A new lens can always bring challenges, especially with large telephoto or zoom lenses. I recently purchased an older Canon 200-400 f4 L IS USM with 1.4 extender. It is an intimidating lens due to its size, cost and handling. I was anxious to take it out for a spin.
The lens is not for the faint of heart. It weighs nearly 8 pounds. Attach it to a camera body and a tripod, and it all weighs a ton! But the trade off is that it is fast, very sharp and has a built-in 1.4 extender that makes it a 280-560 mm.
I took it out for the first time to one of my favorite places: Radnor Lake State Park in Nashville. I knew I wouldn’t have to hike too far with it before finding some subjects.
I spotted this red-eared slider about 20 feet away, sunning on a dead tree limb hanging above the water. I wanted to test for sharpness and make sure I cut out any camera vibration, so I chose a higher ISO of 1,000 and a high shutter speed of 1/1,000 second.
The higher shutter speed kept the image sharp, and the lower f-stop of 5.6 helped to blur the background a bit. I also put in the removable polarizing lens to cut out the reflection and glare from the lake’s surface.
I was very pleased with the sharpness of the textures in the bark of the tree and in the turtle. His eyeball is tack sharp. All in all, it is a very sharp lens that has very good autofocusing capabilities for following moving subjects like birds in flight. The downfall is the weight of the thing.
I’m reminded of a tenet in photography — the best camera is the one you always have with you. While I will use this lens for special situations, it’s not going to be an everyday lens.
Whether you are a beginner or a professional, you have to find the gear that you will be comfortable with and have with you all the time. For many, that could be a smartphone, and that’s perfectly OK.
Smartphones have come such a long way with respect to their photographic capabilities. Some of the newest features in recent software updates include AI technology to help you create incredible images, isolate subjects from the backgrounds and enhance search capabilities.
The software now recognizes the content and locations of your images more than ever before. The search functions are one of the time-saving advantages technology offers now.
Try it out for yourself. If you have a fairly updated phone with current software, search your photos for a subject like “kids” or “dogs” or “beach.” And, voila! All your pics of said subject appear. You can also search by location or time of day. Try “golden hour,” and all your images shot during that time of day will come up.
Technology isn’t perfect, but it is fun to play with and learn how to use to our advantage, especially with respect to photography. Unfortunately, my search request for winning lottery ticket numbers did not reveal any useful results.
