When Canon announced the RF 200-800 lens, I was mildly interested but not too bothered by it. However, in an example of how easily a weak mind can be influenced, when I watched some reviews by those that had used the lens, I started to be more curious. The focal length range was always of interest, but the aperture range had initially put me off. The reviewers suggested that the excellent ISO performance of modern mirrorless cameras meant this wasn’t an issue. Also, while not in anyway cheap, the lens was very well priced for the range it offered.
I went to my local shop and placed a deposit for one of the lenses. This was many months ago. After that, things got very quiet. I was beginning to think that I would never see an actual lens. Then I saw something on a Canon rumor site that said August was likely to be a time when a lot of lenses got delivered. Whatever the blockage had been, there seemed to be some relief. The last Tuesday of July (stuff seems to get delivered to stores on Tuesday I guess), I get a phone call telling me that my lens has arrived. Hurrah!
After work, I headed down to pick it up. I then headed down to the water in Kenmore – a short distance from the store – to give it a quick go. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I got a quick feel for some of its quirks. Initially I was a little unsettled. The stabilization seemed very effective, but it did make tracking things that were moving slowly a bit jerky as if the stabilization didn’t believe that I actually wanted to be moving. I worried that this would be an issue. However, the images seemed to be rather sharp so maybe it knew what it was doing.
When I got home, I did spend a little time looking at the hummingbirds on the bushes. The light was very low, which should be a problem for a lens with smaller apertures, but it seemed to work very well and the images were surprisingly sharp and clean. I then took it to its first airshow. Again, results were really very pleasing. The 800mm reach was so helpful since the show line was quite distant and I was veery happy with the framing I could get. The jumpiness in the viewfinder is still something I find rather distracting but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for the images, so I guess the stabilization knows what it is doing. I also shot some video at 800mm handheld and, while there was initial wobbling, there comes a moment when it seems to get what is going on and then it is rock steady. Quite bizarre. I think this lens could be a key part of my shooting going forward. We shall see as my experience grows with it.
There is a lake at Bloedel Reserve that sits near the main house. The grass leading down to it makes for a nice spot to rest but it also seems to have made for a good habitat for dragonflies. There were loads of them scooting around at the edge of the water and, while they were easily spooked as I got closer, if I sat for a while, they would resume their normal activities. Getting the camera to focus on them was not always reliable but modern autofocus is a wonderful thing. These were some of the results. I don’t have an image of how damp my pants were after sitting on the grass for a while, thankfully.
