 Gagan S. Matharoo |
Canon 400mm F4 DO lens
I am now using a Canon 7D and I like to shoot wildlife, for which I am using a Canon100-400 F4.5-5.6 L USM IS lens. But I find the performance is not good enough in low light( shooting at dawn or dusk). I am planning to upgrade to a 400mm F4 DO Lens. Is anyone using the 400mm F4 DO lens, can you give inputs on performance and image quality. How is the performance in low light ?
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chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny Contact Chris Budny Chris Budny's Gallery |
Don't have the DO lens, but in reading your comment, you're talking about going from f/4.5 to f/4---which isn't too much of a "speed" improvement, I think... You're already shooting at ISO800 on the 7D; I'm wondering if you'd need to consider an even faster lens, such as an f/2.8?
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Jeff E Jensen |
I don't own the 400DO, but I have shot with it on a number of occasions. The big advantage of it is the weight. It's pretty light compared to the 400 2.8. On the long end of your 100-400 you are getting f/5.6, so you will see an improvement with the f/4. You can see some of my images shot with the lens on my blog: http://blog.jeffejensenphotography.com/search/label/Canon%20EF%20400mm%20%20f%2F4.0%20DO%20IS
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Lynn R. Powers |
The photo you presented of the beautiful tiger was taken with your lens at 120mm and you are asking about using a $6000+ 400 DO lens??? The 400DO would only have allowed you to take a photo of the tigers head instead of the entire body at a slightly higher speed. You could have taken the same photo with the 100-400mm lens if it was mounted on a tripod and increased the ISO to 1600. Part of the problem is with your shooting habits. Shooting at dusk and pre dawn are not condusive to good photos unless you are using auxillary lights. A better time is two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset. Automatic exposure should NOT be used. Do not make the camera do your selecting for you. You are the photographer and should decide which is more important to get the shot you want. The only time to use Evaluative Metering is in cases like this where the lighting is even or the colors are the same, as in a green forest or a dark swamp. The rest of the time use partial or spot metering. You used the exposure compensation in the wrong direction. Using it at -2/3 decreased your effective ISO to 500, not the 800 that it was set. If you had set it at +2/3 you may have had enough shutter speed to stop the blur in his rear leg. (I didn't mind the blur especially under the conditions). You have a sophistacated camera which will take fine photos, better than my 40D, but you need how and when to use its different functions. I keep my camera manual with in my camera bag so I can consult it when I wish to try something that I haven't done for the past year or more. Under the conditions that your sample photo presents the 400DO would have been no better without the versatility.
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Gagan S. Matharoo |
HI Lynn thanks for the extensive in depth review of my photo. I do agree about polishing my skills with the camera. The big problem though is that I dont know how to edit the photos much except with the Canon software. I have ordered the Adobe Light Room software . also isnt it better to under expose rather than over expose and burn the image. Under exposing does help in editing and getting a better image than an over exposed one. thanks
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Lynn R. Powers |
I am going to reply backwards to your inquiry. That is the way I do everything. :=) Over exposure was used on film cameras when shooting negative film both color and B&W to get the shadow detail. With digital we are taught to "expose to the right", ETTR. This is in reference to the histogram in the camera. BUT if the histogram touches the right side you will have burned out highlights so the correct exposure is just a little left of the right hand side of the graph. A single pink flower will have a curve in the center with nothing on either side. That is normal and proper for the subject. The photo of the tiger may produce a jagged line that connects from the far left side to the far right side. That is because you have managed to get every shade possible and it is still a proper exposue. The only time I use minus compesation is when there is a heavy haze, not fog, in the area or strong glare. I do a lot of photos while on the water and the glare in the sky will give me a false reading even though I always use a lens hood. In this case I will use a -2/3 compesation. But when shooting a bird in flight I select a plus compesation in order to get the detail on the underside of the bird. To be fair to you the photo you took with the equipment used, and conditions, is as good as any camera would have gotten. If the Exposure Comp had not been applied perhaps the rear leg would not have been blured. If you are not shooting RAW I recommend that you start doing it immediately. From the beginning I shot RAW+JPEG and after 3 years I had a program with a RAW converter and redid 2/3 of my photos and what I thought was excellent before came out as "terrific" using the RAW converter. I would recommend that you start out with Adobe PSE 10 before using lightroom. With the RAW Processor you can bring out highlights in a matter of seconds, change your WB, enhance your detail in the shadows, and adjust your exposue from as little as .05 to 2 f stops plus or minus. Most of mine are less than .25 f stops which is better than the .33 that the camera offers. I wish you much luck in your pursuits to capture those beautiful animals. But don't waste $6000 until you are a full time pro and can write it off as a business expense. Instead send me the $6000 so I can purchase the 1Dx. :=0 :=)
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Nicholas Semo |
I shoot wildlife photos on a regular basis and they are all taken in the wild. That means shooting when the critters are most active, which means dawn and dusk. Buy the fastest lens you can afford and you may still have to boost your ISO. I sometimes shoot with my ISO at 2500 with my D700. You can fix noise but you can't fix blur. Shooting wildlife in their natural habitat is tough business.
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Gagan S. Matharoo |
but if you can plan a trip to india we could go along to shoot the pretty cats in the wild P.S. what u have to say about the other pics I have put along with this reply.
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