Due to some personal issues and the weather I was unable to get my new lens out in the field yesterday. May not be able to for a couple of days. So, decided to pay at my bird feeders.

So far I have noticed that this lens seams to focus fast. I am very pleased with that! Also, it is not as heavy as I expected. It weighs 4.3 pounds. That is 3.7 pounds lighter than my Sigma 500mm and .9 pounds heavier than my Canon 100-400mm lenses. Not bad at all! Another thing I like is the front optic lens does not rotate. That is a big advantage to anyone that uses filters.

Also, I can focus on a BIF, at say 200 to 300mm, and grab the front of the lens by the hood and it will slide right out to 600mm very easily. That is nice, something I have always liked on my 100-400mm lens. One big difference though, you do need to turn the ring to back off from 600mm, it doesn't slide very easily in that direction.

Here are a couple of quick shots taken this morning. Taken using my 7D, first at 1/500, second at 1/800, both at f9.0

Jim D

I will be on the road for the next several weeks and will not post much during that time. I thought I would leave you with a last look at the Everglades at dawn. I manages to find some near perfect clouds on this my last morning in the everglades.

Since people have been asking for camera data on my recent posts I'm providing the particulars.

This was shot at 6:33 A.M. at ISO 400, F18, 1/60 on tripod with cable release. Auto White balance in RAW. I used a 3 stop graduated neutral density filter to bring down the brightness of the sky since the land was in deep shadow. I use a Graduated Neutral Density filter on probably 85% of my landscape shots.

Hope you enjoy this image. Image quality reduced for posting on the UHH.