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Hand Holding the 400 5.6

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cody007

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After reading many articles and reviews I am seriously looking at purchasing the Canon 400mm f5.6 for birds/wildlife shots with my 50d. I had originally wanted the 100-400 but like many state I too will be at 400mm most of the time.

Although the 100-400 does have the IS which would be very beneficial, I just don't know if I can afford that price!

My question is how hard is it to handhold?
Are there tips/techniques that may help?
 
Depends on the individual, how strong your arms are, how many cups of coffee you drank that day. You normally shaky or a steady person?

Many people are very successful with this lens. Basically you support barrel with your left hand and draw your left arm tight to your body. That steadies it. For BIF (if there is time )I try to anticipate where the bird is coming from and I square my body so I am aligned to it when it passes me. Then I turn my upper body towards the bird. Works great for air shows as well. You may have to bump up the shutter depending on our skill and how steady you are. 1,600 and up.

For bird stills you can use a tripod, monopod, lean up against a tree, or rest it on a bench etc.

Remember to squeeze the shutter button smoothly. Avoid jerking the camera. That is one of my bad habits. I always have to remind myself about that.
 
Zee Char said:
Depends on the individual, how strong your arms are, how many cups of coffee you drank that day. You normally shaky or a steady person?

Many people are very successful with this lens. Basically you support barrel with your left hand and draw your left arm tight to your body. That steadies it. For BIF (if there is time )I try to anticipate where the bird is coming from and I square my body so I am aligned to it when it passes me. Then I turn my upper body towards the bird. Works great for air shows as well. You may have to bump up the shutter depending on our skill and how steady you are. 1,600 and up.

For bird stills you can use a tripod, monopod, lean up against a tree, or rest it on a bench etc.

Remember to squeeze the shutter button smoothly. Avoid jerking the camera. That is one of my bad habits. I always have to remind myself about that.
Click to expand...
I like this answer because i like to use a tripod only if absolutely necessary. Do you have any sample images of hand-held shots with your 400 5.6?
 
I have the 400 5.6 and LOVE it, I hand hold it very successfully for birds in flight, I also love to use it on a monopod with a jobu 2 Gimbel head for small tele's it a nice sharp lens and does fine, but in low light it is hard to use unless you bump up the ISO on the 50D sometimes it comes out well.
--
Bernie
Visit my Website at http://www.pbase.com/bhowe
 
It's a very handholdable lens. Canon describes it as "compact and lightweight". And it has the built-in lens hood which is very much nicer than the detachable plastic ones.
cody007 said:
After reading many articles and reviews I am seriously looking at purchasing the Canon 400mm f5.6 for birds/wildlife shots with my 50d. I had originally wanted the 100-400 but like many state I too will be at 400mm most of the time.

Although the 100-400 does have the IS which would be very beneficial, I just don't know if I can afford that price!

My question is how hard is it to handhold?
Are there tips/techniques that may help?
Click to expand...
 
There's a lot of shooters who uses this lens on a daily basis including me. :)
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=33958609

This has been my birding lens for quite a while now & still loves using it.

Here's a sample of a 1/80sec shutter shoot, Tripod mounted since I can't handhold beyond 1/200sec.



This is my setup for when I need to use a Tripod, works quite well for my needs!

http://amyabby.smugmug.com/Photography/Scenes-Architechtures-Etc/2607456_stWrA#475009058_AJCQQ-O-LB

Cheers,
Abby
--
'Someday I'll take a better photo, right now I'm just taking Snapz'
http://amyabby.smugmug.com/
 
This was taken on a very still but cold April morning in Northern Ohio east of Cleveland. The camera was a 40D handheld.

 
This is one of my favourite lenses. I've handheld this lens with a 50D in the past for wildlife, and got some great photos. For motorsport, I prefered to use it with a monopod for ease of panning. Best results handheld will come with a shutter speed of 1/640 or greater when used in combination with a 1.6x sensor body.
 
I would like to thank you all for your comments and help.

To those of you that use monopods, do you use them with or with out a head and what head do you prefer and why?

Also I have a Manfrotto 190XB and a 488RC2 head. I know this is a bit on the light side but will this work with this lens for a while?

Again...thanks for all of your help!
 
I use a ball head. I have been at events were I sit and you can't have a monopod go strait down. I angle it away from seat. I use Markins ball heads with RRS quick release clamps and plates. I like the Markins ball head but there are so many good ones out there. You have to do a little research. It's fluid ad price was good when I got it. There is the standard Acra Swiss and I heard RRS makes a decent ball head.

