Lens lust, serious lens lust... I've known for a while that I wanted a big zoom lens for my camera, because sometimes I see things that I want to capture that are just too far away. Sometimes I've been very lucky to capture images of birds or wild animals. Sometimes they seem to wander closer to me without me moving an inch - like the day the mute swans wanted to play. Other times I can't get close enough, like the gray day not too long ago when I really wanted to capture some shore birds running along the ocean. A couple of sea gulls posed for me, but the little running birds wouldn't let me get close enough. My desire for a long lens was somewhat tempered by my requirement that the lens be of a size and weight that I would be willing to carry it with me as I wander on my bike. That made my decision more than a little challenging.
When I bought my everyday lens I knew that if I ever gave in to my dreams and got a longer lens that I wanted a lens with built-in image stabilization (IS). A monopod may still be in my future, but I really wanted a lens that I could just grab and use, even when I'm wandering on my bike. I have enough room to stash another lens on the bike, and yes, I'm sure that a monopod will fit too, but for now...blockquote>And I have to say - the image stabilization is awesome. Without IS I would not have a chance of hand-holding these lenses and getting photos that are in focus. With IS, getting in-focus shots is easy. Of course my reaction to this technology is that any lenses I buy in the future will most likely be IS lenses!
I had my eye on Canon's IS lenses. I had the shock of my life when I first priced them. I was looking for the Canon 100-400 IS zoom but I had inadvertantly selected the 400 IS prime lens. It was $6500! Uh, wait a minute... I'm not a professional photographer, and that's way out of my range for playthings. I sort of accepted that I wasn't going to get a new lens, but I couldn't let it go. I went back a few days later and priced the lens that I really wanted. Yes, it was still very pricey, and if I hadn't seen the price of the 400 IS I might have thought it was out of line. But hey, in comparison with $6500, the price of $1310 for the Canon 100-400 IS lens seemed almost reasonable.
I kept going back and forth, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes! I finally gave in and ordered the lens. Should I have bought it locally so I could feel it on my camera before the purchase? Maybe. I looked on the web sites of the two larger photo shops in the area, and neither of them showed any trace of my dream lens, so I ordered my new toy from B&H Photo in New York. (I later saw an ad for one of those local shops that included my dream lenses, but ordering from B&H meant that I didn't need to spend time driving to odd locations to check out the lens.) B&H is usually very fast in filling orders, and they are a very reputable photo shop. I've ordered small things from them before, never something as big as this lens.
My wait wasn't too long. I had selected the least expensive shipping method, which was tagged as 3-5 days via UPS. I placed my order on a Wednesday, it shipped on Thursday, and the lens was in my hands on Friday. I'm sure that it helped that my north of Boston location isn't that far (from a shipping standpoint) from the B&H warehouse in Brooklyn.
I headed to the coast early Saturday morning to play. I figured the sea gulls would be willing to pose for me, and they were. The lens took amazing pictures. And yes, I will take some credit for the photos since I was the one who was driving it! The image stabilization was wonderful, but... and this is a big but! The lens is big, and it's heavy, and even though I knew the size and weight when I ordered it, it didn't really hit home until I attached it to my camera and started working with it.
The big question for me was - given the size and weight - will I be happy taking it with me as I travel on my bike, and will I switch lenses during the day to give me the best of both worlds? The lens switch is the smaller of the two concerns, and I do believe that I will happily flip lenses to match my photo dreams. But the weight and size of the lens really got to me.
I played with the lens, and I thought, and I thought, and I thought.
After many hours of switching from "no, it's not the lens for me (right now)" to "well maybe it is, it takes beautiful bird shots" to "yes, of course I should keep it" and back to "no, it's not right (for me) for now", I finally decided to go with my gut, return the lens, and try to find a reasonable replacement. After all, I know that I really do want a longer-reaching lens, and I know that I need to be happy carrying the lens with me on my bike. And I looked for other answers. I found a lens that looks very interesting to me, but the reviews I found were very mixed.
I decided that the only way to see if the good reviews or the bad ones matched the lens behavior was to try the lens myself. I ordered a Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS in the hopes that it would be the right answer. According to the Canon web site, "Diffractive Optics elements are combined to reduce size and boost image quality". The difference in size and weight is amazing. The Canon 100-400 IS lens weighs 3 pounds and is 7 inches long at it's shortest length. The Canon 70-300 DO IS lens weighs 1.6 pounds and is 3.9 inches long. That sounded a lot more reasonable to me from a weight standpoint.
The lens showed up on Tuesday, giving me the holiday Wednesday to play. The light was a little funny that day, and I wanted some sunshine to complete my test. On Saturday the lens jumped into a bag on my bike and happily came out to play as I spotted things along the road.
My impression after playing with the lens on 2 different lighting condition days is that it is a good choice for me for right now. It takes beautiful pictures, but it appears to sometimes need a little more care and attention to get properly exposed good shots than the 100-400 did. Based on what I've seen so far, I think (I hope!) that I will be happy with the lens.
Only time will tell whether I made the right decision!
Curious about diffractive optics? Here's a link to as explanation of the technology: Canon Diffractive Optics.
This picture should give you an idea of the size differences between the lenses. The lens to the left is the Canon 100-400 IS, and the lens to the right is the Canon 70-300 DO IS.
Actual sizes as noted on the Canon web site are:
- Canon 100-400 IS: 3.6" x 7.4", 3.1 lbs. / 92mm x 189mm, 1,380g
- Canon 70-300 DO IS: 3.2" x 3.9", 25.4 oz. / 82.4mm x 99.9mm, 720g
