RF 800

[Pat]

looking for them to get back in stock...I am seeing some great images with it

 

[Brian McGovern]

I am 72 later this week, so weight is becoming very important when out and about for hours at a time. And not just the camera and lens weight either. LOL I will give you and update after the weekend.

 

[Dave Williams]

Thanks Brian. I'm a couple of years behind you but having had spinal decompression surgery not that long ago I'm probably ahead of you in ageing!

 

[Bill]

I have the RF800 and haven't had much of a chance to use it with lockdown.
But the times I have been able to get out I just love it. You will capture images that you would otherwise miss.
Weight.... you can walk about all day with this lens no problem and for under £1000 an 800mm lens it's a no brainer

 

[Brian McGovern]

Well. the good news is that my "loan and try" lens from Canon arrived a day early. The bad news is that it is the RF600 and not the RF800. (my fault it seems). Anyway, put it straight on the camera, went out into the garden and shot the first bird I saw. This was about 40 meters away. 1/800th @ f11 - ISO 250. Photo is SOOC. No cropping or tweaking what so ever. Going out to play tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see the capabilities in the hands of a wrinkly hobbyist. I have added a few more photos today. All are SOOC, uncropped and not tweaked.

 

[Kevin.sim]

It'll be interesting to know whether DLA will become a factor. With the high megapixel you might sacrifice some sharpness but perhaps still worth it for those hard to capture shots of birds or other wildlife.

 

[Dave Williams]

Excuse my ignorance..what does DLA stand for?

It'll be interesting to know whether DLA will become a factor. With the high megapixel you might sacrifice some sharpness but perhaps still worth it for those hard to capture shots of birds or other wildlife.

 

[Kevin.sim]

Excuse my ignorance..what does DLA stand for?

Sorry. Diffraction Limited Aperture

 

[Brian McGovern]

Well, I had three days of shooting with the RF600mm f11. I took (or tried to take) a few hundred photos. The short answer of whether I would buy or recommend the lens is a big fat no. It was pretty good with birds that were perched but I just couldn't get on with trying to capture birds in flight. Quite simply it was almost impossible to capture anything that was moving. I just couldn't get it to focus. That said, I have to accept that it was perhaps lack of experience/technique on my part as I have never shot with a lens longer that 300mm. I tried various set ups and even tried full automatic. Fv. Av, Tv and manual. But just couldn't find a way to photograph a moving bird. I had several opportunities of Kites and Buzzards which were gliding around in a clear blue sky and should have been easy. (I have lots taken with my 70-200 f2.8 that were keepers). But with the RF600 I failed miserably. There is a horse head photo I posted earlier and some other photos of birds sitting on branch that I posted on this thread over the weekend which were pretty good, but none of them were moving. Possibly if the lens was used in a set position (for example a hide)to take images of wildlife moving into a predictable place I might have had better luck. But as a walkabout for opportunity shots I have to give it a fail. I might try and get a RF100-500 off Canon for a weekend and see if it was me or the lens. LOL

 

[Dave Williams]

Interesting to hear of your experience Brian, and thanks for letting us know. There are two issues that come to mind 1) The longer the lens the narrower the field of view so trying to find the subject is more difficult 2) getting the camera to lock focus on the bird which is going to be quite small in the frame I guess and not a lot of contrast.
All the photographs I have seen using the 800mm have been perched birds from what I recall although some togs must have taken flight shots too anyway I decided that I would go for the 100-500 because of it's versatility, it's "L" class build and the shots I have seen posted which look to be top notch. I haven't ordered a TC yet but will decide in due course.

 

[Brian McGovern]

Hi Dave, You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly the issue i was having. Possibly still a fair bit of operator error as well. But I have read somewhere that the focus point is only 20mm x 20mm.