[Spod]

and it gets bigger!

Joking aside I've hired said lens for a wildlife experience I'm going to early next week. So far from a quick play it's a very nice lens, compared to my 55-250 IS it's a whole lot heavier but good IQ.

Pics to follow at some point...

[jenufa]

Good one. Just make sure you get plenty of practice in before your wildlife experience. Look forward to your shots.

[ryart]

Judging by the thread title I was expecting a Johnaalex post .

Have a good time with lens and look forward to seeing the results.

[JohnG]

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with this lens as I've been thinking about one for a couple of years now.

[jenufa]

Originally Posted by JohnG

I'd be interested to hear how you get on with this lens as I've been thinking about one for a couple of years now.

For my wildlife shots I would not be without it. It will be going with me to Malaysia soon.

[Spod]

I'm going to try and head out at the weekend for a play so I get use it but in the hand from the outset it feels natural to push and pull the zoom.
Not sure why but I find it a lot easier to 'see' my target aim and focus quicker over the 55-250 IS which I can often have to zoom out to be able to point at the desired target then zoom back in.

I've found the full time manual focus a little different to get used to as well, I seem to point, AF, use manual for a tweek so focus is the right spot then re half press the shutter button for when I recompose which obviously kicks in the focus again, done that a few times but it's habit from having a lens that's either full AF or manual.

[jradley]

I think you wil enjoy using that lens immensly.

What camera body do you have ? Reason for asking is after I got my 100-400L for my 450D I had recommendations on this forum to get a battery grip for it. I did and am really pleased with it. Apart from the fact I now get 1400 shots before battery changes (using a pair of "Sido" branded batteries from e-bay for £10 delivered for both) it adds weight and chunkiness to the body which seems to help when handling this lens. Probably not worth it for a one off trip but for anyone thinking of purchasing the lens may be worth it on lighter bodies.

cheers,

John

[Spod]

I'll be using it on a 450D as well but no grip.

I did find it throws all the weight to the lens end but not unbalanced, it felt quite natural to hold the lens with most of the weight and balance the rest with the camera hand. I did take off the monopod adapter though as I won't be using it.

I have two batteries so will go fully charged and keep an eye on how things go with the first incase I need to leave one in the 'office' charging during lunch.

Do you find it peforms well on the 450D? I've read a few comments about that say the 450D has a great sensor usually better than the glass put on it because it's more at the budget end of the range.

[jradley]

I don't think you'll have any battery issues - I only mentioned that as a side benefit of getting the grip over and above the increased handling.

I'm no expert on lenses and sensors, but I do know that the 100-400L does give superior image quality compared to the 55-250 on the 450D. It focusses faster and more accurately too. The 450D is a gem of entry level DSLR and I wouldn't say the 100-400 is overkill for this quality of body.

Cheers,

John

[JohnG]

Currently I'm using a 70-300IS on my 40D body, I'm sure there will be benefits for me as well with the 100-400.

[existent]

It looks huge But I'm sure you'll get some great photos with that lens

[sunn]

was it expensive to hire?

[>Jaz<]

Nice lens. : )

Did you hire from here?

[Spod]

It's been hired from Lens for Hire as per Jaz's link, excellent service all round from them and great communication. Depending on how long you hire it for obviously effects the cost and don't forget to factor in postage which they can and do arrange.

[richard plumb]

Originally Posted by Spod

I'm going to try and head out at the weekend for a play so I get use it but in the hand from the outset it feels natural to push and pull the zoom.
Not sure why but I find it a lot easier to 'see' my target aim and focus quicker over the 55-250 IS which I can often have to zoom out to be able to point at the desired target then zoom back in.

I've found the full time manual focus a little different to get used to as well, I seem to point, AF, use manual for a tweek so focus is the right spot then re half press the shutter button for when I recompose which obviously kicks in the focus again, done that a few times but it's habit from having a lens that's either full AF or manual.

you can try separating the AF from the shutter release - I now have the AF on the * button, and the shutter button is just exposure and release.

[Spod]

Well from having the lens for five days with 3 days shooting 'properly' rather than mucking about in the garden etc I love it and given the extra spare cash would consider it in a heartbeat. My other consideration would be the 70-200 F/2.8 IS and a x2 converter but hey I don't have that much spare cash right now

The three days shooting where a Sunday at Leeds Castle where they had a jousting display on amoungst all the other stuff including a Falconry display which I went back to the day after when it was much quiter and finally the third day was at a British Wildlife park in Surrey.

Weight:
In my hands it felt about right not unbalanced with the 450D at all and I quickly got used to it. In the rucksack on my back I couldn't tell much difference

Zoom:
In use the zoom is really easy to use (push pull), it did get a little bit of stiction if you wanted to just ever so slighty adjust but I found after a while I would use my fingers on the join to good effect.
Things I had to watch out for are in crowds if you extend it all the way along with the hood you could end up twatting someone in the head if you're not careful, thankfully I didn't.

Focus:
Focusing was quick and quiet although it did throw a paddy a couple of times going from one end to other before it focused properly. I did end up having to watch my focus points sometimes, especially in the jousting where I quite often ended up focusing between to the crowd, this is less the lens more me and to use it though. The downside to the big'ol zoom is the fact you can only focus at 1.8m away, I got caught out a few times leaving it in 6.5m focus mode but this is by no means a macro lens.

Dust:
I did inspect the sensor after and couldn't find any dust on it but it may live up to it's 'dust pump' name over time but not for me.

IQ:
Image wise it produced some cracking photos, I have 15 billion to go through but I've uploaded three that caught my eye, only issue sometimes was the aperture fully extended is f/5.6 so even in sunny conditions I was at ISO 400 to help with shutter speed. Otherwise spot on and worthy of the L symbol.

Photos here