ruffstep_.

Have you looked at the 100-400IS? This lense covers your range and more and is a great compliment to the 28-135.

 

I know this lense is sometimes badmouthed by the test pattern shooters of this world, but its real world performance is fantastic to my eye. Nobody has ever looked at my 6.5" x 10" cibachromes and remarked on the 'lack' of edge sharpness. The push pull zoom was a real pain in the ass - for about 1 second, and the lense hood has never fallen off. Anyway.... give one a look before making your decision?

Canon 10D & 100-400L.. you might be able to convince someone to sell you this combo for $2500?? Heaps of reach for tight action shots, IS including mode 2 for panning. This lens gets maligned by those that only photograph pages from their newspapers, but has enough advantages to make up for that last 0.001% image quality.

 

Works for me

 

TC

Not aimed specifically at Mr Soldo, but at the wider D rebel community

 

300D's rattle - get over it

 

If you don't want to hear the rattle - QUIT SHAKING THEM

 

TC

I bought a uk 'store brand' polariser a few years back which was so innefective that it was really hard to see any change at all while rotating the front. I then switched to Hoya and happily overpolarised the next 20 films or so...

 

To maximise the effect you have to be in bright light conditions - like outside on a sunny day

Apologies for the broken record effect, but I will second (third?) the 20-35 recommendation. It is a great lense with fast AF and takes beautiful pictures. I bought mine S/H VERY cheap due to a rattle inside - had it repaired and cleaned for £45 and have never looked back! A good S/H example sans rattle should not break the bank.

 

One of my faves.

 

TC

What they said - give it a wipe and try not to worry about it. If there is no glaringly obvious problem with the pictures - there is no problem..

The obvious answer seems to be: pay somebody to carry it all for you... I'm sure that your guides will be able to arrange this - hire Arnold for the job. Just pay him a fair wage (less than your guides) and plead with him not to drop your bags.

Jay

 

Have you ever seen a papparatzi lense?? They tend to look like they have been put through a cement mixer yet still seem to function fine. My 100-400 has survived a 18000 mile tour around australia rattling around the back of the wagon with no ill effects that I can notice. I admit i am concerned about taking it on my next trip (motorcycles around the world) but there is no point having it and leaving it wrapped up at home. Your 500L is slightly more of an investment... however I would expect it to be far more robust than the zoom design 100-400lens. One thing I would say though is dont let airport baggage handlers anywhere near it.

 

TC

Excellent idea to rent the 1v with booster - speed is the issue. Surfing is such a rapid fire sport that 4fps from elan7 is like slow motion. Getting 3 or 4 shots through a hard turn compared to 1-2 from the elan can only bump up your number of quality pix. 2 seconds covered up is a serious barrel where I come from - not too long where photography is concerned though. The 1D is plenty quick also at 8fps. I would have no concerns about this camera for sports work at 4.2mpx. If you plan to sell to a magazine look at the pictures they print with stories, usually very small and no great strain for sharpness - if you are planning to sell for advertising could be a different story tho. The saving on development + film costs might well cover the difference between the 2? Its a great excuse to whack off a couple of thousand shots a day..

Come on Harvey - suggest mr Lim buys a superzoom and throws away that hard earned £££. You usually have somthing reasonably sensible to say.. having a bad day?

Christian

 

It would be nothing short of madness to make this exchange. Buying a short telephoto, or wide angle (or nothing at all) may open new horisons rather than just gaining you a single stop - how often do you even use this lens wide open?

 

You are making big enlargements - if you are concerned about the sharpness of your prints this could be where the problem lies. You must exercise perfect technique to produce sharp photographs at this size. Are you using a tripod? a really good one? MLU? remote release?

 

Perhaps buy a dog instead and take photograps of it, I am sure this will provide more joy than 1 stop..

 

Regards

 

TC

Dave

 

The Canon 28-135 is an excellent travel lens and a great partner to the 20-35. It will blow the super-zooms away in all aspects (except in the 135-300 range) Unless you have specific interests like hard core nature photography, you are unlikely to really need the extra reach. The 28-135 is a great all round performer - like you might require while travelling. I have never regretted buying this lens and it has seen a lot of miles.

