Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM

ColbyL wrote in post #15411221
Thank you all for all of the wonderful information. Very helpful information. I will definitely follow it and hopefully learn how to use both my camera and my lens. I will also be going to go pick up some books on photography, hopefully sometime this week, especially the one(s) by Bryan Peterson.

I do have a few more questions, however. I am looking into getting a tripod. I'm not exactly sure what brand of tripod to get. I am looking for a durable, high quality, 72" tripod but have no idea what brand to get. I don't want anything wobbly or low quality. What is the best tripod to get that doesn't cost a lot of money?

I also heard that with this lens that I will need an A II (W) Mount Ring to mount it on a tripod. Is this a MUST for this lens if it were to be on a tripod? Are there any other options for a high quality mount ring that I can buy that's not going to cost me a lot of money?

A tripod is something you don't want to skimp on. Get something that will last and will hold your equipment steady and securely. Try a manfrotto 190xprob with a dmkfoto ball head.

You most likely will not need a tripod ring for your setup, but if you search amazon for "70-200 f4 tripod ring" there's an opetka version for 13 dollara.

You definitely want a good tripod with a good ball head. I am still using a old tripod/head setup with 3 different knobs, one for each axis. It is a huge PITA. I will make that purchase in person because I want to actually mount my heaviest setup (5D/100-400L) on it and SEE IT NOT WOBBLE. I am willing to pay extra to get something rock-solid. A tripod that wobbles is worthless.

Tripods are good...however at this point I think buying one is premature. You haven't even begun to come to grips (no pun intended) with basic handheld shooting yet.

You have a lot of learning before you buy ANY extra gear. Learn how to work with your camera settings and the basic qualities of lenses...then when you have a better idea of what you are doing you will be able to make sensible choices about what gear to buy next.

The 70-200mm f/4L USM is a great lens (I use one almost daily)...if you know how to get the best from it, which is true for any lens. Otherwise it is a bit like buying a hammer, laying it on the floor, and being confused the next day when it hasn't built you a bookcase.

Learn first, master what you have....THEN consider more gear.

How do I crop the the picture on the camera? If I were to zoom up to the moon, how can I crop to take a picture of the moon zoomed up as well as crisp and high quality?

Are there any tutorials online that are recommended by any of you that show you all about how to work the 70-200mm F4L lens? This would be very helpful.

ColbyL wrote in post #15429378
How do I crop the the picture on the camera? If I were to zoom up to the moon, how can I crop to take a picture of the moon zoomed up as well as crisp and high quality?

Are there any tutorials online that are recommended by any of you that show you all about how to work the 70-200mm F4L lens? This would be very helpful.

you'll have to get some sort of software...photoshop elements, CS6...gimp is free software

then you just use the crop tool...as for getting shots of the moon, yeah you'll probably want a tripod there...that's not to say handheld shots aren't possible...but you're lacking IS on the lens, and typical moon settings are ISO 100, f8, 1/200 or so...

a lot of times it helps to post shots on here that you actually aren't happy with...keep the exif intact(all the settings for the camera) and people can help advise you on what to change to accomplish what you want to...

manual, 'understanding exposure, camera...and a couple hours outside will do wonders for you though...just take your time, reading, and experimenting

Thank you, DreDaze for your response. I will try to take some photos early this week and then post them here.

Just to help clean up any clarifications, what they are saying is once you understand the camera better, you will know how to use the lens. Unfortunately the lens isn't the issue at hand. Sounds like your interest has peaked a little and you got a good lens to go with a good body, CONGRATS. Although the combo is awesome, its how the things work in harmony that make it great. Best example I have is " Fast car, Best tires money can buy, and a blind person behind the wheel." That wasn't meant as any type of insult, actually its meant to be descriptive of what they are asking you to look into. Once you have read the manual, tinkered with the settings, and start to get the basic grasp of the ISO, FSTOP, SHUTTER SPEED talk the things you own will start to click and make you very happy. Congrats again and welcome to POTN, and good luck.

I was able to take pictures of the moon tonight. The pictures didn't turn out fantastic or anything but they definitely turned out better than what I thought. I heard that the recommended setting for moon shots were 1/250 f/8 ISO 200 so that's what I took the pictures at.

I still haven't been able to figure out how the camera user zooms up to the moon with the 70-200mm L lens. I was really hoping for the lens to zoom closer up to the moon but that didn't happen so I tried cropping it out and it looked good and better than what I thought without using a tripod. I just need to learn more about the canon editing software, I guess.

