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Archive 2013 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit

  
 
PetKal
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


I was hunting a Big pijun while he was absorbed with his own lunch recon.
The 400mm FL was nicely workable, and f/2.8 nominal aperture meant that I could AF reliably in low light/narrow DoF situation.
The lens performed without a hitch. The only limitation was the camera's AF system (traditionally) modest coverage of FF. When one is doing target tracking in Servo AF mode, one obviously can not focus and recompose without running a major risk of OoF shots.
The chosen AF sensor has to be "glued" to the intended target, which in this case is the pijun's eye.

Edited on Aug 12, 2013 at 07:06 PM · View previous versions



Aug 08, 2013 at 05:16 PM
mttran
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Peter, the portrait look like one living soul, i love it.


Aug 08, 2013 at 05:22 PM
Jefferson
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Grits...


Aug 08, 2013 at 05:31 PM
StillFingerz
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Peter, another great shot

Awhile back I watched a B&H Youtube presentation on Canon's various AF systems; Rebel to the 5D3/1DX.; wide angle to supertele. It was near two hours long but it cleared up some of the mystery of auto focus; what it can and can't do.

Many of your images are ultra low contrast subjects and those, as explained by the presenter, are the toughest target for any AF to lock on to, let alone if there is movement. Your repeated ability to 'nail' focus on your subject's eye is quite amazing and is really testing your 1Dx's AF to the extreme.

Cool shooting my friend, there be excellent skills/tech in your hands/head, well done as usual



Aug 08, 2013 at 05:32 PM
mpoole
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


I really like these "environmental" shots, they are a great complement to the "perfect" shots often seen here, where the lighting is uniform and the background is even and oof.


Aug 08, 2013 at 05:41 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Mike, I do not mind uniform light, as long as it is not direct and harsh.......some sorta lighter shade works best for me.....and that is exactly where fast lenses and high ISO capable cameras show their worth.

Here's one uniform light image, or should I say "uniform shade", with 400 f/2.8 IS MkII.
The light level here was higher than in the first image, where the pijun was fully immersed in the marsh bush, and I let the WB remain warmer there with a greenish cast.

Edited on Aug 12, 2013 at 07:06 PM · View previous versions



Aug 08, 2013 at 05:55 PM
Candrews9
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


The master at work


Aug 08, 2013 at 06:38 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


StillFingerz wrote:
Many of your images are ultra low contrast subjects and those, as explained by the presenter, are the toughest target for any AF to lock on to, let alone if there is movement. Your repeated ability to 'nail' focus on your subject's eye is quite amazing and is really testing your 1Dx's AF to the extreme.



Thank you, Jerry....there are a few very simple techniques when doing AF, but one important step is AF placement verification by looking at the target thru VF.

On stationary targets, such verification can be accomplished in live view, with major software magnification, which is very good. However, on moving targets when shooting handheld, the live view feature doesn't work well for me. Then, what is left is the lens optical magnification: the closer the target in VF, the better. That is also where high pixel density cameras show their deficiency compared to having long lenses.



Aug 08, 2013 at 06:39 PM
SKumar25
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


WOW!!

The second one (especially) has great popped look (Don't want to say 3-D look, might get beaten up ). So life like, the detail is incredible.

Lot of technique at work here. Well done!



Aug 08, 2013 at 07:10 PM
SKumar25
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Peter, does this lens have a slight edge IQ wise over the 500 L II?


Aug 08, 2013 at 07:12 PM
acoll123
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Great photos but I wonder what you could have gotten with a 200-400 . . .

Andy



Aug 08, 2013 at 07:27 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


SKumar25 wrote:
Peter, does this lens have a slight edge IQ wise over the 500 L II?


Thank you, Kumar, the 400 II has indeed a very slight edge over 500/600/800 regarding resolving power. However, that edge seldom comes into play in practice because it is usually swamped by other operating and environmental factors.



Aug 08, 2013 at 07:54 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


acoll123 wrote:
Great photos but I wonder what you could have gotten with a 200-400 . . .

Andy


Thank you, Andy. My 100-400 could not AF reliably in shot #1, and even #2 would be touch and go. Also, the IQ would take a bit of a hit, and I'd have to do some post processing on image files. Just a few days ago I used 100-400 on the same targets, very similar light conditions, trying to "emulate" the big white lenses. The zoom did good, but I couldn't get the quality which might mimic the big lenses, and the more I had to crop, the bigger the discrepancy turned out to be.

Here is a shot of the target on the boundary between sunlight and (light) shade.....not an ideal type of light in this case, and the issues run deeper than the camera's DR which is not a problem here at all. Once the target gets into the shaded area fully, that is when 400 f/2.8 IS MkII warrants being deployed.

Edited on Aug 12, 2013 at 07:06 PM · View previous versions



Aug 08, 2013 at 08:02 PM
sritri
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Peter : What does it take to just watch you compose these shots ?


Aug 08, 2013 at 10:23 PM
thedutt
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Peter, beautiful images, I specially like the first one.



Aug 08, 2013 at 10:29 PM
mttran
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


thedutt wrote:
Peter, beautiful images, I specially like the first one.

+1, Love the tones of the last two and another WOW for the first. It is a magical one.



Aug 08, 2013 at 10:55 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Shreeni, Aditya and Michael, thank you for your kind feedback.


Aug 09, 2013 at 04:47 AM
surfnron
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Some great info and shots Peter - as usual ~ Ron


Aug 09, 2013 at 05:52 AM
Tom Dix
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Excellent images Peter.
Great combination.



Aug 09, 2013 at 06:08 AM
PetKal
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · 400 f/2.8 IS MkII hits the spot: a little OPEX tidbit


Thank you Ron and Tom.


Aug 09, 2013 at 06:56 AM
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