Regular readers of Born Again Bird Watcher who may have read some of the initial posts on my recent trip to Panama likely discovered in them much whinging by yours truly about the fact that I did not take a sufficiently long lens with me to obtain respectable photos of the birds I saw there. I did not take this lens as at the time I did not own one.
Thus, upon my return home I made good on what I had said many times to my traveling companions throughout our journeys, both high and low, all across Panama: “So help me Ansel Adams I’m going to get a long lens suitable for bird photography as soon as I get back to the states!” Thus it is with pleasure that I can now say a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens has been added to the Born Again Bird Watcher photographic toolbox.
Does this new lens meet the requirements for bird photography? Let’s look at some of the first results from my recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley:
Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula
Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos
Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo solitarius
While there are admittedly some problems with each of these images, the source of each of their respective deficiencies can be much more readily attributed to the nut behind the viewfinder than any mechanical component of the lens itself.
Peace and good bird watching.
