Colin F Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Not sure how old you are, but it is easy to grow weary of the weight of the bigger guns. I had the older, heavier 500 f/4 IS for two years, and grew tired of it, and sold it in order to get the "II" version. But I first went about a year just using the 100-400 II, and while it is a very good, versatile lens, there is no substitute for a big prime (for those of us with the disease - ).
I must respectfully disagree with armd's comment about the 2X on the 500 II, for it was that reason alone that I bought a 500 II. I had borrowed a friend's 500 II as I was curious to know how well it played with the 2XIII which I still owned from my 500 IS days. In short, I was blown away by how well it worked in terms of AF speed, even when using outer AF points, and image quality was great. *This was with a 5DIV, so lesser bodies (and of course crop-bodies) won't do as well as the 5DIV and 1DXII. That exercise had me buy a 500 II, and it was very nice knowing that I could pop on the 2X (in good light of course) and have a nice image. It never worked very well with the older IS version of the 500.
Four months ago I switched to Nikon (due to the D850) and the Nikon 500 f/4E with 1.4 ext. I find myself thinking about getting the 600E as we often seem to not have enough reach, but wonder if I would regret that extra 1.5 lbs. (I wish the Nikon 2X worked as well as the Canon).
Yesterday, I used a blind in my back yard and pulled out the old, neglected 7DII and 100-400 II. I set up a vertical perch which I had drilled some 1" suet holes in for woodpeckers. In a short period of time a Pileated showed up, and I was able to use the versatility of the zoom, capturing both a full body shot, and a head-shot. I couldn't have done that with the 500 f/4.
So basically I feel that both lenses are needed by a serious bird photographer if it can be afforded.
And another thing that you may want to keep in mind is that getting out regularly with a bigger lens actually keeps you sort of "in shape" for doing so, whereas taking it out infrequently is more of a shock to the body.
https://media.fotki.com/2v2ESqgf8xBSnFo.png
https://media.fotki.com/2v2ESqgUFxBSnFo.png
Edited on Jun 24, 2019 at 06:11 PM · View previous versions
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