Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM - AKA The Dust Pump

Haha.. He loves it! He is the birder of the family. He has memorized the Sibley guide to birds of Western North America, no lie! He drags me out of bed every Saturday morning, wondering where we are going birding that day.

Nice catch Juscuz. How far were you?

Maybe 50 feet? We were hiking along and heard them so stopped to listen, because we didn't see them yet, I moved up the trail a bit, came around a stand of trees and there they were. I have some shots of another group we came across later as well, we came around a bend in the trail and there were about a dozen total that were much closer.

guys /gals.........
the topic says....AKA Dust Pump....i have been saving for this lens and soon will get one in January....can someone tell me why its nick named "The Dust Pump?
Richard

William R. Fleming wrote in post #17294029
guys /gals.........
the topic says....AKA Dust Pump....i have been saving for this lens and soon will get one in January....can someone tell me why its nick named "The Dust Pump?
Richard

It's called the dust pump because it's a push/pull zoom, and people have gotten dust in theirs, but it's pretty uncommon for that to happen, and even if it does, it rarely effects image quality. It's a fantastic lens, imo.

Headsick wrote in post #17294165
It's called the dust pump because it's a push/pull zoom, and people have gotten dust in theirs, but it's pretty uncommon for that to happen, and even if it does, it rarely effects image quality. It's a fantastic lens, imo.

thanks for telling me....but i still want one. and will get one in Jan....i love the quality of the photos from you guys.....i have noticed a flood of them on ebay...for lot less as before ....and also here in the for sale section.............

I have had mine for about 7 years? now, and it has less dust in it than my other lenses. and based on the number of times I use it I'd say it is on my camera 80% of the time. After all this time of using it all I notice is it doesn't slide so "nicely" as it did. I'm guessing there are some bushings of sort that are getting a bit rough. Has no impact on it though.

I bet the flooding of them on Ebay has a lot to do with V2.

Better put a couple up here as I haven't for a long time! As you can see I like aircraft of all sizes!

pixelbasher wrote in post #17295154
I have had mine for about 7 years? now, and it has less dust in it than my other lenses. and based on the number of times I use it I'd say it is on my camera 80% of the time. After all this time of using it all I notice is it doesn't slide so "nicely" as it did. I'm guessing there are some bushings of sort that are getting a bit rough. Has no impact on it though.

I bet the flooding of them on Ebay has a lot to do with V2.

Better put a couple up here as I haven't for a long time! As you can see I like aircraft of all sizes!

1/80th @ F20 @ 220mm

1/100 F16 @135mm

these are just fantastic......i cant wait to get mine....

Cheers William, you'll love it! Personally I found around f8 it comes into it's own as far as sharpness, and also it does like sunshine to help with focussing. It's not the best low light lens as far as focussing goes, but on a nice sunny day, it is an excellent lens, especially at the prices I have seen it for lately.
When I bought mine it was either going to be a 70-200 2.8IS or this. I chose this simply because I wanted and needed the reach. For me it was a good choice........Of course I still want the 70-200 2.8, especially the MK2!

Hi pixelbasher, you have such nice photos of airplanes.
I think they were taken at Sydney airport? If so can you tell me the place you go to take the photos? I can't get that close to the runway. Thanks..

Hi zorroa, thanks for the compiment.
I just saw your message on flickr, yes sydney airport. The A380 in the above post, and the one you commented on in flickr was at the car park for the old control tower. Great light in the arvo. The 737 in the second pic in my above post was from the other side of the airport just near the big container shipping terminal. There is a little car park you can park at and there is a walk out observation point. It's a good spot at first light for a few hours. You can even park at the boat ramp just up the road and still get some shots, but this smaller carpark is slightly closer. Check it out on google earth and you'll see what I mean.

I live a few hours away at Lake Macquarie so I don't get down there very often but always drop by camera in hand when I get the chance.

You don't need a huge lens for the classic side shots as this shot below shows, this image (which is a bit noisy for some reason) was at 100mm with next to no crop, from the car park for the old control tower. In fact if you walk along the beach and up to that fence you see next to the runway at left of image, the A380/747 tips are pretty much overhead when they are taxiing past. Some guys take a small ladder for clean shots, which from what I have been told is ok by security as long as you are not up against the fence You can actually see someone in black standing there in the pic. Obviously for the landing shots etc, 400mm never goes astray, but from these spots, you'll certainly get close to them!

Edit: just found out the name of the one near the shipping terminal. Look for port botany viewing platform on Google Earth, and the old control tower is just after you go under the runway heading west it's off to the left off General holmes Drive. Don't take the M5 lane but as that lane splits off it's only a couple of hundred meters past. In the afternoon I was surprised to see how many plane photogs that were there, must have been about 10 the last time I went.

5D3 + 100-400mm

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