Quote:
Originally Posted by dcstep
You hold these no different than any other lens, with your left hand under the lens near the mounting plated. With the Canons we can manage the zoom with our index finger and thumb without moving the other fingers. Balance is important and can vary from body to body. If it's too front heavy, then move you left hand out toward the optics until you find the balance point. This is important and will reduce strain.
Make sure your stabilization is on (I hope you got that feature. Skimping on that feature is a huge mistake that many make). Your shutter speed, particularly while you're learning to hand hold, needs to be at 1/500-second and higher (raise ISO to get there). When you get more experience you'll be able to go as low as 1/100-sec for a stationary subject.
You may need to build some arm strength for holding this lens in position. Thankfully that means simply shooting a lot and paying attention to your results and trying to improve. I didn't get really good at hand holding my 500/f4 until I'd shot maybe 20,000+ shots. A little weight lifting, seriously, might be in order to speed things along.
This is a workhorse lens that you need to invest the time to get very comfortable with. It works for portraits, some landscapes, sports and nature. I'll never be without one in my bag, although I'm very happy with my f/4 version.
Dave
|
That's what I do. But the difference of this lens vs. any other lens that I have is the lenght; thus making the handling different.
I have the usual stance (with a short lens) where both elbows are tackled against my ribs, but this lens makes it impossible without feeling ackward. So I need to find a stable way to hold it and lower my shutter speed from there. I naturally put my left hand real close to the optics since this lens got some AF-lock buttons at this end. So want it or not, this is pretty much the only way to hold this lens.
I'm pretty sure I got the shape to handle it properly; I just need to find the proper stance. But I couldnt imagine myself handling this beast without my sling.