Lens Envy Satisfied

28 02, 13 Filed in: Equipment

I decided to shop for a used Canon EF 400mm F/4 DO IS lens after using a rental in India. - by David R. Beebe

My philosophy with big glass was to rent when needed for special trips. Refer to my Renting Specialty Glass article from 2/5/11. Using a lens in the field is the perfect way to determine if it meets all of your needs before ordering one for your very own. This helped me determine that the wonderful 6 pound Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 IS was too heavy for anything but a vehicle-based trip. It also helped remind me that I used to love wide angel photography and that the images I was getting out west with Canon EF 10-22mm was something I wanted full time access to. When we traveled to India in 2012 on a tiger photo safari, I rented the 4.5 pound Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS lens which I used on my Canon EOS 7D body. I moved my Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS lens to my older EOS 40D. What struck me most in reviewing the photos from that trip is that I could tell which photo was taken with which lens without looking at the EXIF data. When I retired from my 35 year career in IT late last year, I decided that I missed having that lens. I started watching eBay auctions and found one for sale with its condition so well documented that I had to have it. It has become my favorite lens but I still do miss the ability to zoom out. The cropped sensor of the 7D yields the equivalent of a 640mm lens on a 35mm sensor and I find it is better to crop a very sharp image then to use either the 1.4x or 2.0x teleconverters.