I went to Mooney’s Bay last summer to watch Kendra’s team compete in the annual Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. It was a lot of fun and I was very pleased that I got to spend some time with her between races. I thought she’d have little time to roam around on her own.
We sat on the beach watching other teams race when this guy came along and set himself up:
IMG_3650.CR2: 30D, EF 400mm 1:5.6L @ 1/3200, f/5.6, 400 ISO
Of course I was interested in his hardware but I couldn’t see it clearly as he was about 20 metres away. I had some hardware of my own, so I used my longest lens to take the image you see above. I could tell he was shooting Canon gear and had an EF 300mm f/2.8L IS. How could I tell? I used the photo I took to zoom in on the lens ID plate with my camera’s LCD.
I wondered why he was bothering with the tripod when I saw he had a 2x extender and recalled that IS does not function with an extender. Ah well, he seemed to be managing just fine. I also realized his camera was the same model as mine. His lens was quite different, however. Although my 400mm lens trumped his 300mm, his f2.8 stomped my f5.6 and his also had the IS mine lacked. The downside is those two stops more than quadruple the price of his lens as compared to mine. Despite my extra 100mm, I’d take those two stops with IS any day.
Not unhappy with what I’ve got, I know the EF 400mm 1:5.6L is a bargain at just over $1000. It’s not the fastest or lightest lens, but the image quality belies the low price. Just look at that bokeh!
Yea, of course I’d still take the two stops.
WTL
My my. That does look like fun to have.. but I’d hate to go on a hike with it. 😉