FD 500 4.5L vs ef 400 5.6L.. hmmm

Yajshooter · Nov 13, 2013

Hi everyone!!!!

This is my first post.... need help on which lens for budget conscious, serious bird photography. I am coming from years with a 150-500 sigma- I was getting results like this;

I have since sold the lens due to AF issues. having been bird lens-less for quite some time now, I have gathered most of the funds for another lens. having seen nzmacro's shots with manual glass made me think that was a good idea- cheapish, fast and sharp. I love the nex system...

However, I realize now that with no af, no stabilization, and no zoom I am placing some confinements on my shooting style. (usually involves long walks, tripod and flash....)

SO I thought the 400 5.6 L prime would be the only lens that could match the IQ of the 500 4.5, at lease sharpness wise.

What do you think? small, USM, slow lens OR huge, manual fast lens? they both seem to cost about the same amount, with the 400 L being slightly cheaper. is FD really a few hundred bucks better?

yep.

--
-jay jays-photos.com

nzmacro · Nov 14, 2013

Yajshooter said:
Hi everyone!!!!

This is my first post.... need help on which lens for budget conscious, serious bird photography. I am coming from years with a 150-500 sigma- I was getting results like this;

I have since sold the lens due to AF issues. having been bird lens-less for quite some time now, I have gathered most of the funds for another lens. having seen nzmacro's shots with manual glass made me think that was a good idea- cheapish, fast and sharp. I love the nex system...

However, I realize now that with no af, no stabilization, and no zoom I am placing some confinements on my shooting style. (usually involves long walks, tripod and flash....)

SO I thought the 400 5.6 L prime would be the only lens that could match the IQ of the 500 4.5, at lease sharpness wise.

What do you think? small, USM, slow lens OR huge, manual fast lens? they both seem to cost about the same amount, with the 400 L being slightly cheaper. is FD really a few hundred bucks better?

yep.

--
-jay jays-photos.com

Yes we have had decent talks on this one and I'll add a bit more here, just typing and thinking, so hang in there

A lot of birders in the Canon camp are using the 100-400 zoom, a few of the 300mm lenses and the 400 F/5.6L. The folks I shoot with have those and a few have the larger lenses again. The advantage of those types of lenses is that they can be used wide open. They might benefit from being stopped down one stop, but I've never stopped any of my lenses down for a shot. They were all bought for that reason.

I would imagine the 400 F/5.6L to be close in sharpness to the 500 F/4L or the FD 500 F/4.5L.

Lets have a look at the 400 F/5.6L on flickriver ......

http://www.flickriver.com/lenses/canon/canonef400mmf56lusm/

Would I be happy with that, yep.

That site BTW is always worth looking at for lenses. Depends on the sensor as well of course .....

http://www.flickriver.com/lenses/

Just click on a logo and pick a lens.

At the end of the day it probably just comes down to the focal length, 400 vs 500. Here for what I take, the 500mm is a great focal length. I know how close I can get to the birds and I know my distances vs the cropping I can do at the end of the shot. If that ratio is not right, I won't push the button. That's a time thing you learn as you go along and realise what you can squeeze out of a system and 500 just suits me.

What you need to really ask yourself is do you really want to go MF or AF. As you know I have different reasons than most for shooting MF instead of AF. MF suits very few when it comes to wildlife and especially BIF's. Most people now days want life to be easier and that's fair enough. I just have different reasons of what I like and what keeps me going. 99% of the bird shooters, sports or wildlife don't want that at all.

The other thing that comes to mind is AF speed if that's what you decide. Is it really worth it on NEX, or are you far better off with a DSLR. The best camera to put a Canon AF, OIS long tele lens on, is a Canon DSLR. So what ever you do outside of that is a compromise.

All the best and the short version ;-) is the Canon 400 F/5.6L a good lens, I would say yep sure is and I would be happy with one.

Danny.

--

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photonius · Nov 14, 2013

WYajshooter said:
Hi everyone!!!!

This is my first post.... need help on which lens for budget conscious, serious bird photography. I am coming from years with a 150-500 sigma- I was getting results like this;

I have since sold the lens due to AF issues. having been bird lens-less for quite some time now, I have gathered most of the funds for another lens. having seen nzmacro's shots with manual glass made me think that was a good idea- cheapish, fast and sharp. I love the nex system...

However, I realize now that with no af, no stabilization, and no zoom I am placing some confinements on my shooting style. (usually involves long walks, tripod and flash....)

SO I thought the 400 5.6 L prime would be the only lens that could match the IQ of the 500 4.5, at lease sharpness wise.

What do you think? small, USM, slow lens OR huge, manual fast lens? they both seem to cost about the same amount, with the 400 L being slightly cheaper. is FD really a few hundred bucks better?

yep.

