ken billington's reviews
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Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM
10 out of 10 points and recommendedlight in weight, excellent optical performance, fast focusing, sharp images, good vignetting performanceAdvantages
reviewed December 6th, 2010
1. Light in Weight - the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM Lens is light in weight compared to the other Canon telephoto lenses . This is a huge advantage for bird photography, easy to maneuver when taking flight shots, not too tiring when trekking.
2. Excellent Optical Performance - as a member of the Canon L Lens Series, the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM Lens' overall optical performance is outstanding.
3. Fast focusing - thanks to the Ultrasonic Motor (USM), the 400 f/5.6 L internally focuses very fast and very quietly.
4. Sharp Images - the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM Lens performs superbly in the sharpness department. Even wide open, the 400 f/5.6 produces very sharp images.
5. Good Vignetting Performance - even the corners of full fame shots remain evenly colored without displaying any tendency to vignetting.
Disadvantages
1. Image Stabilisation - one of the compromises of this budget lens is that it doesn't have image stabilisation (IS). It can still be very successful for "handheld" or so-called "grab-shots" provided that a short exposure time and/or a higher ISO is used. When used together with the high quality EOS DSLR's recently introduced by Canon, this disadvantage can be compensated.
2. Water Resistance - another disadvantage of this lens is that it isn't 100% water resistant like its more expensive cousins.
Conclusion
The Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM Lens is hugely successful for bird and wildlife photography and especially for flight shots. It offers a good level of performance at a relatively low price.
Check out my photos on http://kenbillington.ch/photobank/ -
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
9 out of 10 points and recommendedFast focusing, non-extending or rotating, sharp images, excellent optical performance, practical minimum working distance (MWD) of 150mm.Build quality not as solid as L-Series lenses, No image stabilization.Advantages
reviewed December 6th, 2010
1. Fast Focusing - Utilizing USM (Ultrasonic Motor), the Canon 100 Macro internally focuses very fast, quietly and very accurately.
2. Non-Extending or Rotating - When focusing at 1x subject distances, the lens does not extend, and the front element does not rotate.
3. Sharp Images - the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens is sharp wide open. The tiniest details in your tiniest subjects will come to life with this lens.
4. Optical Performance - Flare is very well controlled. Color and contrast are excellent and distortion is negligible. Although vignetting is apparent at f/2.8, this rapidly disappears when the lens is stopped down.
5. Practical Minimum Working Distance (MWD) - The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens gives an optimum MWD of 150mm. At the higher MWD of the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 L USM lens (240mm), insects are not really close enough. At the lower MWD of the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens (90mm), insects may scare and fly away prematurely.
Disadvantages
1. Build quality - this USM Macro lens has a reasonable build quality although it's not quite as solid as the L-Series lenses.
2. Image Stabilization - this lens does not feature the image stabilization present with the significantly more expensive Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro Lens.
Summary
The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens is a very good choice for macro photography of butterflies, insects or flowers. It offers excellent optical performance and middle-of-the-road working distance, size and weight.
Check out my insect stock photos and images on http://kenbillington.ch/photobank/Insects/