Wildlife Photography across the Water: My Canon 300f2.8L lens

Friday, 1 July 2011

My Canon 300f2.8L lens

I bought this lens nearly four years ago, at what was a lot cheaper than you can get it for now, thankfully. Notwithstanding that, it still cost me a lot of money, but remains one of my least used lens.

300 is a bit of a funny length for a lot of wildlife imagery.

My 180 macro and the 500 are the primary workhorse and the 5Dmk11 is always fitted with that ready to go, and the 7D has the 500 on it.

But the 300f2.8 stays in the cupboard and see little use or love. The 300f4L probably gets more use as when used in conjunction with the 1.6 crop 7D, the 1.4 EFTC, it makes for a great little walkabout combo for when you are covering a lot of ground and need to lighten the weight.

But back to the enigma that is the 300f2.8 L. It is bitingly sharp, all aspects of the IQ are excellent. AF is lightning fast, but for a lot of what I do it can be too short, unless you have very obliging subjects.

Such as this freshly fledged Blackbird on the top of our neighbours fence in the late evening light. These juveniles don't know that they have to be scared of us yet so are quite happy to let us get close. This image is full frame in the depth, with just a little off the right hand side, and taken on the full frame 5Dmk2.

With a straight conversion in C1 and just a tiny amount of sharpening, the 300F2.8L performance never fails to impress me.

So should I keep it or sell it? That remains the eternal question with this fine lens. Maybe I just shoot the wrong subjects.

Apols for the late post - other pressing urgent matters have been going on this evening. All will become clear soon and I will share the reason why in forthcoming posts.

Martin

No comments:

Post a Comment

Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.