Hi All, being a keen photographer and long time canon user (37 years) I have been following this thread with some interest, particularly the comments from Bob Inglis and David Stowe whom I both know to be excellent photographers. I haven’t much to add to their comments but Bob did broach on something and David followed up with a more qualitative comment. I refer to the 100-400 mm lens which Bob knows I’ve had for some time and carry with me everywhere. All the comments Bob makes about it are correct and I’m sorry David but it is not a good lens for pelagics.
It’s autofocus, even on the 7 D and possibly 1 series cameras isn’t quite up to speed for my liking. It’s greatest failing though is in it’s construction, that push-pull mechanism which gives it the versatility, sucks in not only dust but also moist air. I know of at least 5 now, including my own that have broken down from one too many days at sea. In my case it was the locking ring material which broke down and disabled the rings’ locking capability, not too bad you’d think but the whole auto focussing mechanism had to be replaced, cost – $725.00!! Another pelagic regular up here informed me just last week of the same problem, only his whole lens seized up and the same cost for repair.
A much better lens for pelagics if you need to use a zoom that is, would be any of the Canon ‘L’ 70-200 lenses but preferably one of the F2.8 lenses and particularly the latest ‘IS’ version. Shooting from a vessel, the birds are usually extremely close but if you do need the extra grunt then with the F2.8 lenses you can add a 1.4X or even a 2X extender. I’ve used the 1.4X extender with the older non ‘IS’ lens 70-200 F2.8 & haven’t noticed any real slowing down with the auto focussing. A 300 F2.8 ‘L’ is a perfect pelagic lens as is the 200 F2.8 ‘L’ but the trouble with ‘primes’ on a boat is when the bird comes too close and more than fills the frame you can’t zoom out to a shorter focal length and a shot(s) is missed! So my advice would be, don’t take your precious 100-400 ‘L’ lens regularly to sea, it could end up in tears and bills. Cheers – Paul W.
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