Fallen Broadleaf maple leaf at Oyster Bay, Olympia, Washington.
One good thing about being slightly less than sure-footed is that I frequently look down at where I’m walking, and see things that I might otherwise miss. As much as I love breathtaking, expansive landscapes, sometimes it’s the small and quiet moments that really affect me the most–particularly on a journey of self-discovery and renewal.
Fallen, Sandy Creek Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens @ 160mm | Exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 800
When I first received the new 70-200mm lens from Canon Professional Services, I was instantly reminded why I sold my old 70-200mm f/2.8 (non-IS) a few years ago: it’s big and it’s heavy. But it lets in a lot of light, and you can achieve very nice, selective focus with it. I didn’t have an opportunity to make any portraits with it, which is too bad because I think it would be an excellent lens for that application. I did take it out on the street, but I was very conscious of walking with an enormous white monstrosity: subtlety is not an option with this lens.
The image quality is remarkably high (although I wouldn’t consider its resolution to be any greater than it’s f/4 stable-mate, and while the image stabilization is improved over the previous version, I did not think it any better than the aforementioned 70-200mm f/4L IS. That said, this is the first zoom lens that I would consider using with the 2x teleconverter on a regular basis.
If you currently own the older IS version of this lens, you might wonder if it’s worth the upgrade. I would offer that I believe the image stabilization is certainly better, but if you shoot sports, that might not matter to you at all. The image quality is higher, and will enable you to use the 2x teleconverter freely. If neither of these features interest you, then you can probably pass on this lens and wait for something “better.”
Scattered leaves floating in the water, Whippoorwill Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens @ 80mm | Exposed 1/40 sec. @ f/3.5, ISO 400
Fall leaves, Sandy Creek Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens with 2x II TC @ 320mm | Exposed 1/400 sec. @ f/8, ISO 200
Over the weekend, Arthur Morris posted on his blog that he was experimenting with the new 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens with Canon’s 2x II teleconverter, which turns the lens into a 140-400mm f/5.6 lens. When using this combination, the short end should be avoided with this combination because 140mm is encompassed by the lens’ natural zoom range. I was intrigued by Artie’s post because he was so excited by the image quality he was getting with this combination, and since I had such a lens on hand from Canon Professional Services, I thought I’d go out and give it a try, and I was impressed: it is sharp, and it works well!
Now, I could do this with my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, but then I’d be working at f/8, and would have to stop down to f/11 to overcome the vignetting that is inherent to working with teleconverters, so I usually only work with the 1.4x TC. The bottom line is that this is a surprisingly useful application for the new zoom lens, especially for nature photographers, but for most other forms of photography as well. I certainly wouldn’t argue it’s “as good” as having a 300mm prime and a 400mm prime lens, but not everyone carries those two lenses with them daily!
Maple leaf, Sandy Creek Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens with 2x II TC @ 342mm | Exposed 1/320 sec. @ f/11, ISO 250
On a fall day, Sandy Creek Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens @ 130mm | Exposed 1.3 seconds @ f/11, ISO 50
Chicago River from the Wrigley Building, Chicago, Ill. | Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105mm f/4L IS lens @ 24mm | Exposed 2 seconds @ f/8, ISO 400.
While making a long walk back to Union Station from Navy Pier, with a detour to Water Tower Place (some detour, I know…my legs are still burning a bit) I happened upon the Wrigley Building right after twilight. The image about would have been better if I had taken my 24mm TS-E with me, but I had borrowed my dad’s 24-105 f/4L IS because it’s lighter and smaller than my 24-70. and I only wish that the couple in the image below hadn’t been standing right by those beverage containers. You can’t have it all.
Making out by the river, Chicago, Ill. | Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105mm f/4L IS lens @ 105mm | Exposed 1/25 sec. @ f/4, ISO 3200.
Looking out onto Lake Michigan, Racine, Wis. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 50mm f/1.4 lens | Exposed 1/8000 sec. @ f/1.4, ISO 100.
Fallen leaves on the beach, Racine, Wis. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 50mm f/1.4 lens | Exposed 1/320 sec. @ f/2, ISO 100.
Meadow Lake Wind Farm, Wolcott, Ind. | Canon 5D Mark II and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens with circular polarizer | Exposed 1/13 sec. @ f/20, ISO 50 (+2/3 EV)
This past Sunday, as I was driving up I-65 North through Indiana on my way up to Racine, Wisconsin, I came upon the Meadow Lake Wind Farm. I exited off the interstate and pulled into the parking lot of a gas station and Dairy Queen in one (where else can you can get dip cones with a faint aroma of gasoline?) and was impressed by the imposing structure of the wind turbine directly in front of me. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon (Indiana is on Eastern time) so to help the color I screwed on my circular polarizer. The sun was coming from about 90 degrees, so I knew I could get optimum polarization if I wanted it, but I really only wanted a touch. It’s easy to make the sky turn blue-black if you’re not careful! The tricky part was conveying a sense of movement.
My tripod was packed away in the trunk of my car, so I braced myself against a car door and switched to shutter speed priority. I knew this would mean that a slow shutter speed, in broad daylight, could only be achieved with a low ISO and a tiny aperture. The polarizing filter was already helping by knocking the light back two stops, so a small aperture would finish the job.
Thing is, while the 5D Mark II has built-in sensor cleaning, it’s also the camera that I use the most, and I knew that it had some dust spots that needed to be cleaned off. So, to get a slightly less dust-revealing aperture (originally f/32), I knocked the ISO down to 50. Now, if only the wind turbines in the background had been slowed down enough to show that they were moving, too!
"The impeded stream is the one that sings" (Wendell Berry), Eno River State Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mark II and 135mm f/2L lens | Exposed 1.3 seconds @ f/32, ISO 100 (-2/3 EV)
For the past week I’ve been working with a Canon 135mm f/2L lens from Canon Professional Services. I’ll be publishing my thoughts on this lens soon, but until then, a bit of a “teaser” from last evening.
