pete zwiers

Hey folks, sorry about not getting back ... I had a four day weekend because of the Remembrance day holiday here.

LOUIS: I found IS to be very important on this trip. I often shot from the back deck of the buggy, and while people

movement is a concern on these buses, it was the wind that often made things tougher. Our group was a photo

oriented group (Charles Glatzer ... Shoot the Light), so the buggies only had ten people on them. People moving

around inside was still a problem, but fairly minor. If you start getting these buggies at 20 or more people, I would

think this would make things really, really difficult - to the point you'd be better off handholding IMO. If I had to shoot

under those conditions, then I'd probably really want the 300mm f/4 IS over a 300 f/2.8 NON IS.

You're shooting FF I see, so just having a 70-200mm and the 300mm is going to be quite short for some stuff. For

example, the highlight of the trip for us was having two polar bears devour a freshly killed caribou. The perfect range

in that particular scenario (for a 1D MIII 1.3x crop factor) was anywhere from 400mm to 600mm. Keep in mind though

I was able to use my 500mm on a tripod easily because of our buggy group - only myself & one other fellow ever

shot off the back deck (or even hung out there). If you start getting more than 3 photographers on the back deck with

tripods ... nightmare.

Bottom line:

1. Going with a photo specific group (12 or less people on a buggy) ... bring all your stuff, and rent a 500mm lens.

2. Going with a general tour group (20 or more people on a buggy - most who don't give a crap about higher end

photography) ... bring lenses you can handhold only. Keep things really simple - each camera body mounted on a

camera, and try not to switch out extenders too often. Also bring a monopod for your longest lens combo - which

would make shooting off the backdeck easier. Hang out on the back deck almost always. Most people will get cold

really fast, and this is the easiest place to work for photos. Be prepared though, I was only able to use thin finger

gloves most times and my hands were practically numb from cold & wind a lot of the time. I melted a few pairs of

finger gloves on the buggy stove just trying to get some feeling back into my fingers more than once! Note also that I

live with winter five months out of the year and grew up with it ... your mileage may vary! Bottom line for back deck

shooting ... you can never have warm enough boots or hand protection, and serious long underwear is key.

JOSEPH: My wife & I went with Charles Glatzer's Shoot the Light Workshops. http://www.shootthelight.com .

I'm not a tour group person at all, but we couldn't find anyway to do Churchill properly on our own. It's just too

popular, and getting a hotel room & stuff is almost impossible because they are all lined up with group tours. Was it

expensive? Yep ... we spent almost 4x the amount we would normally spend on a similar length vacation. But we

would never have done Churchill on the cheap because I know we would have hated it (sharing a tundra buggy with

more than 40 people would be a big pain), so this way we enjoyed the trip and it was the most productive it could be

for photos.

Hope this helps a bit. Feel free to email me for more info (or to remind me to check in here!). You can see a few of

my photos from our trip at my website: www.happyhoppy.ca

Cheers,

- Pete

That's a pretty old article! I was there last year, and this is what I'd bring if I was going this year:

Mark 1DIII with 500mm f/4 lens

Mark 1DIII with 300mm f/2.8 lens (I have two 1DIII bodies)

30D with 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens

70-200mm f/2.8 lens & 24-105mm f/4 lens (ready to go, but not attached to a camera all the time)

Tripod with Wimberly II head

Good solid winter gear - especially for wind when you shoot off the back deck of the buggies. Very good finger gloves

(bring extra in case you burn them on the stove inside the buggy ... yes, I did this while trying to warm up my

hands). Good warm boots that you can stand around in for a long period of time (I spent a lot of time standing on the

back deck of the buggies, so arch support is just as important as warmth). Some of the those hand warmer things

are handy also.

Cheers,

- Pete

I had the exact problem with mine. It happened repeatedly, so I sent it in to Canon Canada to have it looked at. They replaced the IS unit and it's worked fine since.

Basically, it was the same problem that many people complained about with their 70-200 f/2.8 IS lenses ... and I believe the IS unit was the problem (& fix) there as well.

I had the 400mm f/4 DO lens. I sold it when I got the 300mm f/2.8 & 500mm f/4 lenses. I shoot mammals as my main interest, but I take bird photos if the opportunity comes along.

First off, I loved my 400mm DO ... great lens. I had a sharp copy and it gave me some wonderful images. The only thing that may be true about quality concerns you read on the web is that the contrast is slightly duller than other Canon big glass ... this can be fixed easily in PS. Everything else about my 400mm f/4 DO was wonderful.

I sold my 400mm DO because I wanted slightly more reach too many times. I bought the 500mm f/4 for this reason, and I couldn't justify owning the 400mm DO alongside the 500mm f/4. I ended up buying a 300mm f/2.8 lens to compliment my 500mm f/4, and round out my focal lengths.

I have the 300mm f/4 also, but I much prefer the 300mm f/2.8 because I found myself in a lot of evening situations where I needed a faster lens. I glad I went this route as I've gotten way more keepers of black bears during the evening hours than my 300mm f/4 could have ever provided. I haven't used my 300mm f/4 at all since getting the 500mm f/4 & 300mm f/2.8.

The 400mm f/4 DO lens is a great compromise lens - if you only want to own just one of the Canon big guns (300mm f/2.8, 400mm f/2.8, 400mm f/4 DO, 500mm f/4, 600mm f/4). If you end up owning a second big gun, then the 400mm DO doesn't make a lot of sense - unless you have the 600mm f/4. If you indeed decide to just own one big gun, then the 400mm f/4 DO should be a very serious contender - if you should primarily mammals.

For longer hikes I miss my 400mm f/4 DO weight! But, I really enjoy the 300mm f/2.8 speed, and it is a truly tack sharp lens. The 500mm f/4 feels like a beast compared to the 400mm f/4 DO. If I'm hiking for any distance, and I want to take just one lens with me in case I see something cool ... I take my 300mm f/2.8 lens along, not my 500mm f/4. Mostly because of the weight & size issues.

If I had my 400mm f/4 DO still, with my 500mm f/4 ... on longer hikes, I'd take my 400mm f/4 DO over my 500mm f/4 everytime because it so much more portable.

That said, I'm shooting with a 20D ... not the full frame 5D. You'd be losing a lot of crop factor focal length over my setup. A 500mm might be a much smarter decision to stick with if you're married to the full frame sensor.

Tough decision to make! I fretted about my decision a lot also, but have no regrets.