So All of my new gear came last week, basically at the same time so i was ready to get out there and test the 400mm lens with the Manfrotto tripod asap. I had the weekend off so all was set.....except the weather which was awful. I had to wait until the week when i had 2 days off to go out and test everything in the mornings while the frost was still on the ground. I had so much fun with the new lens that I couldn't believe i hadn't already thought about getting a long lens like this more before. It gave me so many more possibilities to capture wildlife and the fixed focal length only made the experience more pleasurable as I had to position, and stalk my way to get a shot. It made me think more about my positioning and actually have to plan a shot in a lot more detail. It reminded me of when i went to the wetlands centre last year when i had the 100-200mm as my longest lens (see my 'welcome' blog post entry). I was dying for that extra reach and this lens is perfect for giving me that without costing a small fortune.

Starting off with one of my favorite images i captured with the new 400mm on the new tripod, we have a female stone chat on a post.

I love this image for so many reasons. I love the colours on the bird itself, but its how the out of focus background not only complements the colour on the stone chat, but the frost on the grass really sets this image apart from a lot of others i have taken.

In order to get the composition i wanted for this image, i had to anticipate where this little bird, flitting around by the water in bushy park, was going to land. So I set up the camera near to a small post and hoped it would use it. I got lucky and managed to got off about 5 or 6 shots with this one coming out the best.  

Another shot that i was looking forward to do was influenced bt a recent facebook message that my cousin had posted after seeing parakeets in his garden. He was unable to get a good shot so used an image from the internet. I thought this was a perfect excuse to track some down that live in a colony in and around bushy park, to see if i could get some up close shots with the 400mm lens.

There guys are not hard to find due to their colour and the amount of noise they make, but they do tend to stay high up in the trees so getting a clean, sharp image with minimal grain was going to be difficult. What i did find was that i was very aware of where i could and couldn't stand, and making sure the sun was behind me. Over 2 very crisp clear mornings i managed to get these images:

In order to take these images i used the 400mm paired with the 7D body, which gives a crop factor of x 1.6 so the lenses focal length is actually 640mm. This extra reach was crucial in getting really close up to the birds high up in the trees. With this said, the 7D Body has suddenly had a whole new lease of life. I was very close to selling it on after getting the 5D mk3 and the 6D, but i am so glad i didn't as it has been a revelation paired with the 400mm lens for wildlife.

The 400mm with the 7D is a perfect length for wildlife photography without breaking the bank and shelling out 7-11 thousand pounds on a huge lens with the 600mm+ reach that i now know is needed. This extra reach with the 7D has meant i have been able to get images like these below as well:

Both of these images above would have not been possible had i not had the tripod, 7D and 400mm lens combination. The tree creeper as an example was on a dead tree about 20 meters in front of me. If i had tried to get closer it would have been long gone, but with this lens i could pick it out perfectly as it went about its business hunting for small insects on the tree. I love tree creepers and they were (from memory) the first bird i remember being interested in when staying with my grandparents in Windsor. I would go off for hours and was building a fort under a large willow tree. I climbed the branches to find these little birds huddled in a group on a branch. Every now and then a parent would come to the huddle to deliver food. I sat in the tree for ages watching their lives unfold. An amazing memory for me, so seeing them again. and getting such close up pictures was a real treat for me.

One thing i had noticed by the time i was shooting the tree creeper about this particular lens, is how conspicuous it was when out and about. It is a massive, long, bright white lens, which as i found out on the first day, gets very cold to hold on a frosty morning. I had prepared for this however as i had on the way a lens jacket i had ordered from Ebay so only had the lens out without the cover for one of the two mornings (thank god).

I had been looking around a lot for one of these and was finding crazy prices of like £100+ for a cover!! i kept on looking and found this one on Ebay for £15. It fits perfectly as it was specifically designed for the 400mm F/5.6 lens. It not only made the lens easy to hold in cold weather but even i could see how the animals were reacting when confronted with it. On the first day without it, the white of the lens really did stand out (i was wearing black and green) so once the lens camouflage was on, it did actually seem to make a difference. It is also i found, a good way of people not noticing it and not stopping in their tracks to stare at it when im taking a shot, or setting up a shot which i hate with a complete passion.

I also found that the lens was particularly good at capturing sharp, clear images of larger animals like the stag and heron above. I still needed to push my luck and get close but with the tripod from around 10-15 metres away it gets amazing results and the larger animals tend to hold their ground until you pass this point as well. I used HDR for both the Heron and the stag to bring out the contrast which i think works really well.

I also wanted to use the lens hand held as well to capture moving objects like this gull taking off from a frozen lake.

The lens to my surprise was great to hand hold and very fast auto focus to be able to capture a clean image.

Back on the 5D MK3 body outside my house on the Thames the lens gave great contrast and with bright light really brings out the best in this lens.

What i did find however was that the 400mm lens in low light is weak. I was expecting this however so knowing the limitations of a lens is just as important as knowing its strengths. I attempted a few shots of a heron and a yellow wagtail under the bridge outside my building and it just didn't work, you would need to shoot at such a high ISO that the grain would render the images useless, and not up to the standards i have set myself. Even on a tripod i think it will be hard to use in Low light. Knowing this though means i know when and when not to use this lens.

The lack of image stabilization never did come up as much of an issue as i consistently shot at 1000th of a second or quicker for most of the images. To do this i really did need the tripod and the light, so with this in mind i think it will be a lens that i will use as often as possible but knowing full well that unless the light is very good, the images will need to have a higher ISO so will be more noisy. This also meant that the lens is 'light' compared to ones of the same length (not to mention 10 times the price) and much heavier. So all in all so far the lack of image stabilization has not held me back.

The last image shows that even from a great distance the 400mm can produce clean images. This woodpecker was in the long grass as i was on my way home, i had heard woodpeckers and had little glimpses of them as they flashed past me, so i made it my mission to try and get close enough to one to get a decent image.

When out of the corner of my eye i saw one fly into this long grass, i decided to slowly creep up on it with tripod fully extended. After hunting around for it i finally saw it popping it head up out of the grass. This image taken was when it clocked me and moments later was gone. I would love to have gotten closer but i think the actual image (which i have cropped into) is a great shot with the flash of green and red surrounded by the brown of the long grass. 

I can not wait to get back out there and use this lens, hopefully there will be some clear days soon (and a few days off) to be able to go out again. 

FIN