Still dreaming...

I suppose that getting my new choice of new lens right on the first try was a bit too much to expect.

The lens I ordered Wednesday afternoon arrived on Friday, not bad considering that I didn't upgrade the shipping method from the cheapest ground option. I headed to the coast early Saturday morning to play. I figured the sea gulls would be willing to pose for me, and they were. The lens took amazing pictures. And yes, I will take some credit for the photos since I was the one who was driving it! The image stabilization was wonderful, but... and this is a big but! The lens is big, and it's heavy, and even though I knew the size and weight when I ordered it, it didn't really hit home until I attached it to my camera and started working with it.

The big question for me is - given the size and weight - will I be happy taking it with me as I travel on my bike, and will I switch lenses during the day to give me the best of both worlds? The lens switch is the smaller of the two concerns, and I do believe that I will happily flip lenses to match my photo dreams. But the weight and size of the lens really got to me.

I played with the lens, and I thought, and I thought, and I thought.

After many hours of switching from "no, it's not the lens for me (right now)" to "well maybe it is, it takes beautiful bird shots" to "yes, of course I should keep it" and back to "no, it's not right (for me) for now", I finally decided to go with my gut, return the lens, and try to find a reasonable replacement. After all, I know that I really do want a longer-reaching lens, and I know that I need to be happy carrying the lens with me on my bike. And I looked for other answers. I found a lens that looks very interesting to me, but the reviews I found were very mixed.

Hmmm... what to do? I have nothing to lose but time since I can return the lens if it doesn't work for me - so there is a Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS heading my way. According to the Canon web site, "Diffractive Optics elements are combined to reduce size and boost image quality". The difference in size and weight is amazing. The 100-400 IS lens weighs 3 pounds and is 7 inches long at it's shortest length. The 70-300 DO IS lens weighs 1.6 pounds and is 3.9 inches long. That sounds a lot more reasonable to me from a weight standpoint. I guess I'm just going to have to wait until I try it to see if the quality and characteristics of the photos make me happy.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping...

In the meantime, here are a couple of shots taken with the Canon 100-400 IS.

Interested in seeing more pictures from my shots with this lens? You can find them in my Zoom views gallery.