Okay, I will keep this trite:

I need a good telephoto zoom lens for my Xl2.

I am currently doing a project on pelicans and various marine birdlife.
My 20x lens is just not cutting it.

I don’t care about weight or size, and image stabilization is really preferred*.
I don’t want to spend more than $1000.

Does anyone have any recommendations, and/or experience, field reports, etc?
What are my options…
and at what price?

*do I really need an IS function? Does it work with video cameras effectively?

Okay, I will keep this trite:

I need a good telephoto zoom lens for my Xl2.

I am currently doing a project on pelicans and various marine birdlife.
My 20x lens is just not cutting it.

Jeff,

If you think that you don't need IS, try zooming your 20X out to full, turn of OIS and try to hold it still. If you use a tripod and it is very stable, then you could get by without it.

Canon has a 1.6X adapter that retains your OIS, zoom etc...and pushes the stock lens out to 32X.

Beyond that, there is the Canon EF adapter, which allows you to use Canon lenses, or other after market adapters and then add a 35mm lens. I think the EF adapter maintains some camera functions, but I don't have one so can't say for sure. I know you will not have IS, and probably no autofocus either. The Optex adapter that I have maintains no camera function, but it works with my Nikon lenses.

Either one of these or other 35mm adapters adds a magnification function of approx 7.2 to what the 35mm equivalent is of the lens. A 100mm lens would equal about a 720mm lens on the XL2. Very neat indeed for getting real close, but your tripod better be rock stable and focus is a bit of a challenge. I have a cheap 1600mm I stick on my XL2 and you can count the flies on an apple from about a quarter of a mile away.

Hope this helps. There are many threads here that will give you more information, and also check Chris Hurd’s Watch Dog articles about the lens options on the XL line of cameras.

http://www.dvinfo.net/canonxl2/articles/article04.php


Mike

Get the EOS adapter and the Canon 70-300mm USM OIS Lens. That will hit right under your budget and give great performance.



ash =o)

Get the EOS adapter and the Canon 70-300mm USM OIS Lens. That will hit right under your budget and give great performance.



ash =o)

Ash,

That would be a great combo! What auto functions are maintained on this setup, if any. I can't find any definitive answers anywhere about the EF adapter inself as far as that is concerned. Very curious.

Thanks---Mike

I don't think any auto functions are maintained using the EF adapter.

Jeff, as Mike mentions you can find everything you need to know regarding the EF adapter and telephoto lenses throughout this forum by doing a search. In summary, with the EF adapter - No auto functions except aperture - if you flip the lever on the EF adapter you will have auto aperture.
Ash's recommendaton is as good as your going to get for the price. Don't forget, the more distance you use, the better the quality of your video head and tripod.

Yes, all manual once you go EOS, the IS is built into the lens though. And yes, you will need a very nice tripod as well. At full length it will be hard to get sharp focus without an external monitor as well. I have used this set-up for some sports stuff and it looked really good.



ash =o)

Thanks guys.
I just got back from school and read your responses.

Ash’s combination looks great. I have no problem going all manual, and for my purposes, the Xl2's EF capability is looking really sweet.

I researched all the telephoto zoom lenses, and noticed something funny.
Why is the EF 300mm f/4L USM lens is being sold so cheaply, as compared to all the rest?
Is there something wrong with it?

Bill,
You mentioned flipping a "lever" on the EF adapter to get auto aperture.
What lever is that? My EF adapter is several years old and has no such thing. Are you saying that new ones support auto aperture?

Steve Siegel
Miami

I have an EOS / XL adaptor which is about a year old and I can auto expose
with it.
The lever on the side is a lock but their is a button in the centre of this lever
which when pressed auto sets the exposure.

How about this for a stupid idea,

An XL to XL adaptor which will fit between the standard 16x or 20x lens and
the camera and give a 7.2x magnification above the stock lens with all auto
functions still working.

I think you can stack a bunch of 1.6x extenders to achieve such results, but that is not recommended.

FYI… Two American bald eagles are nesting in a wooded area down the street from me... and, although absolutely beautiful, they don't like me very much (hence my EOS glass needs). I will post some images when I am done with my project.

Also, even though I am on a tripod (bogen 503... should be enough, right?) and it won’t matter, I am kind of happy that my camera won’t weigh so much now, and the white/black combo looks cool.

Did a shoot couple of weeks ago with my XL-2 rig (Miller Arrow HD head/tripod, Ronsrail + Ronssight, Sigma 300mm f2.8 + 2.0x extender), for a picture of the rig click here:

http://www.video-film.no/galleri.html (Sorry, but the text is only in norwegian).

