Bought a new Lens my first ......
 

L. Fresh in from OneStopDigital in Hong Kong. I ordered it Sunday evening on line, it was shipped Monday afternoon, it was in Paris Tuesday night and Stanstead this morning. It arrived at my house in Manchester at 12:15pm. That is what I call service!

It is a Canon EF70-200 f2.8 L USM, it is big and heavy and I love it already. The wide aperture allows my 30D to use its high precision centre spot focus in both horizontal and vertical. I can't wait to get out and take some pics with this lens :D .

I have also ordered a X1.4 II Extender to get me a little closer to all that pesky wildlife LOL.

You're a lucky lucky man.

Oh what I'd give to own one of those lenses. :envy:

You better post some nice pics with your new lens so I can use them as 'evidence' as to why I need one too ;)

Today was the first time I have been asked what paper I am from :confused: , it happened on two seperate occasions. These L series Lenses definately give you ideas above your station.

P.S. No post processing, no sharpening (outside of the cameras default), no tweaking of contrast or colour. Just crop and resize for the web.

The above pictures were taken on Saturday, prior to this since getting the lens it has either been raining, dark or I have been at work.

On Friday evening the wife and I went for a walk. I went in a sulk because it was raining - I took the camera knowing I wouldn't get to use it, but I didn't want to be seperated from my new toy. I did leave the 1.4X extender at home, like a fool.

Would you believe it, the rain stopped (it was still overcast) but I was struggling to get speeds sufficiently high to overcome camera shake (like a total plank I left my ISO at 100 :shrug: - never occured to me to change it).


While the wife was feeding some ducks I was drawn to a nearby tree by an uncomon yet familiar sound. Here are the results:


The above is at actual size, I pushed the brightness in post processing but the colours/contrast are unchanged.


So it was too dark, the shutter speed was too slow and yet this Lens still gave me the opportunity to recover a decent image through post procesing and cropping.

Excellent images there David and yes, those white L-series telephoto lenses sure do give you that "all powerful" look :D

1x 70-200 f/2.8 L USM for my Christmas list methinks..... :luvya: :angel:

You better get used to it :D I get that almost every day when I am out, and yes the bad weather really has stopped me from going and getting some pictures... That and an uncanny ability to forget what settings I am supposed to be using for whatever I am doing at the time.. :getmecoat:

Solution to forgetting the lens problem is to buy a decent gadget bag, i bought a Tamrac one on ebay, and it holds the camera with its standard 18-55 lens, the new 55-200 VR zoom and has space for the (about to be bought this week) flashgun, plus all the other little bits like cleaners, memory cards and brushes etc.

that will do me for now, my bank manager will not allow me to spend anymore money, :D

Cheers Simon, I am just a beginner (as my photos prove) - all the gear and no idea. The kit is good for the job, and I am getting better LOL.

BMC, I am registered for the Canon Road Show on the 11th Sept at Old Trafford and I hope to buy a Crumpler suitable for my current kit + the f2.8 24 - 70 L .

Your Flash needs more discussion, I use an old Jessops one and set everything manually but I would love to understand all the TTL stuff.

TTL = Through the Lens.
It means the camera evaluates the light levels according to the aperture/shutter speed combination on your camera. The light-sensor for this is just in front of the sensor plane in the camera itself rather than outside (such as on the Flash itself).

Doing this enables the flash to "see" things as you do through the view finder and gives a much more effective judgement of the intensity of the flash provided.

Setting the evaluation mode on the camera also effects what the Flash sees, so everything all ties in together.

By altering the Flash compensation settings you can adjust the Flash to fire slightly more under or over depending on you own personal liking but it will always be in-tune to the light levels present.

Canon's TTL-II is the latest algorithms for this technique and all their current Lens and DSLR bodies along with their Speedlight's support this. Quite a lot of aftermarket flashguns also support the same (or similar) algorithms.

Basically, at the end of the day it makes using the Flash easy as pie. You simply set the Flash to either under/nominal/over expose the scene and let the camera work out all the rest for you. :)

Cheers for that Simon, and I have now booked myself in for a seminar at the Canon Roadshow on Monday 11th at Old Trafford, Manchester about Canons Flash System. I have no doubt I will leave this seminar with a Canon Flashgun high up my wish list.

I've bought a few low value items from Hong Kong eBay sellers recently and I'm very impressed with their service and delivery times - I'm sure it would have taken longer to get the same items at a much higher price from a UK retailer!