any tips on using F4 in not-so-perfect conditions?

ok so i picked up my 70-200 f4 L from the post office depot last night and of course first instinct was to fire off a few snaps with it.

(note: for the past few months i've just been using my 50 f1.4 and the low-light performance has spoiled me really)

it was just before dusk (so it was still daylight but was quickly fading) and i was in my garden but i was having to bump it all the way to iso 800/1600 just to even get a 1/100 shutter speed, in some cases it wouldnt even go to that.

now i knew that the f4 is an outdoors/daylight lens when i bought it but surely there are ways of squeezing some use out of it in what was to me still very decent light.

luckily this lens is a sort of stop-gap for me while i check out if the 70-200 range is of any use to me and then i'll sell it and get something else (either 70-200 f2.8 or something completely different), but in the meantime has anyone got any tips for how i can squeeze some decent use out of this lens now. i work all day during the week and it's a shame if i could only use this lens on weekends when the sun is out.

i find i can use it at dusk or on overcast days ok. there isnt really any performance you can 'squeeze' out, iso 1600 is noisy and underexposing to get a shot is gonna make it horrible. try watching your composition though, think about how your camera meters. doint point it at something thats not receiving much light and expect to get high shutter speeds, look for photos that are well lit, make sure you're not on the shadow side of objects, expose for the sky... etc etc.

stupot wrote in post #2052441
i find i can use it at dusk or on overcast days ok. there isnt really any performance you can 'squeeze' out, iso 1600 is noisy and underexposing to get a shot is gonna make it horrible. try watching your composition though, think about how your camera meters. doint point it at something thats not receiving much light and expect to get high shutter speeds, look for photos that are well lit, make sure you're not on the shadow side of objects, expose for the sky... etc etc.

actually after reading the thread about why to use manual i've realised i had it on AV and like you say it was probably just exposing for the things i was trying to take photos of which might have been dark.

i'll have an experiment with playing with exposure settings to see if i can get some better shutter speeds by exposing on other parts of the scene.

Ciqala wrote in post #2052474
actually after reading the thread about why to use manual i've realised i had it on AV and like you say it was probably just exposing for the things i was trying to take photos of which might have been dark.

i'll have an experiment with playing with exposure settings to see if i can get some better shutter speeds by exposing on other parts of the scene.

If the scene is properly exposed, metering "other parts" isn't going to give you any more performance. It's a limitation of f/4...and why a lot of people spend significantly more money for the f/2.8....and others even on the 200 f/1.8 prime (as rare and pricey as it is).