tim_adams

Scott,

 

Thanks for the compliment. The picture was taken a couple of weeks ago at Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI.

 

I'll agree that the combo is not as light as my carrying my Elan IIe and 75-300mm zoom around. This was my first camera and zoom. When I compare my pictures though, the new "L" glass is light years better. The difference is really amazing.

Come on people. I'm 38 yrs. old in average shape and I can carry around as EOS 3 plus the 70-200 f/2.8 IS all day. Your not carrying a 45lb. gym plate around. As far as quality with the 2xII, it is very, very good. This was taken hand held with the 2xII attached.

As for blurring the background, I usually always try this. I just don't like the looks of a car going over 100mph that looks like it is standing still. The only time I don't is with drag racing when I'm on the starting line. As you can see in this photo I pretty much stopped everything. I like to get the wrinkle of the back tires as they hit the throttle or in this pic. the exhaust dumping out of the headers. Someone who shoots there all the time said he basically follows the rule F8 for decent depth of field and the fastest shutter speed you can get at F8

Thanks for the comments. Now another question. Which mode for shooting an airplane that is not moving, but is warming its engine up and you want prop blur, using a monopod? I assume mode 1 would be ok here since the airplane is static right?

Here is the 2nd shot.<div></div>

Here are a couple of shots I took yesterday at Elkhart Lake at a

vintage sports car race. I was using my 70-200 f/2.8L IS for the

first time. I used mode 2 for panning most of the time. From reading

the manual it is my understanding that mode 1 should be for subjects

that are stationary, but you just can't hold the camera steady. Mode

2 should be for moving subjects. I ask because not everything came

out in focus. When panning a racecar or anything you don't always

pan in a perfect horizontal line. Am I right to assume that mode 2

would still be used for this 99% of the time?<div></div>

I never try to take a photo like this when they are just at idle. I only wait until they bring the motor up and the prop really starts turning. They usually will spend a couple of minutes with the motor really up in the powerband, then they shut is off, tow it back to the pits and make sure nothing is wrong before they need to qualify or race. When they are just idleing, it does not matter what it is, a Mustang, Bearcat, Seafury, whatever, the prop just turns too slow to give you that nice shot you want.

Well thanks for the input. Now however I'm thinking about selling the 70-200 f/4L and getting the 70-200 f/2.8L IS. That way I won't be so limited as I would with the 300 f/4L IS.

As far as the props twisting, I don't remeber the rpm varying. Maybe it is because it has 2 props, one turns clockwise and the other turns counterclockwise.

I am looking at buying a 70-200 f/2.8 IS. Does the collar come with the lense? I have not been able to find it on B&H. I have however found the other collars mentioned.

I'm already using a Bogen monopod.

I would use it for other stuff to. I need the 300mm length for flight photos. Mustangs and the other Reno racers are small airplanes. The 300mm and 1.4x produce a nice frame filling shot at 420mm. I will be doing some other airshows before going to Reno in Septmeber so I will have to try some slower shutter speeds and see what happens. Then I'll decide if I should make the switch. In an ideal world where money did not matter, I'd get the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, and the 300 f/4L IS

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. This was taken with the 70-200mm I belive. The morning sun was just glistening off the dual props this Mustang has. As you can see though the shutter speed was too slow. This is a scanned 4X6 print on a cheap flatbed. The photo itself is much sharper.<div></div>

A tripod is out. There are too many people and you are constantly moving trying to get different angles. I don't have press access so I just get to the front of the crowd line which is not too hard. Spectators are do not have to start paying until Wednesday that week, so Sun-Tues. I may be able to get some shots with a tripod. I just don't know if I want to lug it with me from Chicago.

I'm going back to Reno for a 3rd time this year and spending the

entire week at the races. While I'm happy with the shots I got with

the old 300 f/4L and the new 1.4X, I'm wondering how much more prop

blur I can get with IS. Panning does not seem to be a real problem.

When taking photos of the planes warming up even with the camera on a

monopod the prop is not blurred enough. I purposely kept the shutter

speed up knowing the old focal lenght/shutter speed rule. Even the

photos with the 70-200 f/4L and 1.4X stopped the prop too much. The

photos were all acceptably sharp though. Have any of you found an

ideal shutter speed to get the classic total circle of prop blur? Can

I effectively shoot at this speed without IS?

I guess. I read Bob's new forum policy about threads like "What lense should I buy" coming down fast, and, I guess they do come down fast!!