Hmm, are you aware that FD lenses do not work just like that on EOS bodies? see http://photonius.wikispaces.com/Canon+FD+and+EF-S+adaptations

With the Ed Mika adapter, you can focus to 85 meter, but not to infinity, see http://www.canonrumors.com/tech-articles/fd-fl-lenses-on-your-ef-body/

Further, FD lenses are old, from the pre-autofocus days 1980s and earlier, and the quality of the FD 500 4.5L may not give you better images than simply taking the EF-400 f5.6 L and cropping the image by 20%.

A good bet for birding is still the Canon EF 100-400 L, although a new version is rumored by Canon, and Tamron has announced a 150-600mm lens, but it's not available yet, and not tested yet.

--
*** Life is short, time to zoom in *** ©

Yajshooter · Nov 14, 2013

Hey thanks again! just thought I'd see what others could shed on the subject....

saving money is a rather long and boring process, so I try to fill the time with learning as much as possible toward the final purchase.

Yep!

R2D2 · Nov 14, 2013

Yajshooter said:
SO I thought the 400 5.6 L prime would be the only lens that could match the IQ of the 500 4.5, at lease sharpness wise.

The 400 is an outstanding performer. Well behaved, very fast focusing, and very sharp wide open.

Most of the birds in my galleries were shot with this lens...

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/the_birds

I note what equipment was used, and EXIF is intact.

As an example, here is a full-sized image from my very first day with the lens (click on "Original Size" for the 100% image)...

For static subjects I can shoot down to about 1/100 sec handheld when shooting bursts ("Poor-Man's Image Stabilization).

Good luck,

R2

--
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

NancyP · Nov 14, 2013

NO CONTEST HERE. If you want to photo birds in flight, small songbirds that stay perched for 5 seconds or less, or anything other than a pre-focused nest or feeder shot, you want autofocus. You. Want. Autofocus. I have tried manual focus with the EF 400mm f/5.6L plus 1.4X TC II (my 60D doesn't autofocus at f/8). Dreadful results, unless the bird is perched quietly and I can go into Live View and focus under magnification, a reasonable thing to do for a nest shot (and I do that for nest shots). Maybe an old-timer bird-in-flight expert from the 1960s can pan and focus accurately without focus confirmation and get a reasonable keeper rate, but I sure can't do so.

Believe me, I have looked with longing at the 800mm FD with Mika adapter as an adjunct to my existing EF 400mm f/5.6L, but the percentage of times the manual focus lens would be useful would be low (and it weighs a ton and is tripod-only). Yes, I know there is an Ed Mika-adapter FD 500mm f/4.5L on Ebay right now. I looked at it for a second, while perusing the Canon 500mm for EF f/4.5Ls (which have autofocus). Nope. I will save my pennies for a long-in-the-future autofocus image-stabilized 500mm or 600mm lens.

For $1,100.00 or less, you can buy a refurbished or quality used EF400mm f/5.6L from Canon Refurbished or from Lens Authority (Roger Cicala's offshoot from his Lens Rentals business, lenses are tested before sale) or from your favorite local store or from a reputable national dealer like B and H, Adorama, etc.

NancyP · Nov 14, 2013

Sweet mallard hen! Excellent shot.

nzmacro · Nov 14, 2013

NancyP said:
NO CONTEST HERE. If you want to photo birds in flight, small songbirds that stay perched for 5 seconds or less, or anything other than a pre-focused nest or feeder shot, you want autofocus. You. Want. Autofocus. I have tried manual focus with the EF 400mm f/5.6L plus 1.4X TC II (my 60D doesn't autofocus at f/8). Dreadful results, unless the bird is perched quietly and I can go into Live View and focus under magnification, a reasonable thing to do for a nest shot (and I do that for nest shots). Maybe an old-timer bird-in-flight expert from the 1960s can pan and focus accurately without focus confirmation and get a reasonable keeper rate, but I sure can't do so.

Believe me, I have looked with longing at the 800mm FD with Mika adapter as an adjunct to my existing EF 400mm f/5.6L, but the percentage of times the manual focus lens would be useful would be low (and it weighs a ton and is tripod-only). Yes, I know there is an Ed Mika-adapter FD 500mm f/4.5L on Ebay right now. I looked at it for a second, while perusing the Canon 500mm for EF f/4.5Ls (which have autofocus). Nope. I will save my pennies for a long-in-the-future autofocus image-stabilized 500mm or 600mm lens.

For $1,100.00 or less, you can buy a refurbished or quality used EF400mm f/5.6L from Canon Refurbished or from Lens Authority (Roger Cicala's offshoot from his Lens Rentals business, lenses are tested before sale) or from your favorite local store or from a reputable national dealer like B and H, Adorama, etc.

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FD 500 4.5L vs ef 400 5.6L.. hmmm

Yajshooter

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