Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Anyone got one of these?

I'm renting this with a D700 for both outdoor and Studio sessions with Dogs.

It's a big lens and I'm concerned it will be too heavy to hand hold.

I'm not a weight lifter so should this be a concern?

Do I need to use a monopod?

I know you can manually focus this lens without switching a button so if I'm holding the lens I'll have to be careful where I place my hand.

If you have one of these babies and can share your experience with it, I would appreciate it.

My mom (also not a weightlifter) owns and uses this lens both handheld and on a monopod with her D300.

She just lugged it around Africa for 7 weeks in all sorts of conditions and said that while it was heavy, she never regretted it for a second.

Due to the position of the focus ring I don't think you will have a problem knocking it accidentally; if you support the weight of the lens from its centre of gravity with your left hand (in and around the zoom ring-ish) you'll be able to reach the focus ring with your fingers if you need to, but shouldn't bump it without meaning to.

Hope your studio has a bit of room; the lens won't focus closer than a meter and a half away. Not a huge deal but can become a factor in tight spaces.

All that being said, enjoy the lens!

I have one of these lenses and I don't find it too heavy for hand holding. I mean it isn't light, but I don't feel over burdened by the lens when mounted. Of course holding it up for a long time will be tiring, but almost any camera and lens combination can get heavy over time.

I have a monopod but have never thought to use it with this lens. I think a monopod would slow you down.

When I hold the lens my hand usually rests on the zoom ring which is the ring close to the camera, rather then the focus ring. This seems to be the right spot on the lens and balances well in my hands when mounted on a D300 with grip. I have never found myself adjusting the focus manually by accident. Even if you did manually shift the focus, a touch on your auto focus will correct it.

One tip I find works for me is rotate the tripod foot to the top of the lens so the lens rests in your hand not the foot. I find that is a lot more stable for shooting, and the foot acts like a carrying handle for the lens and camera.

Also, check the controls on the lens when you get it. You will likely want the focus set to FULL so you don't find it coming up short (when set short you won't be able to focus closer than 8 feet), and the VR turned to ON. And set to M/A and not M only, so you actually can auto focus. Put the VR switch on NORMAL, active is really only for moving vehicles and could mess up panning shots.

Finally if you are renting the older version you will notice three buttons on the lens just between the focus ring and the hood. These are auto focus locks and as the name suggests lock the focus when pushed. They work the same as the AF-L button on the camera. I don't think the Mark II has these buttons.

DG

I've used this lense on a D2H body camera all day at major events around the city and I don't find it to heavy at all. But, then again I'm a weight lifter!

All joking aside, you most likely not be holding this up for a long period of time while you are shooting. You should have no problems using that combo.

Good Luck.

I use mine all the time - just carried it around Vancouver with the D700 ...

Thank you everyone for your input. Since I'm picking up the lens on a Friday after work then heading out on Saturday morning to start using it, I won't have a lot of time to tinker.

So thank you for all the info.

Hey, if any of you have some shots posted on flickr or elsewhere from this lens, I would love to see them. Especially of moving subjects.

Thanks again
Leesa

sorry... not a moving subject, but these were shot last week in Vancouver with the 70-200VR





here is a moving subject:

WOW, amazing detail in the mountains. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for posting. I noticed some shots were not extremely sharp. Others were so I would love to know the settings you used. Same overall? Or different for each shot?

If you have the time. If not, don't worry about it. Just curious.

Here you go.

[quote="imageone"]Here you go.

Nice, thank you!