You find a sample video here:
http://www.video-film.no/snutter/maane.avi (Note: you need a DivX codec to play - http://www.divxmovies.com/software/)

On a 35 mm SLR-system this is equivalent to 4680 mm! It's just wonderful to use such a huge telephoto in wildelife filming even though it's very heavy, it weights almost 35 pound ! But to use that kind of telephoto you really need a rock steady tripod (the tripod itself weights appr. 20 pound).

- Per Johan

I just watched your lunar video... magnificent! Were you actually panning at that focal length? WOW!

I am not patient enough to tackle a narrative story without getting frustrated, so I am becoming very interesting in doing things like visual tone poems and such. Images like these excite me…

The more I learn about this camera, the more I am falling in love it.

Just a hunch, but that appears to be a natural motion path with the camera locked down.

Jeff, the camera was locked down and the footage speeded up in post

- Per Johan

I love the shot of the moon, just wondering if you can remember the gain and shutter speed settings. I assume you had the lens wide open with the 2x extender on

Thanks

Bob

Bob, that actual shoot was at gain=0, aparture=15 and shutter=1/50
I am in PAL-country so I'm not shure if you can compare the shutter speed to NTSC?

- Per Johan

Ahem, I feel so silly. Awesome footage never the less.

... 1/50, I am thinking will have a 1/60 NTSC equivalent under such circumstances?

Thanks Per Johan,

Thanks for the quick reply, I am in PAL land so same settings as you. Do you mind posting your general camera settings?

Regarding the 300mm lens in daylight filming, do you put neutral density filters on the lens or do you adjust the shutter instead? I have a 300mm Canon FD lens and have a 85N3 filter inside the lens (there is a filter slot provided) but I am wondering if it is better to go without the filter and corect with just the shutter speed and white balance. My lens appears to be sharpest between f5.6 and f8 so I generally leave the aperature set there.

Thanks for any advise

Bob

Bob, I have not adjusted camera settings too much from default, but I experimented some for outdoor winter daylight settings. I found that changing some of the settings gives me a better look, those settings are:

Gamma=cine
Knee=low
Black=stretch
Color matrix=cine
all other settings are default

I do white balance against the snow (try to find a mix of direct sunlight and shadow or in overcast weather just find a spot and whitebalance)

For this moon-shoot I used the whitebalance setting from the day before.

The Sigma 300mm f2.8 lense also support a filter slot (46mm) in the back og the lense. But for this particularly shoot I didn't use any filter, just adjusting the aparture for a nice look. I try to keep the shutter at 1/50th
I will experiment some to find the sharpest area of my lense, switching between different ND-filters and aparture settings, I might be posting my results here at the forum.

- Per Johan

Thanks Per Johan for posting those setting. I will give them a try

I researched all the telephoto zoom lenses, and noticed something funny.
Why is the EF 300mm f/4L USM lens is being sold so cheaply, as compared to all the rest?
Is there something wrong with it?

I had used this lens w/o ef 1.4x converter with eos body for my wildlife work for 3 years.it is the forgotten discontinued lens. at 300 and 420 with 1.4x absolutely better than ef 100-400 L lens at 300 and 400. but if you add ef 2x quality drops some level that you can notice but it is still decent at 600 f/8, you need bright sun however.

now I have 100-400 lens. and this monday I will have my new XL2,following weeks I ll make comparison test with 100-400, 300 f/4 and many other lens...I am a semi pro wildlife photographer for 9 years so I know nearly all optical behaviors of tele-lens on the market, but now I ll try with XL2..

as conclusion buy this 300 f/4 non IS lens, it is optically equal to many brands of 300mm f/2.8 on the market including canon 300 f/2.8 L IS, at its 300 and 420 w1.4x. if there is very slight difference you can not notice it with mere 960x576 picture of XL2..

alkim.

Aight, thank you much!


I still have not made a purchase yet (I had to forward the money to other, more immediate applications)... so be sure to post your results when you get your new camera.


Jeff

you may also think canon 70-200 f/4 L lens. optically it is equal to 70-200 f/2.8 IS and 100 to 200, better than 100-400, but don't forget that 100-400 is still pro lens. it is non IS but you don't think to use this combination handheld do you ?

it is below 600$ and 700 gr (1.5lb).its tripod collar is same as 300 f/4 L (non IS) and 400 f/5.6,

I will test it this week too.. I also think this lens to attach XL2 directly, as its 20x lens. I mean that; because it is light wight, I ll try; attach XL2 to tripod and attach lens to camera, I want to see if it is stable enough at extreme magnifications such as 1500mm efective. if it will be you may not buy its tripod collar that sold separetely and cost 120 $

about my test results, I m not sure I can post them (especially the pics and videos) this week because I ll start lond video project for 1 month this week, but I ll write what I get..

regards,
alkim.