And as an added bonus it will cycle a whole lot faster than alkaline

In photoshop try zooming to 100% 200% etc - jagged edges should magically disappear. It is just a display issue

Sports mode is the same as full auto, however it will shoot continuously when you hold down the shutter button - have a play using all the modes next time you have no film in there. LED's? whatever.. Beeping?? probably is focus lock (havent used a 300 in ages) try not to lose any sleep over it - better yet turn the beep off.

 

TC

Does the unit still work - i.e does it actually need fixing? The cheap option is to wipe off the worst of the crud and keep using it till it does/nt fail.

If you have spent £1500 on a 10d and then buy a super budget lens SH on ebay to fit it then you deserve a kick in the nuts at the least. Error 99 stands for: idiot cheapskate - buy a point & shoot..

 

Yes I just got a parking ticket - have to take it out on someone.

Lex

 

Same as the others - carrying round my 100-400 is a major pain in the ass. By the end of the day you feel like you have gone 10 rounds with Mike. You already have a great lens that is very usable, you might think twice before putting the 2.8 lump in your bag? "Sell" the 4.0 to the Mrs, buy a 16-35 and then borrow the 4.0 all the time....

 

Also the 100-400 is way to heavy for the Manfrotto joystick head and wobbles all over the place. I am sure the 2.8 will be in the same boat. It is ok of there is no wind + use MLU, but not the best all told.

 

TC

Adrienn

 

Your main problem will be the general humidity - evreything you own can go manky within weeks. Try to keep your camera's bagged when not in use, sillica gel and all that. When it rains in indo - it RAINS, just get under cover. I have been inside a fairly new car in Sumatra that rapidly collected 12 inches of water in the bottom during a severe rainstorm - it was just hosing in all round the doors. Being outside during one of those would be beyond any weatherproofing (except nikonos?). If you are going in the dry season it will hardly rain at all though (depending what island you are on at the time) just hot and sticky. Dont forget, Indonesia is absolutely HUGE, you can beat a lot of the seasons by moving along, although you obviously cross the Wallace Line and lose the rainforest eventually.

 

What is your intended trip / object??

Jamie

 

my Minolta weathermatic has taken a beating round the world for 8+ years now and still takes great photos. It is waterproof to 5 meters claimed - I have taken it to 20 metres regularly then 22 meters where it made a grinding noise and stopped, only to start again on the surface. It usually lives on the end of my float line (spearfishing) and gets dragged over coral & rocks all the time. Eventually the seal on the lens change button was holed and I repaired it with a air bed repair kit.. still waterproof 2 years later.

 

Keep the seals really clean and slightly greased and you won't be able to kill this camera.

Al

 

I own both of these lenses - 100-400 is sharp and very useable hand held. It is also huge, heavy and sticks out like a sore thumb (people stare). The push pull takes about 1 roll to get used to and has yet to "suck dust in like a vacuum" It is not as sharp as a 50mm 1.4 but it is sharper than the 28-135 - espec when wide open. Bird feathers etc are crisply defined. Manual focus is very heavy, but rarely required. I find it a perfect companion to the 28-135, but if you dont need the reach the 70-200 4.0L is a whole lot lighter. Use top quality filters or you will get very odd (horrible) bokeh with this lense.

 

TC

people that recommend Nikonos for anything other than diving have never used one... they are a royal pain in the ass

 

how about a digital p&s - cheap & handy & very easy to use - keep it in your pocket

Nice article with a very simple test. I would like to know how often unsharp images are mis-interpreted as out of focus. Having looked at some old pix with a better understanding of camera technique (thanks Bob et al) I can see that many of my shots where the autofocus "didnt work" are probably just fuzzy as hell from trying to hand-hold 300mm+2xTC etc etc

 

TC

an Eos30 or 33 will be a great purchase - but in many ways, I wish I had gone for a mint s/h eos3, even tho I am allergic to secondhand goods. If you get more serious, the extra features start to look really good (and i wish i had them now)

canon 28-135IS USM all the way. It is the perfect backpacker lense, covers a nice range, IS will let you get away with very tricky lighting (no tripod), excellent quality pix, good build - what more do you want???

 

IS is such a powerful feature (espec for a backpacker) - it simply puts the other lenses in this bracket on the scrap heap.