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Archive 2014 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II

  
 
HarveyGold
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Went to the harbour this morning to try for some in-flight shots and got some Mallards and Canada Geese. Nothing exotic.

Shot everything with my 5D3 at 400mm wide open (f/5.6) and ISO400, 1/2000 sec. for all flight shots.

My observations are that the AF is snappy and accurate, locking on most shots. Missed AF on very few.

A couple of negatives in my mind:

Vignetting was very heavy and I suspect it would need to be stopped down to at least f/8 to solve the issue. There is no sign of vignetting on my 400 f/5.6L wide open.

Once you get to the 50% crop area some faint ghosting shows up on the images on some high contrast edges. All the shots below (except for one goose shot) are cropped at least 50% and I can see it on my monitor. Any shots of BIFs against a plain sky would need to be kept above a 50% crop in my opinion. Not sure how that would show up in other types of images with busy backgrounds.

1.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-TdC3JJq/0/O/2014-12-20_0004.jpg

2.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-sT9ptrT/0/O/2014-12-20_0009.jpg

3.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-zW6vSDb/0/O/2014-12-20_0007.jpg

4.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-tnnB88Q/0/O/2014-12-20_0006.jpg

5.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-NFf2dgr/0/O/2014-12-20_0008.jpg

6.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-dWg9Mhd/0/O/2014-12-20_0005.jpg

It seems to handle back lighting pretty well.

7.
http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfowl/i-dQ9HN2m/0/O/2014-12-20_0001.jpg

Thanks for looking.



Dec 20, 2014 at 02:33 PM
mogud
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Looks pretty good to me Harvey. I'll be out tomorrow morning to find the extended family flock of Canada geese which I've seen close to our house. Hopefully, my results are as good.




Dec 20, 2014 at 03:02 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Fine shooting, Harvey, thank you very much.
Those are some distance shots and yet they appear nicely sharp and clear.
A good responsive AF is a great news.
Vignetting and high contrast border ghosting is a concern, and that is why Fred pays you big bucks so that you may diagnose those for us.
I do not recall seeing either with my 100-400 Mark 1, although I normally wouldn't pay much attention to some vignetting, but ghosting I wouldn't miss.

(I did some BIF shooting with 400 DO + 2xTC today, and not unexpectedly, I do not have very many keepers to show for it. )



Dec 20, 2014 at 03:21 PM
HarveyGold
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


mogud wrote:
Looks pretty good to me Harvey. I'll be out tomorrow morning to find the extended family flock of Canada geese which I've seen close to our house. Hopefully, my results are as good.



Looking forward to seeing your results, Morley. Keep us posted.



Dec 20, 2014 at 05:09 PM
HarveyGold
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


PetKal wrote:
Fine shooting, Harvey, thank you very much.
Those are some distance shots and yet they appear nicely sharp and clear.
A good responsive AF is a great news.
Vignetting and high contrast border ghosting is a concern, and that is why Fred pays you big bucks so that you may diagnose those for us.
I do not recall seeing either with my 100-400 Mark 1, although I normally wouldn't pay much attention to some vignetting, but ghosting I wouldn't miss.

(I did some BIF shooting with 400 DO + 2xTC today, and not unexpectedly, I do not have very many keepers to show for
...Show more

Okay..... I think I stumbled upon what might be causing the 'ghosting'. I normally shoot with 'Neutral' picture style and in-camera sharpening set at 2. I found my camera set for 'Standard' picture style and the contrast looks like it is much higher in that style. Also, in-camera sharpening was enabled. I think the 'ghosting' I'm seeing is actually some residual halo effect from that setting. I'm not sure how it ended up set for 'Standard' style, but I am going to set it back to 'Neutral' which works best for my work flow.

As for the vignetting, it is what it is. It can be corrected in post but it's a pain if there is a large number of images.



Dec 20, 2014 at 05:14 PM
HarveyGold
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Peter, here is a full frame image straight out of the camera. Only converted to JPEG and re-sized. No post processing of any kind was done. You can clearly see the vignetting.

http://harveyg.smugmug.com/Other/Miscellaneous/i-HSxDDqM/0/O/2014-12-20_0004_P.jpg



Dec 20, 2014 at 05:29 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Thank you Harvey, your feedback is much appreciated, I really like it when people find real issues with a tested piece of gear, as opposed to merely saying something like "The best Canon lens I have ever used."


Dec 20, 2014 at 06:03 PM
Tom_W
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Based on my (aging) memory, the amount of vignetting doesn't seem much different from the original 100-400. Perhaps something else I can compare when I get back home from the holiday trip. (I am taking the new 100-400 with me, in order to get more acquainted with it).

I'm curious as to how it looks with the 1.4x mounted. I'll have to give that a try when I get a chance.



Dec 20, 2014 at 06:35 PM
3CeeMedia
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Thanks for the post. I think they look good. I use the 400 5.6. It is sharp but isn't as versatile. I missed a life bird yesterday because it was too close. I also use a tripod with it so the ability to handhold would be an advantage.


Dec 20, 2014 at 06:40 PM
3CeeMedia
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


Thanks for the post. I think they look good. I use the 400 5.6. It is sharp but isn't as versatile. I missed a life bird yesterday because it was too close. I also use a tripod with it so the ability to handhold would be an advantage.


Dec 20, 2014 at 06:45 PM
HarveyGold
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · First bird shoot with the new 100-400 v.II


I suspect vignetting won't be an issue for those shooting with a crop body.


Dec 21, 2014 at 07:22 AM





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