Do I send it back for (L) glass?

[JZaun]

This is a shot with a Canon 100-300mm f4.5-5.6. Shot at 300mm. The shot was raw hand held but sitting with knee's for support. The goose was only 10 yards away. If I had a 70-200 f4 (L) would I have had more detail and clearity. Do I send it back and get an exchange? I have 10 days to make up my mind... All this (L) glass talk has me thinking and that is sometimes a bad thing for me. If I won't see a great difference maybe I should just keep what I have but the (L) bug is still nibbling..

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/data/500/1633Goose_web-med.jpg

[Scottes]

That lens you have is reputed to be a very good lens in many ways. I'm not sure that I'd dump it for a 70-200 if I already had one. I also wouldn't like losing the reach.

That pic is pretty good, but I'd say that it suffers more from the direction of the light than anything. The uppermost part of the beak is in full sunlight and looks blown out. But the black neck is in shade. L wouldn't help too much thanks to the light. It's a tough shot in that light.


We yap a lot about L and great equipment. It is great but I don't think any of us mean to put anyone in the poorhouse thanks to our rambling. Buy L if you can afford it. OK, in reality, buy L if you can afford to eat Kraft Dinner for a while.

[Tom W]

I agree with Scottes - the only problem I see is the light angle. The picture is sharp and free from chromatic abberations.

Shoot some more - find some high contrast subjects and shoot at various aperture settings. I'm willing to bet that your lens will perform well. Judging from other shots I see with Canon consumer lenses, I'm beginning to think that the one I just got rid of had some unique issues of its own.

[DaveG]

Use at least a monopod. A tripod would be even better. You are using almost a 500 mm lens so you CAN'T handhold it. THAT'S what's causing the softness.

[iwatkins]

Of course, in addition to the harsh lighting, we also do not know how the image was processed from RAW.

I'm not saying you don't know what you are doing, but I don't think anybody could judge the quality of a lens based on a compressed JPEG, hosted on a website, after being resized, after being processed with who knows what settings. :)

I would shoot something a little less harshly lit, with the camera well supported if shutter speeds are much less than 1/500 at whatever aperture you choose.

Anyway, that image looks OK to me.

Cheers

Ian

[scottbergerphoto]

You don't give the information needed to answer the question. At what f stop were you shooting? It was a bright day, so I'm going to take a wild guess that you were using a relatively small aperture. The differences in L and non L glass become more apparant at wider f stops. It's alot easier and cheaper to get a lens to be good at its center. The purported advantage of L glass and the reason it's so much more expensive, is that the quality remains as you open up the aperture and more of the periphery of the lens is used. The MTF test results for that lens are available at http://www.photodo.com./nav/prodindex.html. It only gets a 2.4 out of 5.
Scott

[MediaMagic]

This is a shot with a Canon 100-300mm f4.5-5.6. Shot at 300mm. The shot was raw hand held but sitting with knee's for support. The goose was only 10 yards away. If I had a 70-200 f4 (L) would I have had more detail and clearity. Do I send it back and get an exchange? I have 10 days to make up my mind... All this (L) glass talk has me thinking and that is sometimes a bad thing for me. If I won't see a great difference maybe I should just keep what I have but the (L) bug is still nibbling..


I have to concur with all of the opinions so far. You are in bright sunlight, which will allow you to stop down the lens, and also achieve faster shutter speeds, but also creates major shadows. You will see more detail on an overcast day (using the world's largest soft box). And use a pod.

Here's another thing. When shooting that lens at full zoom, you are inevitably, without a doubt, and without exception, going to be softer (well, not YOU but, you know what I mean) than at say, 200mm. It won't be unworkable, but it will be noticeable. That is just the nature of zoom lenses. We sacrifice a bit of sharpness at the short and long focal lengths to gain versatility. The lens will be it's sharpest around f11 and at the middle of the zoom range.

I have a 100-400L <-- note the L there, just so you understand that 'L' isn't the "end all solution to every problem", and if I shoot it at 400mm, even stopped down to f8 or f11 AND use a tripod, the shot will be somewhat soft compared to shooting with identical settings at 250mm.

Try shooting at about 175 to 225mm with the aperture at f11 (then experiment opening wider). I think you'll find that you have a *very* capable lens there of which you just need to learn its characteristics and play to its strengths.

David

[Tom W]

... I think you'll find that you have a *very* capable lens there of which you just need to learn its characteristics and play to its strengths.

David

I like the way you said that. All too often, we tend to exploit our equipment's weaknesses (we meaning us gearheads, and I'm one of them), rather than capitalizing on the equipment's strengths.

[JZaun]

Ok I get the picture now. I need to learn how to use this lens. Support, light control or use of existing light, subject and composition ----- the whole works. I guess I just never thought too much about these with the long lens. Ok no pic's from me until I get a nono or tri pod for this lens. More attention is needed to the available light!! I see that now! I feel much better. I was worried that the lens just wasn't good. I now see that it is mostly me and that is what I wanted to know. I will be working on my technique!! Thanks a bunch for the response from all you guys!!!
Maybe I can hold the (L) fevor in check for a while. No new lens for me for a now. I need to learn how to use what I have!!

Thanks again
JZaun

[Tom W]

Ok I get the picture now. I need to learn how to use this lens. Support, light control or use of existing light, subject and composition ----- the whole works. I guess I just never thought too much about these with the long lens. Ok no pic's from me until I get a nono or tri pod for this lens. More attention is needed to the available light!! I see that now! I feel much better. I was worried that the lens just wasn't good. I now see that it is mostly me and that is what I wanted to know. I will be working on my technique!! Thanks a bunch for the response from all you guys!!!
Maybe I can hold the (L) fevor in check for a while. No new lens for me for a now. I need to learn how to use what I have!!

Thanks again
JZaun

You make it seem harsher than it is - your picture is pretty good, but the light and shadows fall in the wrong place. That happens quite a bit. I've got plenty of "almosts" sitting on my hard drive (and a couple on the internet as well).

The lens ain't bad. Shoot it for a while, and have some fun doing so. When you really know its strengths and weaknesses, then you can decide if you want something different.

[defordphoto]

JZaun: Yes. You're catching on now. To shoot great photos you first need to practice and become a great photographer. If you're crappy photographer with L-glass, you'll just produce very crisp, contrasty, crappy photographs.

The photographer always comes before the equipment.