RTFM

Canon did make a 1000mm lens: Canon Lens R 1000mm F 11 Focal Length: f=1000mm Aperture Ratio: 1:11
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fllenses/index1.htm

olcoach Loc: Oregon

Just to be sure I wasn't nuts I watched the same show again this morning. He was photographing bears in the Katmai National preserve in Alaska. He was carrying this lens and said it was a 1000mm and he also said"1.4". Somewhere on here there is another thread and one of the respondents claimed it would be impossible to build a lens like this as it would be about the size of a tank. Art Wolf was carrying this lens and I assume since he, in effect, works for Canon he gets things the rest of us can't, and a lens like this most of us couldn't afford if it was available. All I know is what Wolfe said. Mike

PNagy Loc: Missouri City, Texas

Canon never made a 1000mm lens. They did make a few 1200mm F5.6. It is a special order item that takes over a year to make and its price keeps going up. Last I heard it was $120,000. It does not even have autofocus. The only way to achieve exactly 1000mm with a Canon lens is to use the 2X expander on the 500mm L.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

To answer two posts on this page:
1. Yes, Canon did make a 1000mm lens, but never for the EOS system. Let us remain practical here.
2. No, Canon does not make a PRODUCTION 1000mm lens for the EOS system, but I'll bet Art Wolfe gets to field test just about every lens and accessory they have under development. Who knows? In a year or two, we might be able to pick up a 1000mm f/4 lens - with $80,000 and a small fork lift!

washy Loc: Dorset UK

You would need the strength of a grizzley to carry one of those monsters all day

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Noe imagine increasing that by 25%.

Nightski

I think I will stick to shooting guys like this. ;-) I do have a serious question though. In the summer when I go running, I am the first one out to the area. There are spiderwebs strewn across my running path, and horseflies just hanging in the air waiting for me to run by them so they can buzz my head the rest of the way. I have often thought it would be great to get a shot of a horsefly hanging in the air through the cobwebs. I can see them quite a ways off. My skill level is not there yet, but would this be possible, and what kind of lens would you need, and how close would you have to get to the horsefly?

My National Geographic Bunny Shot :)

Hunter Lou 1947 Loc: Minnesota

Nice to hear from someone else who shoots from MN. Good shoot. Don't have the expertise of shooting hirsefly's. I have a Canon SX50 HS. Love the camera so far. I know it has it's limitations which I can live with for the moment.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Its possible, but hardly easy. Any AF system would try to focus on the cobwebs and a horsefly behind them would be out of focus. Manual focusing would be the answer, but that would require being setup on the shot with the camera on a tripod, prefocused on what you want to catch. A small aperture would likely be required to get the fly AND the web in focus and that would slow your shutter speed. As the webs on the path are obviously attached to trees, I can assume there will be shady conditions to deal with also.
High ISO, longish lens (300mm or longer), F16 or smaller aperture, at least 1/500 sec shutter speed to freeze the fly, a really good tripod, and a whole lot of luck!!!
Other than that? A piece of cake. (Which might be a good idea anyway as your are likely to get very hungry waiting for the most cooperative horsefly!)

As a quick side note, your bunny is underexposed by at least a full stop. See how dirty grey the snow is? Adjust EV compensation to at least +1.0 when shooting with snow in the image to adjust for the problem.

Nightski

I was just making a little joke about the bunny shot. I took it with my point and shoot. But, I have been struggling with snow this winter with my Rebel XTI. I have had green snow, and blue snow and dark snow. I'd be grateful if you would tell me how you think I did on these. I did struggle with focus a little, because I was in deep snow and had it on manual focus. Also, I have my kit lens with the xti, so I probably won't be shooting any horselfly shots soon, but I am still going to try with a tripod. Finding a cooperative horsefly will be no problem. There are lots of them and they just hang right in the middle of the path, and I will keep the spider webs behind them. Thanks for all the info!

Snow shot 1


Snow shot 2

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Your foreground shade and sunlit snow in the background is an almost impossible situation. If you shoot it in RAW then you could make a copy. Decrease the exposure on the copy with the bright background. Increase the exposure on the copy with the shaded foreground, then combine the two as an HDR image, that would take care of the issue, but its almost impossible to get an acceptable compromise "in-camera" with these conditions.

Nightski

So I have a couple of new rules now. Don't shoot from the shade into the sun. When shooting a subject, have my back to the sun, unless of course if I am trying to capture a silhouette. Right? In that situation though, I had a reason for being on that side of the tree. I don't think I could have traveled around that fallen tree in the deep snow. As it was my hands were so cold when I got back to my car, I almost couldn't open the door. Winter shooting has it's challenges. It's worth it though, if you can capture the beauty of it.