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Holy Hiatus! I can’t believe it’s been two months since my last episode, but then, with everything that I’ve been up to, it’s hardly surprising. I’m back, and I intend to push out several episodes to cover my new studio, finish my Japan Winter Tour episodes, and then talk about my Namibia tour in May to get us started again. Our move from Tokyo to the Gunma Prefecture at the end of April went well, but it was a hellish experience to move after being in our old apartment for 14 years. I am so happy that we bought our new house, as I don’t think I could have handled a stepping stone move into another rented place, as we looked for a new home.
I had ten days in our new place before leaving for Namibia, and I worked hard with my wife to get as many boxes opened and things put away as possible before I left so that my wife didn’t feel any pressure to complete the task while I was traveling. There were still many tasks left to do when I got back from Namibia, and we are just finalizing the accounts for the 14th fiscal year of Martin Bailey Photography K.K. to submit to the tax office this Thursday. I have completed most of the work I wanted to do in my studio, and I am now working mostly from a new wide music workstation-style desk, with an 88-key MIDI keyboard tucked away under the main desk surface for when I need it. My adjustable height desk is right behind me, so I can turn around and use that as well whenever I want.
Here is a photo of the setup. As you can see, I have put my iMac Pro on the edge of the desk, and I am using a 4K projector to give me an 80-inch screen as my second display. I was using my MacBook Pro instead of the iMac for a while, but it developed a problem and had to be sent back to Apple for repairs, so I moved the iMac Pro over, and kind of like having the larger screen here so I am leaving it this way for now. I’ll talk more about this in a future episode, but I have also set up several video cameras, two of which I can control remotely, and I’m looking forward to providing some interactive discussions soon using this new system.
I have set up a second room downstairs with my background pully system, my 3D printer, etc. I used the background for the first time in our new house this morning to photograph the gear that is the main topic for today’s episode. A few months ago, I took possession of the new RF200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM lens from Canon and put it through its paces for three weeks in Namibia. I’ve been looking forward to sharing my feedback, so here goes.
The first thing you’ll notice about the 200-800mm lens is that it’s a little longer than the 100-500, which was my lens of choice until now. I haven’t sold the 100-500mm lens, and I’m glad I haven’t, as I’ll explain shortly, but I did not take it on my Namibia trip, and that did not pose any major problems. The only time I missed my 100-500mm lens was when we were shooting the dunes in the Naukluft Nation Park, and I had to stitch a few images shot at 200mm because it wasn’t quite wide enough to frame the dunes as I liked. Conversely, even in the dunes, there were times when I zoomed in past 500mm, which made up for the inconvenience of stitching a few images.
Spec-wise, the 200-800 mm lens is 314mm long, compared to 207.6mm for the 100-500 mm lens. The 100-500 mm lens weighs 1,365 grams, compared to 2,050 grams for the 200-800 mm lens. If you hold the 200-800 mm lens hand-held for a while, you certainly start to feel the difference and look for places to rest the lens much earlier than when using the 100-500 mm. Of course, this depends on your own physical strength, so some people will find it easier to hand-hold than others. I found it relatively easy but more taxing than the 100-500 mm.
Here is a second shot of the lens fully extended to 800 mm, and you’ll see that it’s a good length at its full extent. You’ll notice that a large area of the lens is drawn back into the barrel when you retract it. If you know Namibia, you’ll know that we generally work in dusty conditions, but I didn’t have any issues with excessive dust gathering inside the lens. It looks as clean after my Namibia trip as before I started. Having said that, it’s worth noting that this is not an L lens, although Canon does state that it has a high level of weatherproofing. I don’t trust that statement as much as I would if there was a red ring around the filter end of the lens barrel, but time will tell.
Tack-Sharp!
I was happy to see that the image quality is off the charts despite this not being an L lens. Everything I shot with this lens was tack-sharp at all focal lengths. Here is a cropped image of a Lilac Breasted Roller as it launched from a branch and flew towards us. You’ll hopefully be able to appreciate the sharpness of this web-sized image, but this is also a testament to the autofocus capabilities of both the RF200-800mm lens and the EOS R5, which I used throughout the tour.
Works Unhindered with Extenders!
The other thing that was a big seller for me with this lens is that you can use the 1.4X and 2.0X RF Extenders from Canon on this lens without restricting the focal length range, as you do with the 100-500mm. This was the only thing I didn’t like about the 100-500m lens, so it was great to be free to use the 200-800mm lens as we always have when extenders are fitted and simply be able to zoom through the entire focal length range.
