CW100 wrote:
I don't see how to remove the tripod collar on the 200-800. You can loosen the collar but it won't slide off the back
I don’t have mine yet so I don’t have personal experience with removing the collar but the review I quoted was one of several that I read that mentioned removing it so there must be some way to do it.
Daverich4 wrote:
I don’t have mine yet so I don’t have personal experience with removing the collar but the review I quoted was one of several that I read that mentioned removing it so there must be some way to do it.
It is not removable, at least not without tools. I do see two little 'doors' that have some odd tool you'd need to open them. Perhaps under that there are some screws that would take it off. It does not look like the entire rest of the lens would have to be apart to get it off - meaning it seems like it would fit off the back end if one could figure out how to get it loose.
I fear it will be February before I get a shipping notice from B&H.
Tempted to place an order with Canon directly but knowing my luck, both will ship at the same time and I won't have a chance to cancel one before my card is charged.
Got mine late yesterday evening. I only had time for two test shots since I was losing light. This is a 100 percent crop at 800mm, ISO 12,800, handheld with my R6 Mark II. I removed the noise via Topaz AI before cropping. Under Topaz AI remove noise option, I moved the slider to 20 on strength. No other settings were enabled, nor sharpening. I should add it was a little foggy out too. Select ORIGINAL at the bottom of the link once there.
crisdesign wrote:
Compared against 100-500 + extender. It seems the 200-800 wins,
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As you would expect, I think.
Interesting video. Through all the comparisons, the 200-800 showed CA away from the center of the image, whereas there was none on the 100-500L. (Courtesy of L lens optics, presumably). While sharpness of the bare lenses was close, the 200-800 seemed to show a bit more contrast in many comparisons, a surprise to me. That said, either of these things is rather easily handled in post, I think.
All in all, it looks like the 200-800 is a very good performer, if you can live with the aperture range.
Oh, and the non-removable, easily rotating tripod collar is big step up.
With respect to removing the collar, I note that it is the last ring before the lens barrel gets smaller for the mount to the camera. On some of the older lenses, once you loosened the nut to rotate the collar, you had to rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise looking down the barrel and then the ring would slide off (there are two pins in the lens barrel. Not sure if they changed that design, but may be worth checking out.
gerov wrote:
With respect to removing the collar, I note that it is the last ring before the lens barrel gets smaller for the mount to the camera. On some of the older lenses, once you loosened the nut to rotate the collar, you had to rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise looking down the barrel and then the ring would slide off (there are two pins in the lens barrel. Not sure if they changed that design, but may be worth checking out.
Gero
I've owned a couple of lenses with that design; I like it. Unfortunately, the 100-500 does not use this approach. It has a simple collar with a knob to loosen and then "pull to release" where the collar swings open. Unfortunately, this mechanism is not robust enough to keep the collar from releasing on its own if left loosened inadvertently (for example, when using a gimbal head and forgetting to tighten the collar before moving positions). More than one FMer has had the collar release unexpectedly, resulting in a damaged lens.
According to the reviews I have seen, the 200-800 collar is non-removable.
I have been enjoying the 200-800 for the past two weeks. It's good to have 6-800mm that I can easily carry at the birding locations where I walk 4+ miles.
I am however puzzled by the calls to remove the Collar since the Strap Mounts and the Tripod Mount (aka the handle) are all part of the Collar. How would you carry this lens/camera without the hated Collar
John330 wrote:
I have been enjoying the 200-800 for the past two weeks. It's good to have 6-800mm that I can easily carry at the birding locations where I walk 4+ miles.
I am however puzzled by the calls to remove the Collar since the Strap Mounts and the Tripod Mount (aka the handle) are all part of the Collar. How would you carry this lens/camera without the hated Collar
That's true for a long walk where you at "always ready" for a bird sighting. But there are other situations. For example one of my favorite spots is a nearby pond that is .5 miles from the trailhead. There are rarely any birds between the trailhead and pond except for maybe an occasional robin or sparrow. So I keep my 100-500, collar removed, in my sling bag until I reach the pond.
So the flexibility of being able to remove the collar is a benefit. On the 100-500 it saves me .3 lb and more importantly allows the 100-500 on the R5 to fit well in my Peak sling. With the 200-800 being able to remove the collar would save, I imagine, .5 lbs and also allow easier fit in a larger sling I have.
