I have spent a bit of time on fredmiranda looking at the various feedback fellow Fmer's have given on this beast of a lens. Alot of people whose review I have read come from a wild life/nature photography.
Just wondering how do people find using this lens of sports photography, let's assume any sport that is played in lots of light and in the outdoors. I dont think I will be shooting in low light conditions.
Any motorsport photographers use the 500mm lens on the track ?
Further what is the auto focus speed like when used with a Canon 1.4 or 2.0 teleconverter (assuming the body is a 1D series) ?
I have used the 300mm both the IS and non-IS versions and loved it. The depth of field separation is amazing, is this the case with the 500mm as well ? I love the size of the 500mm incontrast to the 300mm as shown here
I will really appreciate any feedback anyone can offer.
Veeral, don't forget the DOF separation @ f/4 on a 500mm are also superb and from the DOF calculator you can see for a subject at say 30m, a 300 @ f/2.8 has 1.29m DOF and the 500 at 50m (for same coverage) at f/4 has 1.82m, so still very good. Get closer with the 500 and of course DOF will be smaller. In fact at 42m the DOF is the same.
I haven't used it for motorsport but know people that do and they love it. The AF speed is about the same as the 300. AF speed with 1.4x TC is very good on a 1D II.
I have probably seen more 500/4 lenses at the track than any other super tele. It is significantly lighter than either the 400/2.8 or the 600/4, making it more practical than either when you're walking long distances to get around to the best spots on the track.
It would be my next choice should I ever be in the market for a really big tele.
I think the best thing I may have to do is see if I can hire it for a weekend and have a play with it.
Also any aussie Fmer's here can give me suggestions whereabouts are the best places around Victoria to go get into nature photography.
I was thinking about going to the Werribe open range zoo as that's the closest and cheapest way to experience the African safari Maybe take a tele there and view the results.
One last question the auto focus tracking of the lens would be just as good as the 300 f.28 ?
I haven't used it for motorsport, but for wildlife with the 1D Mark IIN, in particular wildlife action. the AF slows down significantly with the EF 1.4X II teleconverter.
Thanks for the feedback. Do you notice much softness with the 1.4 extender attached ?
I had a quick browse of your gallery,nice images with the 500mm f4 lens, the bokeh is amazing. Even with the extender the background isolation is amazing. I quite dont understand how do you manage to walk around with so much heavy gear
I have spent a bit of time on fredmiranda looking at the various feedback fellow Fmer's have given on this beast of a lens. Alot of people whose review I have read come from a wild life/nature photography.
Just wondering how do people find using this lens of sports photography, let's assume any sport that is played in lots of light and in the outdoors. I dont think I will be shooting in low light conditions.
Any motorsport photographers use the 500mm lens on the track ?
Further what is the auto focus speed like when used with a Canon 1.4 or 2.0 teleconverter (assuming the body is a 1D series) ?
I have used the 300mm both the IS and non-IS versions and loved it. The depth of field separation is amazing, is this the case with the 500mm as well ? I love the size of the 500mm incontrast to the 300mm as shown here
I will really appreciate any feedback anyone can offer.
thanks
Veeral ...Show more →
Veeral, I don't understand what you mean when you say "I love the size of the 500mm in contrast to the 300mm as.........". Do you mean you want to carry around a lens of this size as a fashion statement? I have used the 300mm 2.8 LIS + 1.4TC often for motorsports and its's very very handy. Just my opinoin but unless I was after wildlife and in particular birds, I would start out with the 300mm. I own both but hauling the 500mm around is sometimes just too inconvienient. By the way the 300mm just does not loose anything with a good 1.4TC attached.
Cheers-Red
veeral wrote:
I was thinking about going to the Werribe open range zoo as that's the closest and cheapest way to experience the African safari Maybe take a tele there and view the results.
Yep: good choice for a try out. I first tried my 300 there.
Thanks for the feedback. Do you notice much softness with the 1.4 extender attached ?
I had a quick browse of your gallery,nice images with the 500mm f4 lens, the bokeh is amazing. Even with the extender the background isolation is amazing. I quite dont understand how do you manage to walk around with so much heavy gear
cheers
Veeral
I'm not Gene, but the 500 is still super sharp with the 1.4x, and the seperation is very good (with a long lens like that there's not much you can do to keep any background!).
