subject: The Canon 100-400mm Lens - The Telephoto Lens Of Choice For Nature Photographers [print this page] The Canon 100-400mm Lens - The Telephoto Lens Of Choice For Nature Photographers
Ever get jealous? I truly do, especially when talking about my camera equipment. Now i'm drooling about a Canon 100-400mm lens these days. The day after tomorrow, no one knows. Yet one thing is for certain, it will be something.
Although I seriously should declare that the Canon 100-400mm lens has been on my personal hit list for some time. I've got some very nice lenses, though. The truth is, I've got a Canon 70-200mm f4, that's perhaps my very best lens.
Several of the reasons the Canon 100-400mm lens tops the list as my next acquisition:
1. The zoom range is exactly perfect for my needs. I photograph loads of bird photos, and right now I have to consider imaginative techniques for getting closer. The zoom to 400mm will be superior to the 200mm I currently have. Additionally, once you place this particular lens upon a camera having a APS-C image sensor, similar to a Digital rebel or perhaps 50D, you obtain 1.6x the declared focal length (680mm). Which is great.
2. It is deemed an L series lens. Which is Canon's finest quality lens collection. You receive far better picture quality, much better design, as well as other folks looking and turning green with envy over your equipment (view the story below).
3. Nature Photography requires a lens such as this. For those who can't spend the money for prime lenses at 400 or 500mm, this lens could be the next most suitable choice. I already mentioned taking pictures of birds, but most natural subjects are not going to just walk up close and say "cheese." You truly have to have a lens that can reach them. And once you might be walking through the wilds of Alaska or just walking through your local town, a telephoto zoom lens at this length is what you'll need.
So here is the tale of my personal recent exposure to "lens envy."
I was driving to work at just the proper moment in the morning for the sunshine to be great for a certain shot I'd been thinking about. It's a horse farm and stable that's close to the intersection where I turn. There were a few beautiful chestnut ponies grazing in the field on a sloping hillside which has a little barn in the foreground.
The horses were the exact picture I had been dreaming about. So I along side of the street right after turning the corner. Took out the Canon digital slr from the camera bag and connected my 70-200mm lens to it. I proceeded to cross the street and take up my location alongside the fencing. I snapped a few photos and relocated to take a few more. I checked the rear monitor to see how the shots were turning out.
I was a bit disappointed that I was so far away from the hillside. I would have to do some cropping after I got the photos uploaded to my computer.
At that point I heard something to my left and glanced over to see another guy doing exactly what I was doing. He had a Canon and I could see the familiar grayish color and size of a Canon 100-400mm lens. I'm sure I turned green with envy.
We struck up a conversation, and he mentioned that my presence there had inspired him to stop and take some photos. Before I left, I got his card which had the web address I could go to in order to see the images he had shot that morning.
Of course, I couldn't wait to see those shots, and when I did, it merely renewed my feelings of intense desire for that lens. Someday very soon, I'm sure that I will be opening a package that contains a Canon 100-400mm lens, perhaps it will be on some special occasion like my birthday or April 5th (the date is insignificant - any day will do). Just hoping my wife will get the hint when she reads this.
