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Archive 2015 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3

  
 
PetKal
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


That question has arisen many times on all Canon related photography fora, and although any sort of a consensus is not likely to be reached, the combo 600 f4 IS MkII + 1.4xTC appears to be the most popular option which would give one close to 800mm FL.

Over the years I have done my own testing and real shooting with a variety of long lenses, and although I have my own lens ranking as well as favourites, I have decided to do another comparison this week on the same type of targets, (big heron pijuns), under similar environmental conditions.

The lenses/combos I am looking to re-test now are as follows, all done on 1DX:

Pt. (1) 600 II + 1.4xTC
Pt. (2) 800
Pt. (3) 400 II + 2xTC III
Pt. (4) 500 II + 1.4xTC III
Pt. (5) 400 DO II + 2xTC III
-----------------------------------
Although 500 II + 1.4xTC III is handicapped by a 100mm FL shortfall wrt 800mm, I am including it in this evaluation because the lens makes up for that shortfall in other ways.

Also, I was not going to look at any f/8 combos, however, an exception is made with 400 DO II because the lens is very light, and it has a fine performance in its bare form.

After all lens (combos) are presented with sample pictures in five parts, I'd like to post a little summary of how I see those five 800mm +/- options, i.e., their main strengths and weaknesses.

What is IMPORTANT to note is that this sort of evaluations have a significant subjective component. Also, by doing the same target type under very similar environmental conditions, by one and the same photographer, makes the comparison a bit more consistent. As a counter example, it would be of no use to compare my 600 + 1.4xTC shots of egrets with, say, Tim Kuhn's shots of GBH or Herb Houghton shots of eagles taken with their 800Ls. Such cross comparisons would be entirely meaningless.

Here is a selection of shots taken with 600 II + 1.4xTC III (on 1DX, handheld)....Pt. (1)



Edited on Sep 03, 2015 at 04:01 PM · View previous versions



Sep 02, 2015 at 06:35 PM
EB-1
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


The best 800mm is the 800/5.6 VR Nikkor.

EBH



Sep 02, 2015 at 07:03 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


EB-1 wrote:
The best 800mm is the 800/5.6 VR Nikkor.

EBH


That may well be, but who would corroborate that with some real photography results , since nobody seems to own that lens ?
If Nikkor 800 can match the Canon 800, that would already be a feather in Nikon's cap. Just that 800L is very very good.

Edited on Sep 03, 2015 at 02:33 PM · View previous versions



Sep 02, 2015 at 07:25 PM
Jefferson
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


... We have catfish here that could swallow that bird ...


Sep 02, 2015 at 07:44 PM
PetKal
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


Jefferson wrote:
... We have catfish here that could swallow that bird ...


I am no so sure about that.....mah bird is a catfish killing machine, whatever the size.



Sep 02, 2015 at 07:54 PM
Lauchlan Toal
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Dino-Ferrari-with-record-wels.jpg

Great idea for a thread Peter, looking forward to hearing the results.



Sep 02, 2015 at 08:01 PM
arbitrage
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


Well I know that each of these segments will have very nice images and seen at 1400 pix wide they will all look the same to us internet viewers....so really I think just giving us the conclusion would make the most sense

My 100% biased vote goes to the 600II +1.4TCIII......

But in reality if I had to choose only owning one of those combos and no other large lenses...I would personally opt for the 500II + TCs....and that is said without ever having seen or touched one in real life....



Sep 03, 2015 at 12:16 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


Lauchlan Toal wrote:
http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Dino-Ferrari-with-record-wels.jpg

Great idea for a thread Peter, looking forward to hearing the results.



Holy cr@p thats more Bond Villain Submarine than a FISH !



Sep 03, 2015 at 01:19 AM
HaJa
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


Peter

This re-test requires some serious brutal forge and huge garage.

In my garage the best would the one with shortest MFD.

Jarmo



Sep 03, 2015 at 03:06 AM
PetKal
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


I got a question and a suggestion:
(1) Why not do these tests with a high pixel density camera such as 7DII or 5D s/r ?
While I would have liked to do that, I can't: I do not have yet a sufficient degree of faith in my 7DII, and I do not (and will not) own 5D s/r. Although 1DX files are lacking "depth", the camera is quite dependable/consistent.
(2) Why not test an "economy" lens option such as 100-400 II at 800mm FL ?
I am not looking at MF options, in fact, for me even f/8 combos are seriously crippled in performance.



Sep 03, 2015 at 04:03 AM
arbitrage
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


100-400II at 800mm is a really sad proposition....my only suggested combo would be 200-400 at 800 because even though it is f/8 it is a very sweet combo IMHO.....


Sep 03, 2015 at 07:50 AM
PetKal
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


There seems to be little interest in this topic, therefore , I see no point in burdening Fred's servers with it.


Sep 03, 2015 at 04:05 PM
Lauchlan Toal
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


I wouldn't mind seeing the 800 in the mix - besides, the more images the better.



Sep 03, 2015 at 04:15 PM
thedutt
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · The best lens 800mm +/-, Pt.1 & Pt.3


PetKal wrote:
There seems to be little interest in this topic, therefore , I see no point in burdening Fred's servers with it.


Bummer, this thread is the reason I came back today to see if there were any update. Hope you change your mind.



Sep 03, 2015 at 06:22 PM





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