{"id":4653,"date":"2011-03-17T02:07:48","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T06:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=4653"},"modified":"2013-07-27T08:05:33","modified_gmt":"2013-07-27T12:05:33","slug":"i-cant-believe-that-i-forgot-this-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2011\/03\/17\/i-cant-believe-that-i-forgot-this-one\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can’t Believe That I Forgot This One!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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This image of a fledgling Green Heron was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens<\/a> (hand held at 176mm) and the EOS-40D at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1\/1600 sec. at f\/6.3. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

I Can’t Believe That I Forgot This One!<\/h3>\n

In the recent post, Which is the Best Under-$1500 Canon Intermediate Telephoto Lens for Me?<\/a>, I helped folks choose among the old 400mm f\/5.6 (my beloved “toy” lens), the popular and versatile 100-400 mm IS L zoom lens, and the close-focusing 300mm f\/4L IS lens. I cannot believe that I forgot to mention the relatively tiny, lightweight, and versatile Canon 70-200mm f\/4L IS zoom lens. After owning the original 70-200mm f\/2.8L IS zoom lens for many years (and not using it much but for my annual trip to the wondrous Galapagos archipelago), I purchased a copy of its smaller lighter cousin, the 70-200 f\/4 IS and quickly fell in love with it. I used it over the years with the 40D, the 50D, the 7D, and at times with one of the pro bodies, the Mark III and as recently as the summer of 2010, with the Mark IV. Though a stop slower than its heftier cousin, the f\/2.8L IS, this lens was sharp and its lighter weight made it convenient to have one hanging on your shoulder all day long. I recommend using this lens hand held either alone or with the 1.4X teleconverter. It will autofocus with a 1.4X TC with any of the cameras mentioned above. It will not autofocus with the 2X and any of the pro-sumer bodies but will with any of the pro bodies. If you use this lens with the 2X TC and a pro-sumer body it is mandatory that you be on a sturdy tripod best topped off by a Mongoose M3.6. It is the least expensive of the four and would be a great choice as a starter lens for folks living in the vicinity of fairly tame birds; can you say Florida or San Diego? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This adult Herring Gull was photographed in flight at Captree State Park on Long Island, NY with the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens<\/a> (hand held at 200mm) and the EOS-1D Mark III. ISO 100. Evaluative metering +1 2\/3 stops: 1\/500 sec. at f\/4. (It was obviously a cloudy dark day.) Fill flash at -1 stop with the flash mounted on the camera. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

The Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens<\/a> was a great flight lens with every camera body that I used it with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This Wood Stork was photographed at the fabulous St. Augustine Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL with the the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens<\/a> with the 1.4X II C and the EOS-40D. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1\/1000 sec. at f\/6.3. Fill flash at -1 stop with the flash mounted on the camera. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

All 70-200 lenses are great for flight in tight quarters. Here the lightweight 70-200 f\/4 performed admirably with the 1.4X teleconverter in place. With a pro-sumer body this combo will autofocus at f\/5.6 and you will enjoy an equivalent focal length of 448 mm. This works out to 8.9X magnification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This white morph Reddish Egret was photographed at Fort DeSoto Park south of St. Petersburg, FL with the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens<\/a> with the EOS-40D. Evaluative metering +2\/3 stop: 1\/1600 sec. at f\/4. Though DeSoto is not as good as it was several years ago–a large area that was roped off several years ago remains closed–it is still a great location for bird photography. Having a copy of our DeSoto Site Guide<\/a> will ensure you of being at the best spot on any given set of weather\/wind\/tidal conditions. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

When working with shorter focal length lenses and relatively tame birds it is imperative to get low in most every situation so that your angle of declination is not too steep. I did not want to get any lower here and risk losing the beautiful reflection.<\/p>\n

Shopper’s Guide<\/h3>\n

Below is a list of the gear discussed above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins. Before you purchase anything be sure to check out the advice in our Shopper’s Guide<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Canon 70-200mm f\/4L IS zoom lens<\/a>. I used and loved this lightweight versatile lens for several years and made lots of fine images with it.
\nCanon 400mm f\/5.6L<\/a>. My beloved toy lens is still a great flight lens. Just not for me as I now rely on Image Stabilized lenses.
\nCanon 100-400mm IS L zoom lens<\/a>. I used this lens for years with great success.
\nCanon 300mm f\/4L IS lens<\/a>. A great lens for flight, hand held bird photography, and large macro subjects.
\nCanon EF 1.4X III TC<\/a>. This new TC is designed to work best with the new Series II super-telephoto lenses.
\nCanon EOS-7D<\/a>. I loved my 7D but sold it so that all of my bodies would be the same. Less strain on the brain that way. <\/p>\n

And from the BAA On-line Store:<\/p>\n

Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod.<\/a> This one will last you a lifetime.
\nMongoose M3.6 Tripod Head.<\/a> Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with all intermediate telephoto lenses.
\nDouble Bubble Level<\/a>. You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am on a tripod and not using flash.
\nDelkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card.<\/a> These high capacity cards are fast and dependable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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This image of a fledgling Green Heron was created with the Canon EF 70-200mm f\/4L IS USM Lens (hand held at 176mm) and the EOS-40D at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach, FL. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1\/1600 sec. at f\/6.3. <\/p>\n

I Can’t Believe That I Forgot This One! <\/p>\n

In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-90","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}