Well here it is!

[Kiwikat]

The Canon 300mm f/4 L IS.

Ignore the underexposed shots... I've still not figured out how to use my 430exII speedlight correctly yet. I'm working on it though!

I've gotta say, the lens shows up a lot whiter than it actually is. I think the flash killed the color. In reality, the lens is quite tan, rather than the white color people think it might be.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4254946992_5f59091163_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2685/4254182021_cbaa19a4ae_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4254182283_804d6c3267_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2749/4254182589_684335817c_o.jpg

And my first subject...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4254918134_73ba1e2f00_b.jpg

[Chacha]

Oh man, Will!

Congratulations on your NEW baby!... :applause:

That is a so cool.... shot of your kitty.... look at her eyes... man you captured it real good.. and the whiskers.... man... super cool! :ernae:

[Moparmike]

Enjoy Kiwi! Looks like you'll have fun with that big monster!

Gonna have to shop for a remote handle/mount to get your flash up and away from that guy so it doesn't lens shadow on your shots?

[Kiwikat]

Enjoy Kiwi! Looks like you'll have fun with that big monster!

Gonna have to shop for a remote handle/mount to get your flash up and away from that guy so it doesn't lens shadow on your shots?

Most of the time I bounce off the ceiling, but it would also be helpful to get it off the camera. Flash photography is hard. You really gotta appreciate the talents of those who have learned and mastered it over the years.

[Panther_99FS]

Nice lens! :)

[JorisVandenBerghe]

Congratulations on the new lens, Will :ernae:. Nice picture of the kitty. How did you end up with a 300mm prime (I know primes are superior in certain situations, although high-end zoomlenses sometimes produce similar results regarding distortion, vignetting, CA, etc) ?

That white isn't that bad-looking as I thought. It does pay off to have a white or light grey lens when it's summer, otherwise it would heat up significantly.

Only disadvantage of the white L-lenses is that they're less anonymous, watch out with it - never leave it alone.

[kilo delta]

Congrats on the new purchase,kiwikat :ernae::applause:

[Snuffy]

Its a biggin ... Grats! :applause:

[Kiwikat]

Congratulations on the new lens, Will :ernae:. Nice picture of the kitty. How did you end up with a 300mm prime (I know primes are superior in certain situations, although high-end zoomlenses sometimes produce similar results regarding distortion, vignetting, CA, etc) ?

I chose the 300 mostly because it has all very solid reviews from both professional reviewers and customers. A few days before I ordered it, I went to a friend's house and tested out her various lenses. I tried her 80-200 2.8 L "Magic Drainpipe" because it was similar in weight to the 100-400 I wanted, but I found it to be too large and too heavy to enjoy using. I also tried her 400 L prime and quickly found out that a long lens without IS is kind of pointless. Then I checked out some more shots that another friend took with their 100-400, and I wasn't at all impressed by the colors, contrast, and sharpness. It looked a lot like my old 55-250 lens. At that point I had it narrowed down between the 70-200 f/4 IS and 300 f/4 L IS. I decided to go with the 300 over the 70-200 because of the length. The 300 has exceptional macro capabilities, and would be much more useful for shooting birds and insects. It also has the advantages of primes as you described.

The weirdest part is that now I've got a 18-55 kit lens and the 300. There's a huge gap between the two. I'm thinking about filling it with a secondhand Canon 28-135 IS and a Tokina 12-24 wide angle.

I'm enjoying my stay in L!

[JorisVandenBerghe]

Correct - the best lengths of lenses is a zoom range that overlaps or just meets - an 18-70 + 55-200 - 24-70 + 70-200 - 16-80 + 70-300 are some possible combinations.

That's the only disadvantage of a prime...you need a lot of them to adequately cover a zoom range...To cover a similar zoom range of a 24-70 one could take a 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm.

[Kiwikat]

Correct - the best lengths of lenses is a zoom range that overlaps or just meets - an 18-70 + 55-200 - 24-70 + 70-200 - 16-80 + 70-300 are some possible combinations.

That's the only disadvantage of a prime...you need a lot of them to adequately cover a zoom range...To cover a similar zoom range of a 24-70 one could take a 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm.

The advantages of primes is also that you can get the lens that fits your needs the most. It doesn't sacrifice image quality for a range you don't use/need. I'm not interested in the range between about 150 and 299. So a 70-200 would kind of be a waste. The 28-135 would be an affordable solution. Some people say it isn't a good lens, but the shots I've taken with my friend's copy have been just as good as the 18-55.

[Moparmike]

Yup, there are still lots of good advantages of sticking with a prime lens. Not too often you can get a zoom that offers both fast speed and a long focal length.
You can always "zoom with your feet" too which isn't a bad thing most of the time.

I haven't had the itch to buy any long primes yet...doesn't really fit my shooting style. But I've eyeballed a few 135mms (old MF glass) which is a range I spend a lot of time in with my 55-200 zoom.

I've been eyeballing the large version of your Manx portrait on Flickr. That lens looks like it did a good job grabbing detail even looking at the dumbed-down jpeg.
Enjoy!

[Kiwikat]

I've been eyeballing the large version of your Manx portrait on Flickr. That lens looks like it did a good job grabbing detail even looking at the dumbed-down jpeg.
Enjoy!

Yeah it is quite impressive how much detail it got. It is much more impressive seeing the 3000 x 4000 RAW file at 100%. But I wouldn't want to upload a 42 mb converted TIF file to flickr...

I'll be taking a trip down to the EAA museum at the beginning of next week. Most of the shots will be with the 18-55, but I'll also lug around the 300 in case I want a macro style shot of something in the distance. I'll be sure to post ones that turn out.

[Cloud9Gal]

Yay!!!! You got it!! http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Respect/woohoo-022.gif (http://freesmileyface.net)

Awesome! It looks REAL sharp!

Way to go KiwiKat- great investment!! http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Happy/happy-049.gif (http://freesmileyface.net)

Thanks for sharing the pictures! Oh and Kitty has some green eyes, I mean GREEN eyes! Very purrrrty!

Ok so now, you need to continue taking some awesome shots and post them on here, so I can have a new PC background.

http://www.tiptopglobe.com/skin/smile/s2179.gif (http://www.tiptopglobe.com/free-smiles-smileys-emoticons-blog-forum-email)