One of my guests mentioned that she’d read somewhere that the 200-800mm lens doesn’t work well with Extenders, which saddened me immensely. I don’t know who is publishing that kind was nonsense, but if there was anything wrong with the images, they either had a crappy version of some of their gear, or they simply don’t know how to shoot when an extender is fitted. In general, you want to increase your shutter speed to counter the narrower angle of view, amplifying any camera shake.
I’m not going to beat about the bush with examples here. Look at this shot of a cheetah made with the 200-800mm lens at full extent with the 2.0X extender fitted, giving me a focal length of 1,600 mm. And that’s at 5000 ISO, but I’m sure you’ll agree that if we can make images this sharp with the 2.0X Extender at the longest focal length, there isn’t any reason not to use an Extender when you need extra reach.
ƒ/9 Is Not an Issue
This is also related to another issue that will make some people hesitant to invest in this lens: the aperture at the full extent of the focal length range drops to just ƒ/9. Yes, that is pretty low, but I, for one, rarely shoot wildlife at wide-open apertures, especially with long focal lengths, as the depth of field is very shallow, more so, of course, when your subject is close by, like this cheetah. I was forced to ƒ/18 by the focal length and the extender, but you should be able to see that the depth of field, or the bokeh that it produces, is still very pleasing to the eye.
Of course, there may be times when ƒ/9 doesn’t work for some people, but for me, with the ISO performance that we have now, especially if, like me, you expose to right, then you don’t have anything to worry about.
Two Points of Caution
There are two things, though, that I feel I should point out. One of which I learned from one of my guests on my Japan Winter Wildlife tours after I’d ordered the lens, and it had me worried to a degree, but it turns out Canon had us covered. The 200-800mm lens doesn’t have a traditional focus ring that you can turn to focus manually or fine-tune the autofocus. I say ‘traditional’ focus ring because Canon didn’t omit this ring completely. If you look closely at the focus mode switch, you’ll see a CONTROL mode in addition to AF and MF for Autofocus and Manual focus.
If you select the CONTROL mode, the Control Ring on the lens, which is the knurled dial to the right of the switches in this photograph, the Control Ring becomes the focus ring, allowing you to focus the lens manually when necessary. I needed to do this so seldom that I left the lens in AF mode most of the time, as I like to use the control ring to adjust the ISO.
The other point of caution I wanted to raise is that I generally found it more difficult to obtain initial focus with this lens than with any other long lens I’ve used. Compared to the 100-500, for example, I struggled to get initial focus much more frequently. This could be caused by the build, as the lens is not designated as an L lens, and we can’t ignore the fact that we are trying to gain initial focus with a much narrower angle of view.
When you raise the 100-500 mm lens to your eye at 500mm, you are trying to find your subject in a 4° slice of the world if you have the camera in landscape orientation. At 800 mm, you are trying to find your subject at just a 2° 35′ angle of view, making finding your subject more difficult. Having said that, I know that I had my subject framed, and the combination of lens and camera would not snap into focus on the subject as often as when using the 100-500mm lens. This may get easier or better over time, maybe even after a firmware update, and there were still plenty of times when it worked fine, so I’m not overly concerned about this, but depending on your own ability, you may find yourself frustrated with the focusing capabilities of this longer lens from Canon.
If I figure out any more about focusing or find any other issues as I use this lens more, I’ll do a follow-up post. Despite these points of caution, I’m very happy with this lens and pleased to have bought it. As always, I bought this lens with my own money and have received no compensation from any third party as an incentive to do this review. If you decide to pick up your own Canon RF 200-800mm lens, you can help support this blog and podcast by buying with our B&H affiliate link (https://mbp.ac/RF200-800). If you use this link we receive a small payment from B&H with no change in the cost to you.
I’ll be back again next week with another episode and will continue regularly for the foreseeable future, so I hope you continue to tune in. If you aren’t already subscribed, please check out our subscription options page or search for the Martin Bailey Photography Podcast in your favorite Podcast software. Also, although I’ve been absent as I rearranged my life, I am still running my Japan Winter Tours next year. We have some spaces open on the Landscape Tour and just had a cancellation for the Winter Wildlife tour, so please check out our tours page (https://mbp.ac/tours) if you are interested in joining me for the best winter photography Japan has to offer.
Show Notes
B&H Affiliate Link: https://mbp.ac/RF200-800
MBP Tours Page: https://mbp.ac/tours
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