Last weekend, I had a terrific opportunity to use this lens at my daughter, Chelsea, and son-in-law, Brad's commencement ceremony at the UC Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies (a special small college within the large university). I was proud for both of them, graduating with highest honors in the Physics program, before moving to Berkeley for their doctorates in a few weeks. The last shot is the Physics program (minus one student) -- lone girl does well!
IMO, this was the perfect lens for this type event. I only needed to add a 580EX II flash (light balancing gel for interior) to the 5D2 + grip, and I was set to go! Great color and sharpness. It covered a huge range or focal lengths, giving that Canon "L" quality.
I'm curious if other owners could post shots from events they have covered using this lens.
i have a mate with this lens who does a lot of event work. He loves it. With modern cameras capable of hi iso, at well lit events a 2.8 lens is not always needed.
I prefer using two bodies and two lenses, for most events and activities. That's why I sold my 28-300L IS to a buddy at FM. If I was a one-body person (whatever that means), I'd still have the 28-300L IS.
Jim -- I can relate to that. I'm ready if needed to sling the 16-35 II on the 1Ds2 to have complete coverage. But so far, I haven't found it needed or essential. I have a wedding coming up in about a week, and this is the main lens I'm planning on using. I don't know about carrying this lens with a 5D2 plus grip, PLUS another 1D body and large lens! Maybe for 10 minutes? (I need to work out more!)
Since I used to cover most events with the 5D and 24-70L, or the 60D and 15-85, this is a step up in versatility. The only times I've ever been scolded when presenting results is when I went past 24mm AOV, so I've learned to stay away from that.
Nick -- I forgot to mention the interior shots were all at ISO 1600, and mainly 1/50 at f/3.5-5.6 (basically kept the lens set to wide open for each focal length). I got nipped by subject blur a couple times, but mostly it work out great. If I had a 5D3, I might have tried ISO 3200 and 1/100.
A very attractive young lady, and from the sound of it a smart one too. As the current owner of Jim's 28-300 I can say I'm very happy with it for my use & it's about to get a major work out this weekend. I have an R/C event featuring EDF (Electric Ducted Fan) planes, most of which will be on the small side but VERY fast at the local field. Weather looks like it will be perfect & there's been lots of interest from many who have to travel 4 to 6 hours to attend so it should have a good selection of planes. I've done some testing at a small event comparing the 28-300 to the 35-350 using a 7D & 1Ds2 & swapping between them & it wasn't hard to tell which shots came from an IS lens because I intentionally shot at the slowest shutter speeds I dare to use. Last Friday I bought a very nice & slightly used 1D mark 4 so now I've had to make a couple of runs over to the field to shoot whatever was flying & today it was the 35-350 L's turn on the 1D4. The 28-300 L focuses faster on it, which may be partly due to the limit switch. Either way my starting set up for tomorrow will be the 28-300 L on my 1D4 & the 100-400 L on the 7D. I may use my G9 for the up close static shots rather than carry a 17-40 all day. These are a few shot testing the 28-300 L IS in mode 2 at 1/400 or 1/500. The first 2 are under 30 inches in wing span.
Cicopo -- Very exciting! I love the pressure to figure out what will be optimum gear right before an event or assignment. Gets my juices flowing.
We've discussed this before, and you know I'm a big fan of the 35-350L. If it had had IS, I would have kept it. I think it had overall nicer skin tones. Just a lovely lens! For me, the IS makes the difference. To be able to hold such a lens at the same steadiness as the 24-70L, makes the money shots for me. Although I miss the 24mm on the 28-300L, the rest is amazing. maybe I'll pick up a 24/1.4 version 1 to fill that niche.
Looking forward to seeing some of your highlights after the big show.
Gunzorro wrote:
IMO, this was the perfect lens for this type event. I only needed to add a 580EX II flash (light balancing gel for interior) to the 5D2 + grip, and I was set to go! Great color and sharpness. It covered a huge range or focal lengths, giving that Canon "L" quality.
g
the 28-300 L is probably the best for a "one lens" event
The lens proved to be very versatile at my first event and I've got some very sharp images from it. If anything wasn't sharp it came down to operator error since I haven't had any serious panning practice this season. I also ran into some issues settling on what metering mode to use & I'm still working on that. Most of my shooting was done at 1/1000 or above so the IS wasn't really being taxed. Considering the size & speeds I think I'm VERY pleased with my 28-300 L and it will be used again this weekend at slower shutter speeds where the IS will come into play. These samples show what I had to keep in the viewfinder. Very few of the planes had wingspans over 40 inches. Many were around 24-30 inches & some were under that. These are all powered by electric motors so as much as big powerful batteries help their weight hinders so it's a fine balancing act to get them to perform.
Funny-right now I have both a 28-300L and a 35-350L! I've had the 28-300L for years and have loved it, but had the opportunity to buy a 35-350L for a good price on here, so I bought it to compare the two. Both are great lenses, the 35-350L is a little smaller/lighter, and while the IS is nice on the 28-300L, I find myself using the lens mainly outdoors when traveling or at zoos, where I don't find I need IS all that much. And since neither 28mm or 35mm is very "wide" on my 7D, I found the difference unimportant as I will typically have a UWA available if I think I need it, but in times when I'm using either lens, I typically just carry that lens and workaround the lack of a true wide end pretty easily. Guess it depends on what you're shooting.
Therefore, I'm going to be putting the 28-300L up for sale here in the next few days. If someone is looking for one let me know, it'll be priced well.
I love the 28-300 for this kind of stuff (even though I prefer it for brighter venues ) as well as for a "mega P&S" style shooting on my 1Ds-series bodies (and "soon" 1DX). The versatility of the lens in many cases outweighs its deficiencies. I don't use it for shooting fine landscapes, of course, but for most other things it's a worthwhile addition to the bag.
So back to my shooting & thoughts re the 28-300 L and my 35-350 L. So far I am very happy with the 28-30000 L for my specific use & yesterday I got to put the IS to use because the event I was shooting featured the same planes & pilots doing more of the same stuff they did on Sat & I had more than enough good photos from Sat to make the event album. Weather on Sat was nicer too, so rather than just create files needing extra work I decided to check whether or not something I felt about the 35-350 was correct so I pulled out my 1Ds2 & shot with it for the morning. TO ME the 35-350 L focuses faster on that body than on my 7D or 1D4, and after shooting that way for an hour & then switching over to the 28-300 L I still feel that way. The 28-300 L however is noticeably faster (the AF) on all my bodies vs the 35-350 and although part of that is because of the limit switch it just snaps into focus much faster. Because I didn't need any more event photos for the album I took the time to slow the shutter way down & do some panning, hoping the IS would help (nor sure it really did because I got similar results with both lenses at 1/100 thru 1/160. These are from the 28-300 L
Congratulations (for your daughter and son).
I would love to own use a lens in this range. If it would be so outstanding as the 70-300 (or even better 70-200) in IQ I would go to purchase it immediatelly. Maybe I should rent it and give it a try. The studio chart shots do not really say much compared to real life shooting.
