For my 5D Mark III, the 16-35mm F4 sounds like a great lens and am ready to press the buy button. But I'm a little torn between that one and the 24-105 F4. I have the 400mm 5.6 and I sort've see the 70-200mm F4 (or 2.8, not sure yet) in my future and that will be that. So maybe I should just suck up the focal length gap for now and get the 16-35. With the 24-105, there would be significant overlap when I get around to buying the 70-200 and I'm not sure it's as good a lens as the 16-35. I'd appreciate thoughts please. Thanks!

Did anyone mention that a firmware upgrade for the 5Diii will allow auto-focusing up to F8? I haven't tried it and don't know how fast it would be.

I must say that video was exceedingly annoying, but it did give me the overview I was looking for. Thank you! :thumbup:

I probably need to update my new 5Diii to get the enhanced autofocus capability. Is it just plug it in, click, and bang you're done? No weird questions that I wouldn't know off-hand about this or that? Thanks!

Isn't a certain amount of grain in photo-journalism considered artistic license - adding to the immediacy of the moment? I really like your photo.

A photographer is a person whose INTENT is to edify through the medium of photography and who invests considerable personal resources (and I don't mean just money) towards consistent improvement in that regard. Or, simply, a person who gets paid to take pictures whether they're any good or not, a/k/a, a "hack" but I don't think that's what we're talking about here. This definition allows for good photographers, and bad photographers. Just like there are good singers and bad singers, good architects and bad architects, etc. It also separates those of us who want to take the best shots we can because of what they, hopefully, will let us say about our subjects, from any tourist who whips out a cellphone to "capture a moment" which apparently is so insignificant that they have to do this lest they forget it entirely. And it also shoots the theory of "Put up or shut up" all to hell. :wink:

Three hours of missed Friday night TV and a migraine later I have my Cotton Carrier vest adjusted and hopefully ready to go. Complaints: they really could have tossed in a flat hub. Seriously. The velcro lens stabilizing strap is really noisy. I hope I can use it without getting dirty looks from my fellow birders. I'm doubtful. As aforementioned, the two hours it took me to adjust it. But that could be me, I'm a moron with straps and buckles, and finally one of the keepers was frayed and came away in my hand. I'll live.

Fitting the camera and lens was interesting. That was the third hour I'll never get back. If you try to attach the angled hub to the camera with the 300 lens, the tripod foot catches on everything as you're rotating the equipment to get it on and off the vest (and the foot digs into your chest and makes the whole thing stick out too far). If you attach the hub to the lens, everything sticks out even further and the camera is up around your chin. Either way is uncomfortable and you look like an idiot, not like the cool dude in the videos at all. Upon further examination, I realized that even though the tripod collar on the lens isn't removable, the foot is, if you happen to have the right sized Allen wrench. Another miracle. After I took the foot off everything got better. It feels very comfortable and really secure and only catches slightly on the flap of large front strap keeper. I doubt that will happen with a flat hub (ahem). I'll have to remember to keep an eye on the hub tightness but after several practice on-and-off's there wasn't any loosening at all. The vest is nice and snug, the camera and lens are flat to the body, comfortable to carry, stable and reasonably accessible. I'm encouraged. Now if I can just sleep off the ___ ___ migraine before tomorrow morning. :)

Will do. Thanks for the reminder and good wishes. :) :) :)

Awesome! Thanks for the tips everyone. I just got home with the new rig. Flying high right now. (When I said "my" 5D and 300 2.8 before I was sort've using literary license. But now it's actually sitting in the living room. Hoping to go out with it tomorrow morning.

The vest. I found a YouTube instructional that answered my question though. Thanks.

The B&H blurb says that the Cotton Carrier is designed for "the photographer that carries a DSLR with a battery grip." Does that mean that it only works with cameras with battery grips? I'm just trying to put together something convenient and comfortable for my 5D and 300mm 2.8, no tripod, no grip. Will a CC work? Thanks!

I look at your photographs, and I want to immediately move to Florida. Beautiful Osprey.

[quote=amehta]http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-172326-1.html
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-176105-1.html

Thanks again for the help. Gorgeous shots!

Thanks BigBear! Nice shots, and very helpful.

That would be great. Where might those be? Thanks!