Is there a preferred BIF lens. I have the 100-400 with a 1DMKIII and I find the 100-400 a little slow on focus acquistion.
I couldnt find anything doing a search on the boards here comparing the 300 vs 400 options.
My thinking is that its between the 300 F4 IS and the 400 F5.6 but dont know if the greater reach of the 400 is better than the IS panning feature of the 300. Speed of focus acquisition, tracking and image quality are the major factors here for me.
I dont want to spend over this approximate price so the 300/2.8 and 400/4 DO are not in the budget.
I'd appreciate your help and thoughts and If you'd care to post any images, I'd love to see them.
zootp wrote:
Is there a preferred BIF lens. I have the 100-400 with a 1DMKIII and I find the 100-400 a little slow on focus acquistion.
I couldnt find anything doing a search on the boards here comparing the 300 vs 400 options.
My thinking is that its between the 300 F4 IS and the 400 F5.6 but dont know if the greater reach of the 400 is better than the IS panning feature of the 300. Speed of focus acquisition, tracking and image quality are the major factors here for me.
I dont want to spend over this approximate price so the 300/2.8 and 400/4 DO are not in the budget.
I'd appreciate your help and thoughts and If you'd care to post any images, I'd love to see them.
"My thinking is that its between the 300 F4 IS and the 400 F5.6 but dont know if the greater reach of the 400 is better than the IS panning feature of the 300"
Still owning both, for BIF only the 400 F 5.6 definitely. Tack sharp, fast focusing, for BIF you need the extra reach most of the time. Easy to hand hold. Excellent choice. Actually I should say, between the two of them - for BIF - there's no choice
But that's just my 2 cents in Euro's :-)
JackF wrote:
"My thinking is that its between the 300 F4 IS and the 400 F5.6 but dont know if the greater reach of the 400 is better than the IS panning feature of the 300"
The panning IS will be useless to you for BIF. You're going to require 1/800 shutter speed or higher anyway in order to capture the birds' wings properly so in that case the IS is pointless. Get the 400 5.6L, it's very popular for this type of photography for a reason.
The 400 f/5.6 is certainly faster for focusing on birds in flight but when the birds land you may wish you had the 100-400 with its IS or even the 300 IS. Mostly however, you'll probably want the 500 IS
The AF of my 100-400 was pretty slow. It turned out that it was also defective but even after being fixed it was not as fast as the 400 f/5.6 is. It was, however, noticeably more responsive on a 1D2 than it ever was on a 20D and so I doubt that it is useless on a 1D3. You could do worse.
I find 500mm on 1dmk2 to be short for BIFs even at local rookery where birds (herons, egrets) are so close. So not sure why would you think 300mm would be enough.
I have 100-400L and 500mm f4 IS. Also had 400mm f5.6. Still for BIFs, 400mm f5.6 is the best out there.
I have the 100-400 and 40D, I tried it last weekend and it was frustrating to do BIF with this combo, very good light and my shutter speed was around 1/2000~4000 but the AF is way too slow to track small to medium birds, if I have a larger bird filling up most of the frame then maybe, just maybe...I might get a few keepers! The center focus point is slightly quicker than all 9 focus point but it still sucks, after half an hour I gave up in frustration before I decided to toss the combo into the lake. If you need a BIF lens, from what I've read the 400 5.6 prime is your ticket!
I wonder if the new Sigma 120-400 or 150-500 will have faster AF than the 100-400L? They have HSM, but I doubt they'll be anywhere near as fast as a 400L. If the 150-500 is optically good and has good AF speed it'd be a very tempting lens and has an excellent MFD of just 2.2m, so great for close-up work too.
Depending on bird size/distance, I'd go with the 300 f/4 non-IS or 400 f/5.6.
If a faster lens is needed, the 300 f/2.8 would do fine too.
The 500 f/4.5 and 500 f/4 can perform well too, but they require a bit more practice and arm strength, especially in the case of f/4.
PetKal wrote:
Depending on bird size/distance, I'd go with the 300 f/4 non-IS or 400 f/5.6.
If a faster lens is needed, the 300 f/2.8 would do fine too.
The 500 f/4.5 and 500 f/4 can perform well too, but they require a bit more practice and arm strength, especially in the case of f/4.
yea.. the 500/4 works well, even with a 1.4x tc on a 20D
I find I need the reach, so I tend to grab that over my 100-400, but a 400/5.6 and some 1 series autofocus would great.
If you need a BIF lens, from what I've read the 400 5.6 prime is your ticket!