Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM

[Tom H. Photography]

Birds go great indeed with a 1.4x TC or even a 2x TC in bright light, same goes for sports. Street candids in the city go very well also.

Taken yesterday after sunset with a 1.4x TC. ISO 400, f/4, 1/30 sec.

[DonJuanMair]

I think I'm having buyers remorse with this lens. I wish I would have gotten the 135L

[inthedeck]

I have the 135...I'm curious how it'll compare to the 200. I don't use the 135 all too much, so, I'm hoping this one isn't that way, as well.

[DonJuanMair]

Well I really thought this would be great for my car pics, but its actually really limiting. You have to stand real real far back to get anything in the frame other than just the subject.
So my most used lens is the 100mm. I think maybe I need to shoot more with this, I don't know if its that sharp at f2.8 as I would have hoped. But the decision is not out yet on that. Need to shoot more at f2.8. Ill see how much I use it on my next car shoot.
I do know the 135L would get a lot lot more use for me.

What do you shoot Manish?

[inthedeck]

I shoot everything. Honestly.

Lately, I have used the 135 on occasion for model shoots, but, I tend to always go back to the 85mm FL. The 135 is nice and tight, so, I'm hoping the distance needed for the 200 creates some nice compression for on location shoots. In studio, I don't have enough space to use it I don't think...but, I will try.

I'd say it takes about a month, or less, for me to realize if a lens is worth it, or not. I realized in a week, that the 85L was it, for me. It's a hard spot to fill, I tell ya.

[DonJuanMair]

I have yet to try it out on ppl but I want to, I just don't have the time!

[BlueTsunami]

Originally Posted by DonJuanMair

Well I really thought this would be great for my car pics, but its actually really limiting. You have to stand real real far back to get anything in the frame other than just the subject.
So my most used lens is the 100mm. I think maybe I need to shoot more with this, I don't know if its that sharp at f2.8 as I would have hoped. But the decision is not out yet on that. Need to shoot more at f2.8. Ill see how much I use it on my next car shoot.
I do know the 135L would get a lot lot more use for me.

What do you shoot Manish?

Not an eloquent solution but you may like to try Mosaic Stitching (aka Brenizer Method)...

Link: http://blog.buiphotography.com/2009/...th-directions/

The only thing you need (apart from the camera and lens) is a program that'll take all those images and stitches them (Like this freeware: Hugin).

Its basically shooting a panoramic to get all of a scene or subject in a single frame. One example is, lets say you can only get a 1/3rd of the car in the frame. You set the camera up (Manual, Focus on where you want then turn AF off), then shoot the various frames (making sure the other 2/3rds of your car are in the other frames). You then stitch it all together and the program will spit out a single frame with all of your car in it.

Here's an example of a car being shot with the method (from an 85mm lens, using 7 frames in Portrait orientation): http://www.flickr.com/photos/fyphoto/3595246818/

[inthedeck]

^^Pretty cool technique. Does the camera stay on the same 'plane' so to speak, while shooting all the images, or does that not matter?

Lets take the girl, for example. He has the focus locked on her eyes. He's shooting these frames, in the pattern he describes. Does the camera stay on a tripod, or can you hand-hold this, and take the shots? What if the shooter is using the center point. Does that always stay on the eyes no matter what part of the scene is being shot?

[BlueTsunami]

Originally Posted by inthedeck

^^Pretty cool technique. Does the camera stay on the same 'plane' so to speak, while shooting all the images, or does that not matter?

Lets take the girl, for example. He has the focus locked on her eyes. He's shooting these frames, in the pattern he describes. Does the camera stay on a tripod, or can you hand-hold this, and take the shots? What if the shooter is using the center point. Does that always stay on the eyes no matter what part of the scene is being shot?

What I do is focus on whatever part of the subject I want in focus (or the subject completely if they fill up the frame) and then not touch the focus at all as I'm shooting parts of the subject or around it. You can do this handheld or on a tripod (tripod being the best way to do it if you want complete consistence with each frame but handheld is very doable). If the DoF is really thin, any movement back and forth could throw the focus off but all that really matters is if you ensure that your main subject is in focus.

Here's an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluetsu...29193/sizes/o/

That was shot with the 50/1.4 but the same this applies to even longer lenses too. Before I do anything, I make sure to correctly meter the area that'll be in focus, dial it in in manual then focus lock on the face. After that, commence with shooting different parts of the subject and surrounding (making sure I previsualize the final frame so I'm not shooting wasted space).

Its even easier with static objects (like a car!). Just shoot one row that is just the car (a little in front of it and a little in back, assuming the car is parallel to you) so you give it room to breath in the final frame. Then shoot the area surrounding the car. The cool thing about this technique is that you can get very close and use the resulting thin Depth of Field to your advantage (causing that thin DoF portrait effect you see with human portraits but for something very big like a car).

Oh, I just remembered I actually have one car image with this method...

Link: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3498/...3b4428a1_o.jpg

50mm lens again. One frame is about the size of the area around the grill and license plate

[inthedeck]

So, with the car, you focus on the grill/plate. Now, you start takin' the shots. Where does the focus remain?

Cool process...once it clicks, I suppose.

[BlueTsunami]

Originally Posted by inthedeck

So, with the car, you focus on the grill/plate. Now, you start takin' the shots. Where does the focus remain?

Cool process...once it clicks, I suppose.

Oh it is

The focus remains on the grill/plate throughout all the frames you're shooting (though swinging the camera around does change the plane of focus a bit but all you really need to worry about is that the area you want to be in focus initially is). The reason why you do not refocus at any point is because you want the Depth of Field (and focus basically) to be absolutely consistent. The reason for this is due to the fact that the final image you are creating is made to look like a single shot with a single focused area (so I could have focused wherever I wanted on the car, as long as I do not refocus the camera... whether I take 7 shots or 50). When it all comes together, it'll look like you took the image as a single frame.

[DonJuanMair]

i am going to give that technique a try!!!

[inthedeck]

Sounds good. I'll try it on our mailbox, first...hehe...and then on a person, some day.

[DonJuanMair]

Its kind of long winded though that's the thing. Would be easier to buy a 135L

[Stealthy Ninja]

Just a sample.

FYI: This shot is a plain old flat lit, boring normal portrait I always do at the beginning of my portrait sessions just in case a client needs them. Nothing special, just wanted to show the sharpness of the lens. The colours are REALISTIC not over photoshopped (what would be the point). Over photoshopped images suck anyway. This is not to show off my photography skills, its a LENS sample. Plain and simple. Get it?!