Canon 800 5.6L

[gregory_rogalsky1]

Im thinking about buying a 800 5.6 L Canon super telephoto. Has

anyone out there got one of these monsters? I want to shoot birds as

well as people. Is anyone out there using this lens out there? I

understand that I will need exstension tubes as the closet focusing

distance is 45 feet or somthing. Im thinking of getting a wemberly

head . I will be shooting with a T-90 and F1n.

[cliffcalhoun]

This is a very good lens. I owned one for about 1 year and used it quite a bit with a T90 body.

 

Pros

 

- inexpensive (for a super-telephoto)

- lightweight (for a super-telephoto)

- great image quality

 

Cons

 

- manual focus

- focusing knob takes getting used to

- 45 ft. minimum focusing distance

- this lens is long and difficult to use in a car

- lens may not hold its value as well as other lenses, i.e. auto focus or Nikon MF

 

Be aware that there are two Canon 800 f5.6 lenses; the "L" and the non "L". Definately, get the "L" lens for the UD glass and better image quality.

 

You are right that you will need extension tubes for small animals and especially birds. Probably a minimum of a 12mm and 25mm, and maybe add a 50mm tube at some point. Again, especially for birds.

 

Finally, look at "The Art of Bird Photography" by Arthur Morris to get an idea of the image quality of this lens. Arthur used one (among other lenses) to get many of the shots for that book, and he gives many tips on technique for the 800/5.6L.

 

Good luck.

[gary_voth]

Arthur Morris writes fondly about using this lens as his mainstay for bird photography before investing in his AF system. If you can get hold of his latest book you will definitely find a lot of information you'll find useful for your stated objective.

[gregory_rogalsky1]

Thanks for the responses, good tip on Arther Morris. I have been to his web page several times and liked what I saw for the most part. My background is in photojournalism so I come at it from a little different direction. Beileive it or not, but I like to shoot B+W , fast film and moterdrives. Im pretty good at follow focusing shooting, lots of practice . I wonder how I will do with the 800 5.6 L ? Has any one out there used a Wemberly head with supertelephotos. I Really think one of those those heads might be the ticket . Anyway thanks for the tips so far. Oh ya Any one out there use Carbon fiber tripods with super telephoto's? I read somwhere that carbon fiber tripods reduce vibrations? I used to have a 400 2.8 pentax with a 2X coverter , but never did get really sharp pictures out of the unit. Im thinking vibration and to much coffee where the culprits. I won't make that same mistake again. Who knows I might even get steady enough to shoot KR 25 . Later OO

[bobatkins]

Check out the tripods section here or do a search. Much of what you want to know has already been asked and answered in the archives.