Feedback on rented L Lens

I had my hands on a rented 70-200 mm f/4 IS L today and I'm wondering how I did with it for a first outing. I was shooting at a crowded Halloweed carnival which made it rather difficult to take advantage of. I plan to take it to our off-leash dog park tomorrow for some real fun!

The last time I went to a "Halloweed carnival" was in college...and there certainly were no small children there. (Although there may, indeed, have been a guy dressed as a bunny...I'm not sure.)

These are clearly family memento snaps, regardless of the size and ownership of the lens used. I would have to have been partaking in a Halloweed party of my own to make any comments on them. What the heck could anyone say, anyway? They're mementos.

Those are lovely family snapshots and I'm not sure anything can improve a memento.

Images that are shot for "art," journalism, or other reasons are critique-able. Family memories? Nope, those are precious, personal, and wonderful.

Shifting from the personal towards something representing more?

Sydney,

The 70-200 lens, whether by Canon, Nikon or any other modern lens MFR serves to reach out at a good distance and flatten the subject, rendering backgrounds less important and bringing attention to what one chooses. This particular lens is at the second rung of brilliant 35 MM Eos lens but gives no barrier to producing stellar images. It's lightweight and can fit in a purse or ample pocket, a perfect traveling lens. The x1.4 convertor extends the range by 40% and that extra reach is often all one needs together with a 35 mm or 50 mm lens to shoot almost anything from sports, to scenics or models and portraits.

With this lens, as long as you point it at your subject in reasonable light, your picture will be perfectly in focus and well exposed, so the lens, as usual did well. So I'd invest in the 70-200 f4 IS. I actually own the f 4.0 L, non-IS version, and it works as well as my more expensive 70-200 2.8L IS. Used, non-IS, versions of the lens are really worth hunting down as they are excellent performers and less expensive.

Asher

Sydney,

Ken has rightly pointed out that your own thread should be here for comment and different opinions. So here we discuss just your efforts with this lens, right now and in the future.

As far as the "snapshot v. photograph question, you might not, as yet, be at the stage of carrying your ideas further than you have shown. I don't know how your own mind works with these pictures and what you might imagine and how you compose. Still, you have a shown a lot of examples of your work, all images of the people and animals you find so precious. The 70-200 f 4.0L lens will be a great tool for your work. This opens up the possibility of sampling the world around you less invasively. You can observe and shoot without always getting so close as to disturb what you see.

Asher

I've repurposed a copy of this series of your pictures, here. This parallel thread looks at the barriers or tools to moving from the snapshot to something beyond that; something our culture might find to have more extended value to you and others.

The 70-200 had a great output, I would probably try for that lens anytime soon, but the capture moments in that photo is priceless.