For a long time I had used standard telephoto lenses such as the canon 100-400mm zoom, the 400mm f5.6 prime. I had always adored the rendering of out of focus areas at 400mm, and how it enabled my subjects to pop. However I wanted more, so a few years ago I bit the bullet and acquired a canon 400mm f2.8 IS lens. The weight, price, size was all forgotten when I created my first images. The isolation, sharpness and speed of focus enabled me to further my creative vision.
Below are a couple of recent shots, one taken at f5.6 and one at f2.8, so you can see the difference, even at small image sizes.
Canon 400mm f2.8 IS @ f5.6, 1DX.
Canon 400mm f2.8 IS @ f2.8, 1DX.
Whilst in India, the lens allowed me to carry on photographing into the night. Whilst everyone else had to put their camera’s away, I was able to capture images of tigers with expanded pupils (due to the lack of light) and bring back some novel imagery. Combining with a full frame camera body gives me the maximum background diffusion and image quality and it will now take a lot to move me away from this set up.