Silverstone on Sunday.. 55-250 or 100-400?

smr · 3 Jul 2015 at 22:56

Hi all

I have a Canon 700D and 55-250 STM lens...

A friend has said i can borrow his Canon 100-400 mk1 on Sunday. I have grandstand seats at Farm Curve. I havent sat in this grandstand before... my question is should I go with just my 55-250 or would I need more reach from this grandstand?

Optically and focus wise i have been reading that there isnt a huge difference between the lenses on a crop body so i guess its just a question of will i need the extra reach?

Correct me if am wrong though on the IQ / Focus comparison!

smr · 4 Jul 2015 at 10:39

Thanks. I dont think the 700d has micro adjust Phal.

smr · 4 Jul 2015 at 10:58

Ha definitely. I wouldnt be that foolish to go tomorrow with no practice. The push pull zoom would take some practice as it is.

smr · 4 Jul 2015 at 11:08

I will pick it up in a bit. Good busy a road nearby where i can stand near to from a field and practice with it

smr · 4 Jul 2015 at 20:00

Picked it up today and got some practice in, my word, it makes my 55-250 feel like a feather, literally. I had to open my bag to make sure it was still in there when I picked it up!

The autofocus seems really quick on it, but the lens isnt in the best condition, my friends a paid wildlife photographer but doesnt seem to take brilliant care of his kit. looks liek there's some dust trapped behind the lens

I'll review the pics I took later to see if thats going to be a problem.

The push pull zoom is actually a lot better than I thought it would be, once you adjust the retention to make it smoother. I think I prefer twist zoom lenses though.

THe grandstand I'll be sat in doesnt actually look that far away from the track so I'll see if I need it, most likely I will, but if I can fill the frame with my 55-250 I'd definitely use that instead - because the IQ I doubt would be much different, the focus in good light will probably be about the same and the weight is just soooo much lighter.

smr · 4 Jul 2015 at 20:25

Phal said:
Yeah the weight of lenses is definite something you need to get used to. My 200-400mm is almost 3 times heavier and it's definitely taken a while to get used to hehe. If you're going to be seated then it will be a lot easier than standing when trying to keep it still but the IS should also be helping. I can't remember if the 100-400mm had different IS Modes though? If so then you'd need to use the mode for panning I guess

I liked the push/pull zoom personally as it always seemed easier to do but it's also the reason why dust is more likely to get in to the lens it seems. Air needs to go into the lens as you extend it so it drags a bit of dust in I guess!

IQ wise I wouldn't expect much difference but 100-400mm is more flexible than 55-250mm for the purposes you're speaking of.

2 modes on the mk1, 1 and 2 for IS... I read that for stills its best on 1 and panning set to 2.

It's definitely wetting my appetite for a long telephoto lens

smr · 7 Jul 2015 at 13:57

Hi guys, thanks for hte advice, solely used the 100-400 in the end. Didn't do too bad I don't think, got asked if 3 photos could be used on the wiki race page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_British_Grand_Prix

smr · 7 Jul 2015 at 20:56

SDK^ said:
strange shooting at at F18 and ISO400. Go with an aperture of F8 (optimal setting on the 100-400) and a lower, cleaner ISO OF 100.

Right i know what happened there.... the rain came near the end of the race i put my camera in the picnic bag ! Body isnt weatherproofed. When lewis came over i had to quickly get the camera out and i must have messed the iso up in doing so. Shutter would have been a lot quicker if i had time to react quicker.

Rest of shots are 100 -200 iso by the look of it.

smr · 9 Jul 2015 at 17:26

Good God, the mk2 version is heavier than the mk1 ? I thought it was lighter for some reason.

I found it quite heavy tbh, and then the Tamron 150-600 is considerably heavier... I'm 5"11 with a medium build and got quite tired of hand holding the mk1 Canon lens, maybe I'm just too used to the comparative feather weight of the 55-250 lens.

It just affirms to me what a cracking lens the 55-250 is for the money, the IQ and AF is basically on par with the 100-400, it might not have the reach but when you take into account how light it is its pretty impressive. If only they could make a 400mm version that light!