My first DSLR - making a good choice

[lizzy310]

Yes...thank you for explaining that. So it might be that a better one that uses the adapter and gives you more versatility would be a good bet. I am not a dedicated bird or wildlife photographer, but when the opportunity arises I would like to get good photos. This opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago when on vacation at the Washington coast. There were about a gazillion birds and my poor little camera couldn't get the photos. Then it got so noisy and grainy when I got the zoom out as far as it would go that I was ticked. That is really what started this journey to new equipment. These are 2 awful photos, but you see why I am asking so many questions and wanting to upgrade. I want to be able to take a waterbuffalo across a field, an eagle in the sky, a guy with an ultralight glider up there, or whatever comes on our journeys. I won't be trekking into the mountains to find a herd of elk, but things do come up. So perhaps the better lens, even tho it's a bit heavier would be more useful.

Liz

We run the risk here of getting our 'highers' and 'lowers' mixed up. I think it's better to use the terms 'wider' and 'narrower' when we talk about apertures. Wider means f2, f2.8, f4 etc. Narrower means f16, f22 etc. The wider the aperture the more light is let in. Also, the wider the aperture the shallower the depth-of-field.

So, if we go back to the 70-200 f4: At f5.6 there is half as much light let in as there is at f4. And then there is half of that (one-quarter of what you get at f4) let in at f8, and so on. Each aperture stop either halves or doubles the amount of light you let in, depending on which way your turning the control. But remember your full stops are 1.4 2.0 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22. The other numbers you might see on your camera are third or half stops (depending on how the camera is set up).

So, for the sort of stuff I do, I do tend to operate at f8, f11, f16. That is not to say I don't go wider or narrower. It all depends on what I'm trying to create. But generally, that's the sort of region I work in. But I don't go for fast shutter speeds. If you are into wildlife, for example, you may need very fast shutter speeds and you may also want a shallow depth of field. So, you're more likely to be needing to operate at wider than f4.

Is that making any sense?

[Dave Humphries]

He said that the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM is lighter and superb lens quality, but has less aperture for using an extender. Can you explain that to me

Liz, Donald,

I am not a Canon shooter, but from memory, doesn't the AF (Auto-Focus) on a 60D stop working beyond f/5.6?
I think that is what the guy was getting at - with the 70-200mm f/4, it won't AF with a 2x converter (because it'll be f/8).

Hope that helps (HTH),

[Donald]

Liz, Donald,

I am not a Canon shooter, but from memory, doesn't the AF (Auto-Focus) on a 60D stop working beyond f/5.6?
I think that is what the guy was getting at - with the 70-200mm f/4, it won't AF with a 2x converter (because it'll be f/8).

Hope that helps (HTH),

Yep, I believe you're correct with that comment, Dave.

[Dave Humphries]

~ doesn't the AF (Auto-Focus) on a 60D stop working beyond f/5.6?
I think that is what the guy was getting at - with the 70-200mm f/4, it won't AF with a 2x converter (because it'll be f/8).

Knowing my propensity to confuse, what I mean is that if the combined effective aperture of lens and extender is more than f/5.6 max., then AF won't work reliably.

So f/4 (lens max.) plus 1 stop for the 1.4x TC is f/5.6 and ok.
But f/4 (lens max.) plus 2 stops for a 2x TC would be f/8 and not good at all.

Also, this has nothing to do with the aperture you set to shoot with, since the lens focuses wide open, then stops down to f/11, or whatever, in a split second as you expose the picture.

Cheers,