My friend just got a ball head from Korea which he researched it to death and is a good price according to him. I just sent him an email to get the name.

Whatever you get I suggest quick release clamps.
 
Zee Char said:
I use a ball head. I have been at events were I sit and you can't have a monopod go strait down. I angle it away from seat. I use Markins ball heads with RRS quick release clamps and plates. I like the Markins ball head but there are so many good ones out there. You have to do a little research. It's fluid ad price was good when I got it. There is the standard Acra Swiss and I heard RRS makes a decent ball head.

My friend just got a ball head from Korea which he researched it to death and is a good price according to him. I just sent him an email to get the name.

Whatever you get I suggest quick release clamps.
Click to expand...
It is called Photo Clam. The only thing I noticed is they do not sell a quick release clamp. If you look into this you may be able to just buy the ball head only. Then again you may be happy with the threaded clamp style.

I purchased my original Markins ball heads with the threaded clamps and later ordered the RRS quick release clamps. They Locktite those clamps and are they hard ever hard to get off.

http://www.tripodballhead.com/
 
It is something of a handful, but not unmanageable. Brace your elbows in against your ribs, pretty traditional technique.

Depending on the subject a mono-pod can be a very successful accessory with a long heavy lens, it's how I would usually shoot motorsports.

Panning handheld:



100% crop from the above; wide open at 5.6 :



Kevin
 
I've always shot standing, or seated with clear space in front of me. In those situations you can pivot the mono-pod to or away from you for elevation control, or even move the foot around.

A quick release clamp is a must if you're attaching to the camera, though since I usually use the lens clamp it's a bit less important with the larger lenses.

Kevin
 
I am on in years (78) and do not have the steadiest hands to say the least. I find the lens to be hand-holdable but shoot burst mode to give me the chance to catch a shot or two that show little or no camera shake. Also try to get the shutter speed above 1/1600 or so. I have only had the lens a short time and my keepers seem to be getting better with some experience. Here are some examples.







--
http://nevadajack.smugmug.com/
 
Not sure if this would apply but consider buying a better beamer to use on your flash. I have had great success hand holding the lens (on a 40D) & shooting at 1/2000sec. This delivers razor sharp shots. Not usable in every situation but is a fairly cheap alternative.
--
Ryan
 
cody007 said:
After reading many articles and reviews I am seriously looking at purchasing the Canon 400mm f5.6 for birds/wildlife shots with my 50d. I had originally wanted the 100-400 but like many state I too will be at 400mm most of the time.

Although the 100-400 does have the IS which would be very beneficial, I just don't know if I can afford that price!

My question is how hard is it to handhold?
Are there tips/techniques that may help?
Click to expand...
I never use tri/mono pod with my 400mm f5.6 and never miss IS! Once you get used to the well built and ballanced handholding of this gem, you'll be amazed at the IQ and performance of this tele. Here are a couple galleries shot with this lens, all handheld:

http://azbaha.zenfolio.com/p485542779

http://azbaha.zenfolio.com/p209476061

cheerz
 
I handhold mine at 1/160 sec and - holding my breath - even at 1/125 occasionally. I'd say the lens is both better and worse than 100-400: better because you can get pretty good results with even the 2x Canon TC, giving you the poor man's 800mm (no AF):






  • while the 100-400 is kinda mushy with 2X, but then I frequently had a problem with the subject being too close even at 400:

  • so sometimes I regret not getting the zoom instead. But for me that was initially a choice between 24-70 L + 100-400 L or 28-300 L + 400 L + 2x TC - and I opted for the latter, considering that I have the 17 TS-E and 85/1.2 Mark II L for higher IQ wideangles and portraits.
http://lordofthelens.co.nz/
 
That is incredible for a 100% crop!

Great detail and clarity.
KCampbell said:
It is something of a handful, but not unmanageable. Brace your elbows in against your ribs, pretty traditional technique.

Depending on the subject a mono-pod can be a very successful accessory with a long heavy lens, it's how I would usually shoot motorsports.

Panning handheld:
Click to expand...
KCampbell said:
100% crop from the above; wide open at 5.6 :



Kevin
Click to expand...
 
I have heard of this thing a couple of times but don't know exactly how people use it. Also how do you use it at 1/2000 sec. with a flash?

Thanks for your help!
RyanLepik said:
Not sure if this would apply but consider buying a better beamer to use on your flash. I have had great success hand holding the lens (on a 40D) & shooting at 1/2000sec. This delivers razor sharp shots. Not usable in every situation but is a fairly cheap alternative.
--
Ryan
Click to expand...
 
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