AF is definitely a little slower with the 1.4x, but it's by no means bad, in good light it's still very fast.
@Whayne: Amazing shot, I'm still blown away by the sharpness and the bokeh. Do you have a gallery I can browse more of your images ?
@Red: You got me there red handed
The biggest lens i have is the 70-200mm and when I borrowed the 300, my god was it big. Now l looked at the link I posted earlier the 500 just makes the 300 look like a dwarf. yes size does matter
If I were to make an invest in a tele, I would need some that has good reach and functions well in terms of focusing with tele converters.
Buy something good that I will enjoy using for a long time to come. I was the same when i got my 1D2N at that stage I was pondering whether to get the 1D2N or the 30D, size was a concern but performance and durability was a big factor.
Sure it cost more but I am amazed with some of the cycling shots I have taken with. Looking back at the pictures makes it worth every cent.
@J.D: I just have to find the time to go to Werribee. Do you know any other good places around Victoria for some nice wild photo opportunities ?
@Floris: thanks for the reconfirmation on the af speed, i was starting to worry a little bit.
veeral, you should ask gene for a gallery, I'm just a hack by his standards. This was only my second outing with the 500 for birds; I've got a long way to go. I've used the 300 f/2.8L IS for a long time with stacked 1.4x Tcs, but got the 500 as my main lens for wildlife now.
I have used the lens a lot for motorsport shooting. Mostly for roadracing but also for car-racing and moto-x. Sometimes I use it to shoot windsurfing or kitesurfing.
The AF speed is very good with the 1,4x extender also.
@Whayne Amazing pictures on your gallery. I had a look at Gene's gallery simply spectecular wildlife images he has captured. It's a pitty I can't quite get the same type of wild life here in Vic.
@Lars cool shot of the motorbike rider. one of my aims is to take the 500 to the moto gp in philip island later on this year that's only if the CFO approves it
So it seems the 500mm is a very amazing piece of glass.
Thanks for the feedback. Do you notice much softness with the 1.4 extender attached ?
I had a quick browse of your gallery,nice images with the 500mm f4 lens, the bokeh is amazing. Even with the extender the background isolation is amazing. I quite dont understand how do you manage to walk around with so much heavy gear
cheers
Veeral
Some imaghe softeneing with the 1.4X, but I have grappled with the limitiation. Here are 100% crop (USM applied) of a squirrel close-up followed by a Coyote close-up @ 700mm. It is not as sharp as the bare lens, but acceptable. I use the bare when I can. When shooting birds in flight - especially fast action eagles swooping in for a fish, I really notice the slowdown in AF with the teleextender.
This winter I decided to shoot a full day of eagles hand-held instead of using my tripod with sidekick. I can get better results hand held on fishing shots than with the tripod, but man my neck was sore the next day But you get used to it. I used to thein the 100-400 on a 10D was heavy weight!
veeral wrote:
G'day folks,
Just wondering how do people find using this lens of sports photography, let's assume any sport that is played in lots of light and in the outdoors. I dont think I will be shooting in low light conditions.
I have used several super -telephoto lenses over the last 15 years professionally. The Canon 500mm F4L IS produces very sharp results - like any super-telephoto lens you have to use good technique.
The following stock images (F4 aperture in both cases) include 100% crops - bearing in mind that the tennis racket was just out of the frame and moving quickly upwards and the golfer's head was not still and still rotating - in this example the lens was not far off its closest focusing distance - framed as seen. Only very subtle Photokit sharpening has been applied and the image can take more.
The AF is very fast on action and very good optically with the 1.4 converter. Bear in mind that the 1D MKIII's outer, cross type AF sensors, will revert to vertical only types with F4 lenses. They only perform in vertical and horizontal detection with lenses of F2.8 and faster - similar end result to the MKII series outer vertical only AF sensors.
Edited by Nick G Walker on Apr 28, 2008 at 10:59 PM GMT...Show more →
Maybe take a tele there and view the results.
I have used the 300mm 2.8 LIS + 1.4TC often for motorsports and its's very very handy. Just my opinoin but unless I was after wildlife and in particular birds, I would start out with the 300mm. I own both but hauling the 500mm around is sometimes just too inconvienient. By the way the 300mm just does not loose anything with a good 1.4TC attached.
