Maximum pixels per duck

Gaffer · 31 Mar 2008 at 07:12

Against the advice of pretty much everyone, I went out and bought the Cannon EF 180 mm f/3.5L Macro USM with the singular purpose of getting more pixels per duck.

This is the result. Full frame (that's 5616 pixels across on the 1DsMkIII) and 100% crop.

Andrew

Gaffer · 31 Mar 2008 at 17:43

Neil79 said:
Its a deformed Duck

It's a Tawny Duck.

Andrew

Gaffer · 31 Mar 2008 at 17:50

SDK^ said:
Nice and sharp but how useful will this be for birds not in controlled conditions?

The choice was inspired nearly a year ago by a particularly friendly robin. The robin would let me come close but the minimum focusing distance snookered me.

Andrew

Gaffer · 31 Mar 2008 at 20:50

Joe T said:
You can always use extension tubes on a long lens to get closer.

Yes, but then you loose the infinity focus and while you're messing around, you would miss Molly weaving through the trees:

(The same 180mm lens but cropped to about half the width of the full frame)

Andrew

Gaffer · 1 Apr 2008 at 07:39

SDK^ said:
What is AF speed like? I have a Canon 100mm Macro lens and the AF is slow and hunts most times.

I would say it is pretty fast. But it does have a huge range down to 45cm WD, so if it does hunt, it takes a while. There is a zoom range switch to stop this. My experience (half a day's shooting with this lens) is that it very seldom hunts.

The focus range can take you by surprise. When I was trying to pan an owl flying low over the heads of the audience, I captured a nice crisp image of the bald spot on the head of the guy in front :-)

Likewise, in cages, when trying to focus on the bird, the AF will get the wrong idea and snap to a pin-sharp frame of the chicken-wire. Again, the focus range switch can help here.

Andrew