poor lens or poor photographer

[ceremus]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

This will also make everything distracting in the background more distractive. The point is to make ones eye travel to the action, not the cheerleaders or the drunk drinking beer in the stands. Most pro photographers shoot at a very low aperture so that the viewers eye only goes to the point of impact (the action) instead of traveling around the photograph. My 5 cents worth.

And it also gives you a higher shutter speed to stop the action. Now....that's my 25 cents worth.

Well, I'm guessing the max aperture on that lens is 4.5-5.6, if he needs the extra light he should definitely be shooting wide open to keep up his shutter speed to focal length ratio. On the other hand if he's shooting at 300mm he should still be able to get a reasonable shorter DoF even if he's at f/7.1 - 8. With a consumer zoom like that it's going to be a trade off between sharpness or shooting wide open. But if I have the light, and especially if I can get in close enough, I personally want to shoot at f/8 with the 100-300 EF USM lens in my kit. Like so.


Red-winged blackbird 0667 by ceremus, on Flickr
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 100

Often if I'm birding at 300mm f/5.6 my DoF is actually too thin and I don't get everything in focus that I'd like. That's just an example of course, my lens isn't his and the scene he shoots will be unique to him, so he'll have to experiment and see what works best.

[Jim Bryant]

that true, but we're talking about two different lenses here. Your 100-300 is a high quality piece of glass, where as the 70-300 kit lens isn't.

[ceremus]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

that true, but we're talking about two different lenses here. Your 100-300 is a high quality piece of glass, where as the 70-300 kit lens isn't.

This is my lens used for that shot, a discontinued model and a good value if you can pick it up on the used market. Though still, it's very much a mid-grade consumer lens. It offers quite a bit considering it typically goes for $200 or less (I snagged mine for $150). It's a long focal length for the price, it has an 8-blade aperture, a metal mount, and the non-rotating ring USM w/FTM autofocus is silent, fast, and accurate -- probably its best feature overall.

That said, at 200-300mm my pictures will be on the soft side if shot wide open (f/5.6 at those focal lengths). My results will improve if I stop down to f/8, though even when stopped down the resolution can't compete with L glass or a decent prime.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by ceremus

This is my lens used for that shot, a discontinued model and a good value if you can pick it up on the used market. Though still, it's very much a mid-grade consumer lens. It offers quite a bit considering it typically goes for $200 or less (I snagged mine for $150). It's a long focal length for the price, it has an 8-blade aperture, a metal mount, and the non-rotating ring USM w/FTM autofocus is silent, fast, and accurate -- probably its best feature overall.

That said, at 200-300mm my pictures will be on the soft side if shot wide open (f/5.6 at those focal lengths). My results will improve if I stop down to f/8, though even when stopped down the resolution can't compete with L glass or a decent prime.

Still, that was one hell of a deal!!!!!!!!!!!!