[Ryebread]

A zoom is like all-season tires to me.

24L for car shoots and social activities. 50L for walkabout BC it's perfect for that (not to short - not too long). 85L for portrait or sport. With the markiii and experience, it works for me.

Provided my feet work, primes all day - and night.

[druu]

Originally Posted by Ryebread

A zoom is like all-season tires to me.

24L for car shoots and social activities. 50L for walkabout BC it's perfect for that (not to short - not too long). 85L for portrait or sport. With the markiii and experience, it works for me.

Provided my feet work, primes all day - and night.

I shoot almost the same way, but with a 35L 17-40L and a 70-200 II added into the mix (but mainly with the primes you mentioned). I like your analogy here lol.

[Tekademic]

congrats on the 5DIII, it kills it!

All I have is an 85L prime. Nice for ports, but hardly length for anything at the track =[ Will be buying a 70-200L soon!

[Hreed]

I want. Everything.

[dcstep]

My last three shots were 95mm, 127mm and 24mm. Only one was at either extreme of the zoom lenses that I used to compose them. (A 24-105mm and a 70-200mm).

[Rowdy]

Originally Posted by dcstep

My last three shots were 95mm, 127mm and 24mm. Only one was at either extreme of the zoom lenses that I used to compose them. (A 24-105mm and a 70-200mm).

Do you find you usually end up shooting at close to or very similar lengths when you look at the data later on?

I sold my 24-70 because I kept seeing 35 and 50mm lengths. Same with my tamron 10-14.. It was at the 10mm end 90% of the time!

Sadly I'm now without an ultra wide on my new mk3.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Rowdy

Do you find you usually end up shooting at close to or very similar lengths when you look at the data later on?

I sold my 24-70 because I kept seeing 35 and 50mm lengths. Same with my tamron 10-14.. It was at the 10mm end 90% of the time!

Sadly I'm now without an ultra wide on my new mk3.

Good question Rowdy, but I tend to be all over the place. For instance, when I shoot scenics with my 24-105mm, the FL will be reasonably evenly distributed at 24mm, 28mm and 35mm. OTOH, scenics shot with my 70-200mm tend to be close to 70mm.

For an ultra-wide, I really love the 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. I'm probably going to buy one off the used market. My DxO Optics Pro software will take a fish eye perspective and convert it to rectilinear. It's incredible for tight interiors or subjects that you have to shoot really close to. I haven't really tried it for scenics. Today, I'd do a multi-shot pano for a scenic that wide, but I'd be curious to try it with the 15mm and correct for the distortion.

Dave

[dcstep]

My EF 2.0X TC-III came in last night, now where's my firmware update?

I'll be very upset if it's not in by the end of this month, as promised.

Dave

[Rowdy]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Good question Rowdy, but I tend to be all over the place. For instance, when I shoot scenics with my 24-105mm, the FL will be reasonably evenly distributed at 24mm, 28mm and 35mm. OTOH, scenics shot with my 70-200mm tend to be close to 70mm.

For an ultra-wide, I really love the 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. I'm probably going to buy one off the used market. My DxO Optics Pro software will take a fish eye perspective and convert it to rectilinear. It's incredible for tight interiors or subjects that you have to shoot really close to. I haven't really tried it for scenics. Today, I'd do a multi-shot pano for a scenic that wide, but I'd be curious to try it with the 15mm and correct for the distortion.

Dave

Interesting. I am quite the fan of sigma lenses.. I was also considering the 14mm canon.. But I'm not sure if the extra 2 mm is worth it for the price over the 16-35!

[dcstep]

I'm ready for my closeup Mr. Stephens... by dcstep, on Flickr

That was taken at 1000mm, hand-held in a snow storm, with no cropping except to take to a square format. It's from my first outing after installing Canon's new firmware update for the 5D3, allow AF at f/8. I used the EF 500mm f/4L IS combined with the EF 2.0X TC-III.