I was hoping that I could post the moon shots here but can't figure out how to do so as I am trying to upload them from my pictures on my computer to this post. If anyone can help me out, that would be great.

ColbyL wrote in post #15526540
I was able to take pictures of the moon tonight. The pictures didn't turn out fantastic or anything but they definitely turned out better than what I thought. I heard that the recommended setting for moon shots were 1/250 f/8 ISO 200 so that's what I took the pictures at.

I still haven't been able to figure out how the camera user zooms up to the moon with the 70-200mm L lens. I was really hoping for the lens to zoom closer up to the moon but that didn't happen so I tried cropping it out and it looked good and better than what I thought without using a tripod. I just need to learn more about the canon editing software, I guess.

I won't attempt to give you advice here, since I too am a beginner and there are members with 20 times the experience I have!

I was hoping that I could post the moon shots here but can't figure out how to do so as I am trying to upload them from my pictures on my computer to this post. If anyone can help me out, that would be great.

You need a photo hosting account.... Flikr, photobucket, etc. Go to www.flikr.com and sign up for an account. Then upload your pictures. Then use the link flikr provides to put here.

You can google about how to post hosted pics to forums using BBCode

ColbyL wrote in post #15526540
I was able to take pictures of the moon tonight. The pictures didn't turn out fantastic or anything but they definitely turned out better than what I thought. I heard that the recommended setting for moon shots were 1/250 f/8 ISO 200 so that's what I took the pictures at.

I still haven't been able to figure out how the camera user zooms up to the moon with the 70-200mm L lens. I was really hoping for the lens to zoom closer up to the moon but that didn't happen so I tried cropping it out and it looked good and better than what I thought without using a tripod. I just need to learn more about the canon editing software, I guess.

I was hoping that I could post the moon shots here but can't figure out how to do so as I am trying to upload them from my pictures on my computer to this post. If anyone can help me out, that would be great.

go to flickr.com...create an account

I've been reading my manual and trying to study as much as I possibly can on how to work the camera. I've got some pretty awesome shots as well so that's good.

I may be going to the zoo this week, does anyone have any recommendations for settings (shutter speed, ISO, aperture and what to shoot on - Manual, Full Auto, Flash Off, etc) to take really amazing and crisp pictures?

Also, is there anyway to shoot Manual in color other than in black and white? I haven't yet figured this out but would love to know if there's a way to do so. How can I take action shots in color on the Manual setting as well?

ColbyL wrote in post #15577639
I've been reading my manual and trying to study as much as I possibly can on how to work the camera. I've got some pretty awesome shots as well so that's good.

I may be going to the zoo this week, does anyone have any recommendations for settings (shutter speed, ISO, aperture and what to shoot on - Manual, Full Auto, Flash Off, etc) to take really amazing and crisp pictures?

Also, is there anyway to shoot Manual in color other than in black and white? I haven't yet figured this out but would love to know if there's a way to do so. How can I take action shots in color on the Manual setting as well?

why are you taking any shots in black and white?

the zoo will of course depend...i say use a fast shutter to stop any movement...if you're all about sharpness set the lens to f8, and adjust the ISO until you're able to get a shutter of 1/500 or faster

If I switch the camera mode to Manual, it's in black and white and I don't know how to change that and I would really like to do so.

ColbyL wrote in post #15577712
If I switch the camera mode to Manual, it's in black and white and I don't know how to change that and I would really like to do so.

go to manual mode...and then change the picture style to 'standard' I'd guess it's on 'monochromatic' now...

to do that, either look at page 75 of your manual, or i can try and explain it...

go to manual mode
push the button below the 'set' button- looks like an arrow pointing down
you should have a selection of pictures styles...push the < or > side buttons to move to standard

edit: does it give you black and white shots for Manual, AV mode, and TV mode as well? it does that on my 40D, but if i were to switch to one of the other modes(portrait, sports, whatever they are) it goes back to the picture style i had it set to before

if it only happens on manual, and not TV/AV...it might be something else...although i can't think of what else it could be

TSchrief wrote in post #15408213
Colby:
Get out the manual. Get out the camera. Read the manual WHILE doing whatever it says ON THE CAMERA. You will learn a lot that way.

This is an AWESOME advise!

I was tought to do the same by my dad since i was able to read a manual. Reading while playing around with camera settings proved to be really invalluable when understanding DSLR settings in my case.

Dont skimp on the tripod either, save yourself some money by buying a quality, sturdy tripod. Spend once, but spend wise

About your moon shots, nothing beats practicing and experimenting with different settings, this was taken with my 3Ti (600D) and a tripod mounted 70-200 F4/L, just like yours.