On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 4:09 PM, Mardi Dickinson <mard...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Birders et al, > > Here is a new article I just posted & thought you would be interested in. > Enjoy! > > http://kymry.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/announcement-canon-ef-200-400mm-f4l-is-usm-extender-1-4x/ > > Interesting indeed. That lens made me do some reevaluation of my plans, but what I decided (for now) is that this is not a bird lens. It's especially not a birder lens. The sweet spot for birding is something in the 400mm range that is both handholdable and transportable. While a strong person could certainly handhold this lens for a few shots, you're not going to want to hike around with it all day. It's more a "walk in from the car and sit down in a blind for three hours" lens. And if that's what you're going to do, you might as well bring a tripod and 500mm+ prime. For birds, especially birds in New York State that are usually small and/or far away, it's rare that I want less than 400mm, so the short end of this lens isn't all that interesting. What is interesting are some of the new point-and-shoots that, while not nearly as high-quality as an SLR with a lens like this, are much cheaper, lighter, and better than they used to be. For rarity documentation purposes, the Canon SX50 and Panasonic Lumix FZ200 may be better choices. The best camera is the one you have with you, and all too often I find I just don't want the hassle of dragging an SLR and big lens into the field. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold elh...@ibiblio.org -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
