shoot wide open and drop the ISO because I want to blur the background.)

400 ISO: Use this unless there is a good reason to use something else. Around 80-90% of my 400 and 500mm shots are at ISO 400

800 ISO: don't be afraid to go to 800 if you need it. If I am getting less than about a 750th on my image stabilised lenses, I go to 800. Slip over to Bird Forum and have a look at my Australian Owlet-Nightjar - http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/...cat/500/page/1 -which was taken in dying light at 800. Notice that what blur there is is depth of field, not motion. I took other shots of the same bird in the same light at 400 ISO and a 350th instead of a 750th, but the 800 ISO shots are clearly the best ones.

1600 ISO: Use it if pushed to it. 800 is better if you can.

Remember that I'm talking about image stabilised lenses here: with the 400 f/5.6 you should probably be using even higher ISOs than I use. Shutter speed is king.

With my 100-400 I like to stop down a half-stop to f/6.7 as routine to improve the optics (but open it up if need be), with the 500 prime I don't bother: it is superb even wide open, so I use it that way. I've never used a 400 f/5.6 but everything I have read about it says that it's just like my 500 - every bit as good wide open as it is at f/8.

Hope this helps!

[anthony.rowell]

I have studied the picture and there is a twig in front of the bird and there is movement there soi think there was movement with the bird slightly,also the bird image looks soft to me,i belong to another site and i see shots taken with Canon 350 d camerasof animals and the shots are alway have a soft look about them for some reason so it could be the camera softness problem,i have the canon 300 is f4 which is out of this world and this lens should be as good they get next to top marks for them,chech the write up on them at this site- www. fredmiranda.com and you will see what is said about the 400 mm ! what i would do is set your camera on a tripod and focus on the bark of a tree some distance away and that will give you a very good idea of its sharpness,and i nearly always take my photos raw i find that is better than letting the camera do it ! check that site out Roy,cheer.Tony.

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by Tannin

Roy, I think you have three problems: shutter speed, shutter speed, and shutter speed. I forget what camera you have .. no, by looking at your EXIF I see it's a 350D. As I understand it, the 350D sensor is similar to those in my 20Ds: in other words, you have plenty of room to increase your shutter speeds up by increasing your ISO. With my Canon 100-400 and 500 f/4, I use these numbers as a rough guide:

100 ISO: have never, ever used it with these lenses

200 ISO: use only when the light is really, really bright (e.g., I'm getting something like a 4000th or a 6000th at ISO 400). (Depends on desired depth of field also: sometimes I'd rather shoot wide open and drop the ISO because I want to blur the background.)

400 ISO: Use this unless there is a good reason to use something else. Around 80-90% of my 400 and 500mm shots are at ISO 400

800 ISO: don't be afraid to go to 800 if you need it. If I am getting less than about a 750th on my image stabilised lenses, I go to 800. Slip over to Bird Forum and have a look at my Australian Owlet-Nightjar - http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/...cat/500/page/1 -which was taken in dying light at 800. Notice that what blur there is is depth of field, not motion. I took other shots of the same bird in the same light at 400 ISO and a 350th instead of a 750th, but the 800 ISO shots are clearly the best ones.

1600 ISO: Use it if pushed to it. 800 is better if you can.

Remember that I'm talking about image stabilised lenses here: with the 400 f/5.6 you should probably be using even higher ISOs than I use. Shutter speed is king.

With my 100-400 I like to stop down a half-stop to f/6.7 as routine to improve the optics (but open it up if need be), with the 500 prime I don't bother: it is superb even wide open, so I use it that way. I've never used a 400 f/5.6 but everything I have read about it says that it's just like my 500 - every bit as good wide open as it is at f/8.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for this Tannin - good practical stuff. Must admit that I tend to use the old shutter speed = focal length rule (e.g. 1/500 will be ok). Sun's shinning today so will try some high shutter speed shots.

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by anthony.rowell

I have studied the picture and there is a twig in front of the bird and there is movement there soi think there was movement with the bird slightly,also the bird image looks soft to me,i belong to another site and i see shots taken with Canon 350 d camerasof animals and the shots are alway have a soft look about them for some reason so it could be the camera softness problem,i have the canon 300 is f4 which is out of this world and this lens should be as good they get next to top marks for them,chech the write up on them at this site- www. fredmiranda.com and you will see what is said about the 400 mm ! what i would do is set your camera on a tripod and focus on the bark of a tree some distance away and that will give you a very good idea of its sharpness,and i nearly always take my photos raw i find that is better than letting the camera do it ! check that site out Roy,cheer.Tony.

Thanks for that Tony, It is not the Camera as I have had lots of really sharp shots from my 70-200 f4. Also I always shoot in RAW. One of the reasons why I bought thie 400mm f5.6 prime was because of the excellent reviews on Fred Miranda.
Roy

[anthony.rowell]

I have got this site from the Fredmiranda site i gave you take a look at these photos taken with the same lens as yours !
http://www.pbase.com/paulyoly/
they are a proof of a good lens ! you will have to look for the one's take with the 400 mm !

[robski]

Roy you should be able to resolve a bar code on a washing up liquid bottle from 30 feet without any problem. To be on the safe side I would never let the shutter speed fall below 1/1000 sec when hand held.

[Roy C]

Originally Posted by robski

Roy you should be able to resolve a bar code on a washing up liquid bottle from 30 feet without any problem. To be on the safe side I would never let the shutter speed fall below 1/1000 sec when hand held.

Hi Rob, This is a barcode from approx 30ft,(100% crop) handheld at 1/2000. Guess this rules out a duff lens?.

Thanks Roy