Ducky Test

[popeshawnpaul]

I got a new lens to try out for a week or so today in case I want to buy it and took it on a test run down at the local duck pond.  I really like the lens so far, it's a Canon 400mm F4 DO IS.  It only weighs 4 lbs which is really light.  I missed F2.8 when it started getting dark and had to bump my iso up to 1600 at one point.  Nothing earth shattering, but a few from the test.  I will say that I really like this lens, but there are three negatives about it at this point...the 300mm f2.8 is sharper, faster, and cheaper.  This lens is about 2 lbs lighter though, and with a 1.4x can do about 600mm better than the 300mm lens can do 600mm with a 2x.  If things go well this week I'll hopefully have a few more pictures of more interesting subjects from my trip starting on Thursday...   Hint:  Baaaaa baaaa!

[klickriverchromer]

very nice

[popeshawnpaul]

I got out for a few more after work today.  I'm really liking this lens.  There is just a difference between 300mm and 400mm that is hard to ignore.

[Slider]

Very Nice!!! Pope I had some of that Moose sausage tonight and it taste like it was shot pretty close to the road?...............lol

[boneaddict]

How do you like the DO versus straight 400 2.8    (besides a couple thousand of course)

[popeshawnpaul]

Oh no question the DO is a better wildlife lens.  The 400mm f2.8 is a huge behemoth.  It is really only useful for outdoor sports like football.  I think it weighs over 12 lbs...and the DO weighs 4 lbs.  I could pack the DO all day long and I handheld all these photos.  I love everything about it except the price...it's about a thousand too much at 5k.  I have seen used onces for about 4k though.  I think this may be the best packable telephoto lens out there today.  I like the 500 f4, but it weighs 9 lbs, too much to backpack with for sure. 

The only thing comperable to the 400 DO is the 300mm f2.8.  However, I think I would find that I would use the 300mm f2.8 with a 1.4x converter on making it a 420mm f4 for about 90% of my shooting.  If I'm going to be shooting at 400mm f4 then I might as well just get a 400mm lens instead of making a 300mm f2.8 something it isn't.  Also, the 300mm f2.8 with the 1.4x converter weighs 2 lbs more than the 400 DO at about 6 lbs.  The other advantage to the 400 DO is if you put a 1.4x on it, you get a 560mm f5.6 which is very useful for wildlife. 

Incidently, I used this lens years ago with slide film and didn't like it.  This lens is flat, meaning the shots aren't very contrasty.  A flat image tends to look soft and not sharp.  With my new digital camera I can bump up the contrast in my camera raw settings and the images come out contrasty and the way they should look.  If I was shooting slide film you can't make that adjustment, hence I hated the lens.  This lens is sharp, but not as sharp as the 300mm f2.8 which is legendary as the sharpest lens Canon has ever made.  That being said, it's sharp enough for me.  I do miss f2.8 though...

[boneaddict]

Still eyeballing that 12 pounder.   

[Jackjr]

Holly crap.  those are sweet pics.     I seen the one flying and jumped out of my chair thought it was going to hit me

[Coasthunterjay]

good pictures! Nothing else needed to say.......I believe it will either be said or already has.....

[Head-shot]

  nice pics as usuall

[Houndhunter]

from the top

shovler, mallard, mallard, chickadee, blue wing teal

it said test so i thought i throw my guess's out there

[boneaddict]

don't know about the first duck.  Never seen one of those.
Ithink the last is a mallard hen. 

[popeshawnpaul]

Yeah, the last one was a hen mallard.  She was with her mate and I identified him...  I think that first is a shovler.  I tried to get some pictures of a cool looking yellow tweety bird but didn't get anything in focus.  I'd have to pull out my bird ID book to figure out what he was.  It's been too long since my ornithology class in college to remember.

Well, I'm off for a photo trip for the next 6 days guys.  We shall see what kind of stuff I can get with this little old 400 DO...  Baaaa Baaaa

[boneaddict]

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!    HEaded North or East

[grandpawrichard]

Shawn,
I hope that when you get home you can justify the purchase of the lens to your wife. You sure take some awesome photos with it!

Thanks for the permission to post the EXIF info on the photos for all of us "beginner" photographers to use and learn from!

If anyone wants to try out the settings that Shawn used for the photos, here they are:


Photo1.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2008:05:06 18:06:19
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 400.0mm
CCD Width: 4.58mm
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv: 800
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Photo 2.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2008:05:06 18:02:54
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 400.0mm
CCD Width: 4.58mm
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv: 800
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Photo 3.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2008:05:06 18:02:38
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 400.0mm
CCD Width: 4.58mm
Exposure Time: 0.0056 s (1/180)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv: 800
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Photo 5.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2008:05:07 15:10:41
Flash Used: Yes (Manual)
Focal Length: 400.0mm
CCD Width: 2.94mm
Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Photo 6.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2008:05:07 14:33:24
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 400.0mm
CCD Width: 4.58mm
Exposure Time: 0.0056 s (1/180)
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Thanks again Shawn! I can't wait for you to get home and start posting your Montana photos!

Dick