I must say that I think that the firmware works like a charm with my lens/TC combination. Generally, it would grab AF quickly and very accurately. This little bluebird would come up close and then bounce away, so I was switching the lens' limiting mode from full range to long range. At full range AF the lens would hunt unsuccessfully when I'd go from near minimum focus distance to maybe 10-yards. Snow (it was snowing...again) reduces contrast and light, so the conditions were a tough test for the new setup.

The sun is out today and I'll try birds in flight. I think it's going to be very usable. Hand holding 1000mm seems no tougher than hand holding 700mm, at least for me. Of course, I've taken over 50,000 hand held super-tele shots, so YMMV.

I'm reading reports of guys putting a 1.4X TC on their 400/5.6 lenses. That lens has super quick AF with most bodies. They're reporting that it only loses a little speed at f/8 now. For under $2000 you can have a really effective 540mm.

Dave

[M_Six]

Still snowing in CO? Yikes. Winter won't let go, eh?

My 400 5.6 works very well with the Kenko 1.4x TC on the 6D. If the 6D had (or gets) Canon-blessed f8 focusing, I might be tempted to pick up a Canon 1.4x TC III. But there's no sense in doing that if they don't bring f8 to the 6D.

Nice shot, btw. Must be very nice having IS on such a long lens. That's the one thing that's tough about the 400 5.6 and 1.4x TC combo. Really hard to hold still with it.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Still snowing in CO? Yikes. Winter won't let go, eh?

My 400 5.6 works very well with the Kenko 1.4x TC on the 6D. If the 6D had (or gets) Canon-blessed f8 focusing, I might be tempted to pick up a Canon 1.4x TC III. But there's no sense in doing that if they don't bring f8 to the 6D.

Nice shot, btw. Must be very nice having IS on such a long lens. That's the one thing that's tough about the 400 5.6 and 1.4x TC combo. Really hard to hold still with it.

We've had snow every week for the last four weeks. For May, we've already beat our annual average.

Yeah, 1000mm at 1/400-sec. doesn't work without IS. Lack of IS is a reason to consider the 100-400mm or a Sigma. None of those work as well as the big Canon primes, but you don't have to sell any cars to own them.

Now that I've got 1000mm, I'm torn between the 500mm and 600mm Series II lenses. The IS on both is supposed to be two-stops better than my Series I. That would be simply amazing. There's talk that they may finally update the 100-400mm with a Series II. If it got the new IS system, that'd be a great bargain. Of course the price will go up a ton, but, if they kept the increase under $1,000, that'd be a comparative deal.

Dave

[druu]

Originally Posted by dcstep

We've had snow every week for the last four weeks. For May, we've already beat our annual average.

Yeah, 1000mm at 1/400-sec. doesn't work without IS. Lack of IS is a reason to consider the 100-400mm or a Sigma. None of those work as well as the big Canon primes, but you don't have to sell any cars to own them.

Now that I've got 1000mm, I'm torn between the 500mm and 600mm Series II lenses. The IS on both is supposed to be two-stops better than my Series I. That would be simply amazing. There's talk that they may finally update the 100-400mm with a Series II. If it got the new IS system, that'd be a great bargain. Of course the price will go up a ton, but, if they kept the increase under $1,000, that'd be a comparative deal.

Dave

Canon is making everything much more expensive these days. It's getting kind of ridiculous lol. They also take forever to bring anything onto the market. The 24-70 II took like 2 years of speculation and rumors even though the patent had already been released.The 35L II, 200-400 f/4 IS are STILL MIA lol. The 200-400L has a great spec sheet and a built in TC, but rumors say it will be north of 10k! Waiting for the new 100-400 might prove to be a 1-2 year affair...

[M_Six]

I just got a budget to buy a camera for the college, mostly for my use so I'm not using my own equipment. I've taken a couple thousand pics using my own gear since I've been here and it's only been a couple of months. So I requested that the school buy some gear for me like they have for the other campus photogs. My budget was $7k, so I went with a gripped MkIII, the Tamron 24-70 2.8, and the Tamron 70-200 2.8. With extra batteries, a couple good CF cards, and a nice Glass Taxi bag, I just squeaked in under budget.

