Lens to Choose

[emag remrofni]

Hey all,

Completely new here, so excuse me if I am posting this in the wrong place.

To give a little background first, I do photo coverage of model helicopter events. This upcoming March I am attending an event in Vegas and I am having trouble deciding which lens to choose to rent, since I don't want to take the plunge into a $5000+ lens at the moment. I am trying to decide between the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM and the Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS USM. Normally, I would just jump for the f/4 because I am shooting in outdoor lighting, but after seeing what the f/2.8 could do with the background blur, I am wondering if it will be worth the extra cash to rent. If anyone has any other recommendations that would be better suited for the application, please let me know.

Thanks

This photo was taken by Mark Fadley-

 

[Overread]

well the 300mm f2.8 is a wonder of a lens - it IS heavy but one that you can use handheld (IS) and possibly iwth a monopod to get used to the weight.
It will also work with teleconverters to give you a very good 420mm and a good 600mm lens -- the 300mm f4 is a solid choice in lens but it iwll only work with the 1.4 teleconverter (giving you the 420mm lens).

If you can go for the 300mm f2.8 I say go for it - but its 3 times or more than the f4 version so many people just can't save up enough for it (or justify the cost). Renting such a lens is certainly a good idea and it would give you time to decide if it really is a lens for you if you want to go to the next level and spend that sort of money on a lens

 

[gsgary]

The 300mmF2.8L is the best lens i have ever bought, i shoot everything with it, even at F4.5 and at a distance it will blow the background and give lovely colors

 

[LWW]

I have little experience with Canon so I will work on the assumption that like Nikkor, the 300 2.8 and 300 4 are both fine optical instruments.

I owned a 300 2.8. It was awesome, and if you want a lens that will draw stares of envy from nearly every photog it's the shizzle. It is handholdable ... by the broadest definition. It is VERY heavy by the end of the day.

Now, to an earlier comment from someone who said they used 2.8 even at 4.5.

There is the rub.

At EVERY f stop the Nikkor 2.8 and 4 were optically awesome. After I bought the f4 I just stopped using the 2.8 other than rare situations where 2.8 yielded a small edge.

Sold the 2.8 for a capitalist pigdog profit and never looked back.

The f4 is an easily hand held lens, and even it is heavy by days end ... but NOTHING like the 2.8.

These are my experiences and I make no claim that they will work as well for someone else. For my type of shooting it works fine.

One of these days I'm going to finish out my "NOT QUITE TOTALLY AWESOME, BUT I DON'T NEED A SECOND MORTGAGE AND/OR A SHERPA TO CARRY MY CAMERA GEAR EITHER!" gear.

It consists of:

- The uber light Nikon D50, already owned.

- The now discontinued Nikon strapvest which is a wearable camera bag.

- Nikkor 50 f1.8, already owned.

- Nikkor 300 f4, already owned.

- Nikkor 70-210 f4. I have an 80-200 f2.8 I would keep, but I had one of these once and should never have let go.

- Nikkor 28-105 f3.5-f4.5, already owned.

- Bogen monopod with shoulder brace, already owned. Doubles as a nice walking stick also.

My gap is anything wide angle, but I shoot most outdoor sports, airplanes, races, things like that.

LWW