[MaximusJ]

[The1]

How are you liking it so far?

[DARK_M3]

Speaking of new lens's, I think I just found mine.

The Canon 135L f2.

[hieu1004]

Originally Posted by MaximusJ

.....[image]

Cool paintballing shots. 70-200mm lens, I'm gussing?

Originally Posted by DARK_M3

Speaking of new lens's, I think I just found mine.

The Canon 135L f2.

The 135L is money. One of my top favorites for sure and I rank it up there with my 85L. It's a very unique lens that has amazing bokeh. I sold mine last year and I regret it, lol.

[tekmoe]

[MaximusJ]

Yep; the 70-200 is an amazing lens. Nothing compared to the other lenses I had so far.

For the first time going out with that lens, i'm very happy with the overall sharpness and ease of use; considering the size.

Worth every penny.

[Chewy734]

that's cool... I like the bokeh in the pics you posted.

[MaximusJ]

Yep, at 2.8 its not too creamy (like my 50/1.4) and not too sharp; just perfect.

[hieu1004]

Originally Posted by MaximusJ

Yep; the 70-200 is an amazing lens. Nothing compared to the other lenses I had so far.

For the first time going out with that lens, i'm very happy with the overall sharpness and ease of use; considering the size.

Worth every penny.

Agreed.

I have the Canon equivalent, 70-200L f/2.8 II and it is a beast (both quality and size, lol). In fact, ever since I got it, I've used my other primes much less. I'm glad you're enjoying yours - it seems to be a perfect lens for paintballing shoots.

[dcstep]

I'll finish with the owl images soon because the owlets will fledge any day now. Here the mom is sitting on three owlets after feeding them a ring-necked pheasant cock:


Mom sitting on owlets after feeding, giving me the eye by dcstep, on Flickr

[dcstep]

Cooper's Hawk Eyes Me at Eye Level:


Coopers Hawk at eye level by dcstep, on Flickr

7D, 500/f4, Av mode, ISO 800, +1EV, f/5.6 resulting in 1/320-sec. hand held.

Vachss and I were talking about diffraction and other issues over in the Night Photography thread. This is an example, taken yesterday, of the box that my priorities gets me into (limiting 7D to ISO 800 whenever possible, hand holding, getting shutter speed up and then lastly using f/8 whenever possible to maximize DOF -- which almost never happens).

Dave

[vachss]

That's a fine shot of the Cooper's. Even with the IS that's really sharp for 1/320th handheld with the 500.

[Chewy734]

awesome shot Dave. Do you usually only click once? Or take multiple shots, subsequently fine-tuning your parameters?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

awesome shot Dave. Do you usually only click once? Or take multiple shots, subsequently fine-tuning your parameters?

Thanks Chewy and Vachss.

I probably took 20 to 30 shots of this hawk on that particular branch. I shoot in bursts of two or three as the head angle changes, looking to catch an eyelight or intense stare with both eyes or "special" pose. I had so many to chose from that I actually did RAW conversion, cropping and adjustments on about eight. I select the processing cut by looking at in-camera jpegs at full screen and then examine the eyes at 100%, looking for super sharpness. After processing, I'll pick the best one by running a little slideshow several times to see how I react and pick the one that strikes me most favorably. I keep all the processed files on my external HD, but usually use only one.

Dave

[Chewy734]

Do you ever spook the animals with the shutter sound? Or are you pretty far away?

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

Do you ever spook the animals with the shutter sound? Or are you pretty far away?

The shutter is usually not a problem, although they'll react to it and look more intensely at me occasionally. Once, I shot with a guy using a Nikon that would beep loudly when it grabbed AF. We had to turn that off because it was spooking everything.

This bird would have probably flown out of my range after I kicked it up walking through the brush, but there was a pheasant down on the ground to my right, unknown to me. The hunt had not been given up and the hawk was mad at me and even vocalized. The hawk flew to another nearby tree and as I moved to get a shot of that, I kicked up the pheasant and the Coopers gave chase. Alas, they were so close and too fast so couldn't get focused.

Dave

[Chewy734]

The only reason I asked is because the 5D3's shutter in silent mode is wicked quiet.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Chewy734

The only reason I asked is because the 5D3's shutter in silent mode is wicked quiet.

If it doesn't slow down fps, then I'd use it all the time.

Dave

[M_Six]

Killer shot, Dave. Very nice.

I was out shooting the sunrise with my Nikon-wielding friend a couple weeks ago and his AF beep was driving me nuts. No need for that. My 7D is as quiet as I can get it. My Panny FZ18 will shoot completely silent, which makes it great for churches and weddings and so on, as long as you don't expect professional looking images.

[Chewy734]

Originally Posted by dcstep

If it doesn't slow down fps, then I'd use it all the time.

Dave

It slows it down from 6 fps to 3 fps, sadly.

[vachss]

I think the 7D's shutter is already much quieter than the ka-LONK of the 5D2.

[Chewy734]

That's probably true... the mirror on the 5D2 has to move farther than on the 7D.