So I got my FR 600mm in the post from HDEW yesterday and managed to give it a try out and about in my back garden with an obliging gull bought in by some seed and meal worms.
Some thoughts. First off, there are limitations that you know about up-front. It's closest focal distance is 4.5m which is a surprisingly long way. Less of a problem is the f11 thing with the light we have at the moment ISO isn't that much of an issue. It doesn't come with a hood, but then most Canon lenses don't.
Things I've learned. When extended for use the exposed section of tubing feels very lightweight, perhaps even cheap. Oh and when you put a sling on the tripod mount, with the lens collapsed it's fine to carry but with the lens extended, the balance is all wrong. And then there's the additional focus area in the viewfinder which shows the reduced area of AF coverage.
But then... I put the sling back on the camera, it's a light enough combo unlike a 150-600mm that I worry about the camera mount being damaged and it's easy to ignore the tube being plastic.
And then I looked at the images and all of those concerns disappeared. It's brilliant. Easy to carry, easy to wave around to catch subjects and the images from it look as good as any I've taken with much more expensive and heavier kit (Nikon 200-500mm, I'm looking at you). Ok so it's not weather-sealed but at f11 it's unlikely to be a bad weather lens.
And some samples...
Back garden gull by Andy Mulhearn, on Flickr
Back garden gull by Andy Mulhearn, on Flickr
all-in-all, I’m pleased with my purchase
Some thoughts. First off, there are limitations that you know about up-front. It's closest focal distance is 4.5m which is a surprisingly long way. Less of a problem is the f11 thing with the light we have at the moment ISO isn't that much of an issue. It doesn't come with a hood, but then most Canon lenses don't.
Things I've learned. When extended for use the exposed section of tubing feels very lightweight, perhaps even cheap. Oh and when you put a sling on the tripod mount, with the lens collapsed it's fine to carry but with the lens extended, the balance is all wrong. And then there's the additional focus area in the viewfinder which shows the reduced area of AF coverage.
But then... I put the sling back on the camera, it's a light enough combo unlike a 150-600mm that I worry about the camera mount being damaged and it's easy to ignore the tube being plastic.
And then I looked at the images and all of those concerns disappeared. It's brilliant. Easy to carry, easy to wave around to catch subjects and the images from it look as good as any I've taken with much more expensive and heavier kit (Nikon 200-500mm, I'm looking at you). Ok so it's not weather-sealed but at f11 it's unlikely to be a bad weather lens.
And some samples...
Back garden gull by Andy Mulhearn, on FlickrBack garden gull by Andy Mulhearn, on Flickrall-in-all, I’m pleased with my purchase
Comment