The Canon lenses in those ranges would have blown my budget to pieces. The two Tamrons both have excellent reviews and pretty damn near Canon's IQ. Now I just have to wait. I understand the purchasing process here can be interminable.

[dcstep]

Mark, good luck getting through the bureaucracy and getting your school kit in.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Mark, good luck getting through the bureaucracy and getting your school kit in.

The really frustrating part is, if you get authorization it is for the exact amount that you request. If the prices fluctuate upward just a bit and you go over your amount by even 1 cent, the whole process starts over again. This kit came in at $6875 or so. I requested $7k. The one thing that can mess that up will be the price of the CF cards. They tend to fluctuate often, but there shouldn't be an overall $125 shift in cost here. At least not upward.

[Rowdy]

Originally Posted by dcstep

I'm reading reports of guys putting a 1.4X TC on their 400/5.6 lenses. That lens has super quick AF with most bodies. They're reporting that it only loses a little speed at f/8 now. For under $2000 you can have a really effective 540mm.

Dave

I've got the 300f4L IS and at one point had the vers. I 1.4x TC on the crop body, but let it go to a friend as they were just releasing the vers III and I figured I'd upgrade.. then forgot as I dont shoot long all that often. BUT now that I'm watching all this great action and reading up more on compression.. You've got me thinking I should pair that new firmware and my 5d3 with a 2.0X TC and my 300! 600mm would be great and I could also snap it on to the 70-200 if I wanted something in between. Thoughts?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Rowdy

I've got the 300f4L IS and at one point had the vers. I 1.4x TC on the crop body, but let it go to a friend as they were just releasing the vers III and I figured I'd upgrade.. then forgot as I dont shoot long all that often. BUT now that I'm watching all this great action and reading up more on compression.. You've got me thinking I should pair that new firmware and my 5d3 with a 2.0X TC and my 300! 600mm would be great and I could also snap it on to the 70-200 if I wanted something in between. Thoughts?

No-brainer.

Do it, unless you want to spend $13,000 on a new EF 600mm f/4L II to gain a couple of stops.

[dcstep]

Here's a bird in flight shot with my 500/f4 plus the EF 2.0X TC-III:


My autofocus works! by dcstep, on Flickr

[druu]

Originally Posted by Rowdy

I've got the 300f4L IS and at one point had the vers. I 1.4x TC on the crop body, but let it go to a friend as they were just releasing the vers III and I figured I'd upgrade.. then forgot as I dont shoot long all that often. BUT now that I'm watching all this great action and reading up more on compression.. You've got me thinking I should pair that new firmware and my 5d3 with a 2.0X TC and my 300! 600mm would be great and I could also snap it on to the 70-200 if I wanted something in between. Thoughts?

Definitely go for it. 2x TC on both of those lenses is a huge win.

[Rowdy]

Originally Posted by dcstep

Here's a bird in flight shot with my 500/f4 plus the EF 2.0X TC-III:


My autofocus works! by dcstep, on Flickr

Great shot dave! Certainly has me looking for a 2.0x canon TC now. You had vers. II beforehand right? Thoughts on the improvements with vers. III? If its a significant improvement in IQ I'm all for it..

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Rowdy

Great shot dave! Certainly has me looking for a 2.0x canon TC now. You had vers. II beforehand right? Thoughts on the improvements with vers. III? If its a significant improvement in IQ I'm all for it..

Thanks Rowdy.

I had the 1.4X TC-II before and didn't have a 2.0X at all, until I found out that this firmware update was coming. I just received my 1.4X TC-III this week and haven't had time to compare with v-II. I'm hoping to gain some AF speed due to the firmware update and the added chip in the v-III. I'll see. It may also require a Series II lens, but I'm hopeful.

Dave