Just what the heck is going on here. I try to take the high road and

let everyone here know that there is a scam artist trying to sell a

600 f/4 L IS on ebay. One day later the entire thread is deleted.

 

Yes, I think we all know not everyone is honest, but this was a 100%,

no doubt about it, scam. Why remove the thread?? I found all the

talk about me slandering the seller a joke. If I was not 100% sure

the guy was trying to rip everybody off I would not have alerted

everyone. Ebay was also alerted by more than a few of the "other"

forum members also. You would think that everyone would use their

head when buying a $7000 lense and do their homework. Apparently

this is not the case though since 5 people bid on this non-existant

lense before the auction was pulled.

One thing we all seem to be missing here about the BWL's (big, white, lenses) is the fact that almost ALL the BWL's have IS technology. If you need this, then hands down Canon smokes Nikon. IS has been available for a number of years now and how many lenses have Nikon's competing VR technology? The answer is really a joke. I mean what the hell is taking Nikon so long. IS technology is the main reason so many avain photographers, and sports photographers use the BWL's. In the Super Bowl issue of Sports Illustrated there is a photo of Agassi after he won the Austrailian Open. The photo is taken from above and the BWL's outnumber the "black" lenses at least 10 to 1.

One letter L,L,L. Get the 70-200 f/4L. It is without a doubt the best value of any L lense. Brand new from B&H this thing is only $539 for the grey version. This is a ridiculous price for an L lens. Don't even think about a consumer zoom. I do a lot of airshow photography and had the 70-300 zoom, the pictures were no where near a sharp as the 70-200 f/4L. Get the L lense and enjoy it. You will not have any buyers remorse!!

I think your best bet would be a used 300 f/4L and 1.4x. See my portfolio for a shot of Voodoo and P-51 race Mustang taken with that combo at Reno this past year. This is a 4 X 6 print scanned on a REAL cheap flatbed. The print is razor sharp, you can read everything on the bottom of the plane.

 

This would go over your budget, but not by much. I bought the lense for $600 used and the 1.4xII new from B&H for $279.00

There is no CF function that allows this. To use AEB you press and hold the mode button and AF button at the same time. This will put the camera in AEB mode. Use the dial by the shutter release to set up your exsposures in 1/3 stop increments. Then take the picture. In continuous mode hold down the shutter and all 3 shots will be taken. If you use the self timer the 3 shots will be taken after the 2 or 10 second delay.

 

 

To cancel AEB push mode and and AF again and turn the wheel so the indicator is under the "0" again.

 

The CF's will do somethings that affect AEB though.

CF 6 can allow you the AEB amount to be set in 1/2 stop increments instead of 1/3.

CF 9 can change the bracketing sequence

CF 9 can also prevent AEB from being cancelled when you change lenses, rewind the film, replacing the film, or turning the power switch to "L"

 

Also if you use CF 12 mirror lock up and try to use AEB, only single shots will be taken.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I'm no expert, I just bought this camera used 2 weeks ago. I'm reading right from the manual.

I still say this is the best buy. $539 grey market right now at B&H. The 100-400 IS is a great lense but is over $1000 even at grey market prices. The 70-200 f/4L is far and away the BEST zoom you can buy for so little money. It is over shadowed by its big brother the 70-200 f/2.8L, but he 2.8 is a whole lot more money.

 

By the way if you add a 1.4X to this lense you have a 280 f/5.6 at the long end which ain't to bad either.

Seriously, it is only $300 more for the grey market 70-200 f/4L from B&H. Now $300 may seem like a lot of money but this "L" lense is far and away better than both the consumer zoom Canon's your looking at. Save your money and get the "L".

I did get rid of it. I just sold it yesterday because I bought a used 28-70mm f/2.8L.

I did invest in a hood with the replacement I bought. It came in handy as I fell on my ass 3 times with the camera on a tripod while hiking in Yosemite in 2001. Now the camera stays in the backpack 95% of time if I have to hike to where I want to photograph. I may miss some shots, but at least the camera survives.

In July of 2000 I bought the 28-105mm with my Elan IIe from B&H.

Like an idiot I dropped it from a height of about 6ft off of

bleachers at a drag race. The camera was fine but the lense has some

real problems. First off the plastic inner ring that you can see as

it zooms out has a crack in it. The lense will still autofocus

though. The front glass has some major straches, one real deep just

off center. Lastly the ring for a filter has some chips in it. Can I

honestly get any money for this thing, or should I just chalk one up

to stupidity and toss the lense?