Tips for the 300 f4L

So, I recently sold my 100-400 and purchased this lens (along with a 24-70 and 2nd body) and while I am quite happy with its performace for static subjects my panning images are less than desirable. At this point I am quite willing to say its mostly user error, as I have read through countless posts on here saying there is a steep learning curve to getting satisfactory results with this lens.

I am just wondering if any 300 f4 owners could chime in for me, and give me some tips to what worked for you to get those images that make you say "wow...I love this lens". I see it said everywhere, but at this point I am missing my 100-400's IQ, and starting to regret the decision.

I just shot an airshow this weekend and ended up giving up on this lens after shooting 4GB of useless images and using my 70-200 for everything because I just wasn't getting the sharpness I needed from the 300.

Medic1 wrote in post #8171308
So, I recently sold my 100-400 and purchased this lens (along with a 24-70 and 2nd body) and while I am quite happy with its performace for static subjects my panning images are less than desirable. At this point I am quite willing to say its mostly user error, as I have read through countless posts on here saying there is a steep learning curve to getting satisfactory results with this lens.

I am just wondering if any 300 f4 owners could chime in for me, and give me some tips to what worked for you to get those images that make you say "wow...I love this lens". I see it said everywhere, but at this point I am missing my 100-400's IQ, and starting to regret the decision.

I just shot an airshow this weekend and ended up giving up on this lens after shooting 4GB of useless images and using my 70-200 for everything because I just wasn't getting the sharpness I needed from the 300.

I took a while getting a feel for the 300 F4 with uninspiring shots at first. I wondered if the lens was at fault, but tried it in the house with a flash and got super super sharp shots. It then hit me - the 'IS' might help but I still need a high shutter speed with this lens for keepers.

Once that message had sunk in, I aimed for higher shutter speeds and now get some crystal shots, even with the 1.4x teleconverter on.

Check here:

http://www.philhackett​photography.com/p64010​598

and here:

http://www.philhackett​photography.com/p10115​49075

Almost all shot with 300 F4, some with 1.4x, some without, all tack sharp! I haven't tried many panning shots, but the same seems to apply - keep the shutter speed up & the shots are sharp. I do think the 400 F5.6 has edge on focussing speed (hence its reputation for a BIF lens) - could be a better choice for you if you are often shooting moving objects.

Another top tip is to make sure you haven't mounted a cheapo filter - I started with a basic Hoya & got some horrible slanted effects in the bokeh - the Hoya Pro I use now is fine.

Hope this helps

Phil

Medic1 wrote in post #8171308
So, I recently sold my 100-400 and purchased this lens (along with a 24-70 and 2nd body) and while I am quite happy with its performace for static subjects my panning images are less than desirable. At this point I am quite willing to say its mostly user error, as I have read through countless posts on here saying there is a steep learning curve to getting satisfactory results with this lens.

I am just wondering if any 300 f4 owners could chime in for me, and give me some tips to what worked for you to get those images that make you say "wow...I love this lens". I see it said everywhere, but at this point I am missing my 100-400's IQ, and starting to regret the decision.

I just shot an airshow this weekend and ended up giving up on this lens after shooting 4GB of useless images and using my 70-200 for everything because I just wasn't getting the sharpness I needed from the 300.

Is the IS on your lens working (mode 2) and are you using it? Admittedly it takes some practice, but shouldn't be any harder than the 70-200 IS...

Seems I'm not the only one who struggled with this lens at first...

I got mine around the same time as my 70-200 and while the zoom was awesome from the start, I just couldn't get a decent sharp image out of the 300 - pretty disappointing and funnily enough I started to wonder if I shoudn't have bought a 100-400.

I was convinced it was a duff lens but no, all my problems boiled down to either camera shake or shallow DOF when close in.

Agree with the above post. I have found servo AF fine if I do my job and I normally leave IS in mode 1 even when I'm panning as it gives me better results than mode 2 or off. I found that keeping the shutter speed high (faster than 1/200s for handheld) and stopping down to f/5.6 if at all possible makes the lens a bit more forgiving. If I am close I try to be extra careful getting the focus right but I guess that's stating the obvious...

I still get a lot of ok-but-not-perfect images but every now and then I manage to snag one which shows what the lens is capable of, working on it though.

If you use a converter, buy the Canon, with third party TC, I got some stabilisation problem ans also with the AF. Also remember the IS doesn't work on tripod (like the 100-400).

The mode 2 IS seems to be working fine, and my shutter speeds were 1/1250 and up.

I didn't even get to the point of using the TC, but do have a Canon 1.4.

I am going to find some subjects this week and practice with the panning mode....I am sure its user error, but have been panning for airshows for years with the 75-300, 70-200 f4 (with and without TC), 100-400 and 70-200 2.8 IS and would like to think that I have a pretty solid panning technique but I am not going to be cocky enough to say its the lens just yet

Medic1 wrote in post #8171308
So, I recently sold my 100-400 and purchased this lens (along with a 24-70 and 2nd body) and while I am quite happy with its performace for static subjects my panning images are less than desirable. At this point I am quite willing to say its mostly user error, as I have read through countless posts on here saying there is a steep learning curve to getting satisfactory results with this lens.

I am just wondering if any 300 f4 owners could chime in for me, and give me some tips to what worked for you to get those images that make you say "wow...I love this lens". I see it said everywhere, but at this point I am missing my 100-400's IQ, and starting to regret the decision.

I just shot an airshow this weekend and ended up giving up on this lens after shooting 4GB of useless images and using my 70-200 for everything because I just wasn't getting the sharpness I needed from the 300.

You could have a bad copy. Lensrentals.com just released their "most unreliable lenses" list and the 300 F4 IS topped the list for Canon. I have had numerous focus issues with mine, which works fine now(fingers crossed).

P.S. start Af micro adjusting the lens with your 50D.

Mine was cracking sharp from the get-go with no issues.

Hmm....I guess I will have to take it back in and get it checked. I know about poor QA with this lens. The first copy I got didn't mount very tightly and kept losing contact with the camera if i accidently twisted the lens slightly while shooting, now it appears the second copy is not so good either

Did you go through the micro adjust process yet with your 50D and the 300 F4? That will tell you if it's a focus problem. I like this chart for focus tests combined with real world use:


http://regex.info/blog​/photo-tech/focus-chart

I could have written your post 2 weeks ago. I had my son and his friend practice their scooter tricks while I took pictures and none of them were tack sharp. I finally switched to the 70-200 so they could see some good ones. I tested it on the Lens Align to make sure it wasn't me and the whole contraption was out of focus.

I sent it in to Canon last Thursday. It was already returned today and I plan on testing it out this weekend. If you need to send it in just do it -- a week turnaround time is pretty great in my book! Good luck!

I got mine a couple of months back and is tack sharp.

I've owned two copies of the 300 F4 without no problems whatsoever. But they are the older non-IS version. They both focused very accurately and very quickly, and produced very sharp images even when wide open. Many people say this is one of Canon's best lenses of all time.

If it's working properly you should be able to get great images with it, IS or no IS. But it does take just a small fraction of a second longer to focus when IS is turned on in either mode.