Anyone who knows me already expects my photo description to either be a single short phrase, or a dissertation. Somehow my mind doesn't work in the middle, LOL. Anyway, this is about the gear not the bird. There are thousands of these sweet little song sparrows on the forums already that have been photographed far better than this. For me this was an eager and hopeful "child inside" looking to test my new-old lens. Please avoid reading if gear chatter gives you a headache. ;)
The original 400 DO has had a mixed reputation since its introduction a little over 20 years ago. I remember many complaints of lowered contrast, and a single well dramatized image of donut shaped bokeh from the diffractive elements (an issue that Canon sorted out for the Mk2 version of this lens). I knew this when this lens came out, and despite these complaints I still lusted after one. For me, contrast can be easily tweaked in post, and the donut thing...it seemed pretty rare. To be fair, I think I've figured out the wonky bokeh to be problematic in the foreground, not the background. This is something I don't ever recall reading in photo forums over the years, but then this lens was pretty uncommon in a land of 300 2.8's and 500 4's. Anyway, I digress.
The desirable attributes of this lens were easy: the relative light weight for a 400 F4 lens, and the L series-like sharpness and build. But alas, when this lens came out I was starting a family and $6k USD for a lens was a luxury I was destined to never know. Until one popped up online a couple weeks ago in like new condition. Date code UU (2006), and close up pics of every angle showed not a single scratch or chip, plus a front element that looked as new as the day it was manufactured. Seemed to me like this lens spent more of its life in a lens case than attached to a camera. It was a low risk (despite being older and no longer serviced by Canon). I had sold a bunch of unused lenses, including my venerable Sigma 500 4.5 EX to gain funds. I knew this lens would likely not compete with the micro sharpness of modern RF glass. But I was confident that the virtues of an F4 aperture, combined with stabilization, weight reduction, and weather sealed tank like build quality would give me the "safari" lens that I have been wanting for years now.
So.....this image. Just a sparrow in the backyard that I was able to get close enough to shoot. Overall I'm happy with this. It's my first bird photo with the new-to-me kit, so obviously it will take many more to start learning this lens. I will say that I struggled to run-n-gun with the old 7 lb (3 kg) Sigma beast. And the lack of stabilizer was infuriating at times. I bought that lens used at a time that this Canon was still out of my price range. But I have to say the two lenses honestly seem to produce images that are nearly on par with each other. I did some mild pp as I always do, but I avoided blurring the foreground bokeh jank. I like the honesty of the presentation from a photographic standpoint. Anyhoo, I can't wait to get more springtime action in the back yard! If you made it this far into the essay then you deserve a gold star.
