Canon 70-200mm f4L IS first light

[dugnsuz]

Hi all
Been all over the place recently re: gear and what I want to do/pursue.
I've tried to get the "best of both worlds" in terms of a daytime v's astro lens setup.

Now I have Canon 24-70mm f2.8L and 70-200mm f4L IS lenses. (1.4x extender on the way)

This is the first light for the 70-200mm lens
Unsure about the 24-70mm in terms of astro work - but for terrestrial stuff, if you give that lens the right amount of light it absolutely shines!

18x5min exposures (90 mins), iso 1600, f4, minimal cropping.

All comments welcomed - excuse the core burnout, no short exps done.

Doug:thumbsup:

High Res...
http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k461/doug-robertson/?action=view&current=19.jpg

[dugnsuz]

ps...here's a daytime pic from the 24-70mm f2.8L

Astrocat!

(his bokeh is sublime!!)

[Alchemy]

Widefields are doing a comeback, the colors are just about right I reckon, i just had a look at scotts image same framing as yours, he's got the crisper detail but you nailed the color. Now if you two guys get together and produce a composite we have a winner.

[Phil Hart]

Is that wide open at f4? Very promising if it is!

[dugnsuz]

Scott's pic is a beauty - I need a new LPS2 filter to venture into 10min sub territory though.



Yes Phil f4 - the IS version of the 70-200 f4 zooms gets reviewed very favourably re sharpness.

I hope to try the 24-70mm f2.8L soon - but that'll have to be stopped way down to tighten everything up on the stars.

Cheers
Doug

[h0ughy]

nnice results doug

[acropolite]

Nice results Doug, I have the same lens and I'm very impressed with the performance on the 5DII. I took some images at Astrofest which I'm yet to process, but at a casual glance the results are very good across the whole frame.

[dugnsuz]

Cheers Dave


Are you talking about the 24-70 or the 70-200?
I'm quite happy as to the promise of the 70-200 - seems as sharp as my (sold to houghy) f4 non-IS version and flat from edge to edge.
As stated above - love the 24-70 when the sun's up - not too sure in darkness.
Doug

[renormalised]

The owner of the cat's paw neb':):)

[dugnsuz]

The very same!;)

[TheAstroGuy]

Doug,
That is one intense stair he's got going on there, was he looking at his dinner:)

Handsome lad he is

Regards

Shane

P.S. image is great too

[acropolite]

70-200; I can't remember where I saw it but I read somewhere that Canon take extra steps in the manfuacture of the IS versions to ensure they are as sharp as the Non IS versions.

[Martin Pugh]

Very nice indeed Doug.

cheers
Martin

[leon]

Very pleasing work Doug, you will much pleasure from your new lens, well done indeed.

Leon

[midnight]

Hi Doug!

Very nice shot :thumbsup: I am only a beginner in this area and trying piggyback with my EF50mm 1.4 lense.

What stacking program did you use? I'm trying to get my head around DSS. :confuse3:

I have a EF200mm 2.8L lense but wish I could understand more about the stacking esp with different exposures as you talk about taking shorter exposures.

Really like widefield stuff.

Cheers,
Darrin...

[dugnsuz]

LOL Shane - young Ollie is the epitome of the Ginger Tom in spirit if not physique - I think the stare is more to do with me stalking him to get the shot.



The iso12233 tests at the digital picture website show the IS version to be sharper than the non-IS version on middle to edge performance across the zoom range (on a full frame DSLR at least!)...
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?FLI=0&API=0&Lens=404&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0&LensComp=104&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&Camera=453
Not much in it though!




Thanks Martin - hopefully better stuff to come.


I have taken your "good glass" mantra to heart leon.



Hi Darrin - I use Images Plus to stack my images, not quite as 'free' as DSS but it seems to work for me.
Get that 200mm f2.8L on your camera asap if you're doing astro work. That lens is an award winner - ask Phil Hart and Gary Hill. They have won 'best in show' David Malin awards with that lens in the widefield category 2009 and 2010...
http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/awards/2009_DMA_Awards.html

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/astrofest/awards/

That's a very nice lens you have there - the 50 f1.4's no slouch either, but you'll have to stop it down for astro work I would think.

Cheers all
Doug:thumbsup:

[danielsun]

Very nice widefield Doug.;)

Cheers Daniel.

[dugnsuz]

Thanks Dan - gave it another blast last night with my Ha filter, 80mins
Doug

Core burnout again - just a test!;)

[bojan]

Doug,
Could you post something like this as a test pic? (combination from crops at frame corners and centre, 100% size... full aperture.).
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=81883&d=1284252468
It would be much more useful for lens quality assessment..

[dugnsuz]

No worries bojan - looks like that would be useful for others to assess the performance of the lens. I'll have a play around with the images tonight
:thumbsup:

[dugnsuz]

As promised...
Single sub, 5mins exposure, iso1600, 200mm @ f4.
100% crop of edges and centre performance.
Cheers
Doug

[bojan]

Doug,
Thanks.. this looks pretty good. Apart from only slightly emphasised coma and lateral CA at upper-right corner (could be cropped out, or corrected with software - PtLens or DPP would do it nicely- and they might disappear with another 1/2 stop down), the lens performs very good.
This behaviour in UR corner (coma? ) could also be due to a camera (or lens) flange, not being strictly parallel to a sensor plane... or is it the artefact of IS? This could be determined by playing with a focus a bit.
But, all in all, a great lens for astro photography..

Now I remember we had a similar discussion on one of the Canon zoom lenses here on forum earlier, couple of years ago.. The interesting thing was it outperformed its prime counterpart, which was a total surprise.
I wonder if it was about this one :shrug:.

[dugnsuz]

It may have been regarding the non-IS version which I owned at that time.
The MTF graphs of the 70-200 f4L IS has it very much in prime territory at 135mm and above.
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/196-canon-ef-70-200mm-f4-usm-l-is-test-report--review?start=1
Only let down by a slight increase in CA compared to prime equivalent FLs as shown on the above test image.
Doug:thumbsup: