got my hands on a 300mm IS...

Photodiva

Photodiva

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A very kind 'tog I met on Saturday at the first match of the season offered me a chance to try out his Canon 300mm during the second half. Oh boy! I thought my 70-200mm was a weight, but now I've just got used to it. The 300mm was another thing entirely. Apart from the 1.6x crop factor (he was using a full frame) it was pretty hard for me to (a) hold it steady, and (b) get the autofocus to work fast enough. It seemed slow compared to my 70-200mm. Any ideas why? He said something about 'setting up the camera' but I'm not sure what he meant. I got a couple of useful shots, great bokeh, separation from bg, but without a monopod I had to give it back quite quickly as I just couldn't hold the weight. He seemed to shoot crouched down, hand held. Is that just practice?

I don't think I'm gonna be in the market for a 300mm any time soon, but I'd probably hire one for the right occasion.
 
The 300mm is hand holdable :p The auto focus is one of the fastest amongst any lens every made, and is well known for it, especially when on a 1 series camera :)
 
purpleclouds said:
The 300mm is hand holdable :p The auto focus is one of the fastest amongst any lens every made, and is well known for it, especially when on a 1 series camera :)
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So I would need arms like Arnie, then? And was it my 50D body that contributed to the problem? When it focussed it was great, but perhaps I was trying to focus on action too close?
 
I would have though the 50d would have been fine with this lens and not caused any slowness..........at least I hope not as with any luck i shall be using one on my 40d soon.

Would be interesting to hear others thoughts on this?
 
I've used a 300 f2.8 on my old 50D and on my 7D without any problem at all. However, the latter certainly has a much better AF system.

It's defo fine handheld, although a monopod does help.

The comments about "setting your camera up" are probably towards adjusting the speed of the servo focus, which you can only do on xD bodies, not xxD or xxxD.

Steve
 
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Photodiva said:
So I would need arms like Arnie, then? And was it my 50D body that contributed to the problem? When it focussed it was great, but perhaps I was trying to focus on action too close?
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Those closer your subject gets, the more work your AF motor is doing, so the more inaccuracies you will encounter :)

No, you get used to it eventually :D A monopod does make life a lot easier though :)
 
Gary Coyle said:
Were not talking Macro lenses here Neil :lol:
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You should try the Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR lens. It is even better than the Canon....
 
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