The Big Lens Weekend

I hope everybody had a nice holiday weekend. Thanks to a lot of legwork by Mary, we got to spend Saturday up at Point Reyes National Seashore. We spent the morning birding with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon society folks, the afternoon on our own. Here's our trip list, click on the little camera icons to see the photos.

These photos were taken with the Canon 500mm f4.5/L that we rented from Keeble and Shuchat for the weekend. It is a very nice and very heavy piece of glass. I wanted to find out whether I'd be willing to lug this monster around on a birding trip and actually keep up with other birders. The answer is a qualified "yes". I carried it around the Drake's beach visitor center, and from the parking lot out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Some kind of carrying strap would be nice, but in the meantime the tripod ring serves as a pretty well-balanced handle.

I got roughly the same proportion of good photos that I always get (i. e., fancy equipment does not make you a better photographer, dang it). When I was able to hold the lens still with good light, the results were pretty amazing, this thing is very sharp.

I took it to Picchetti Winery on Sunday, and photographed some common birds (particularly the Dark-eyed Junco). I also took it to the Coyote Creek Field Station and to the Don Edwards NWR on Monday. While at Don Edwards, I met a fellow who uses the newer 500mm f4/L IS with a shoulder stock and no tripod. Amazing.