January 9, 2011
Day at the Rio Grande Zoo and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

In early January, we went to the Rio Grande Zoo which is part of the Albuquerque Biological Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The zoo is one of our favorites, especially for gorilla and orangutan photography. It was rather cold when we arrived in the morning, about 35°F (1.5°C), and most of the animals weren't out yet. The first animal that was photographically interesting was a peacock perched on the top rail of a split-rail fence. It was easy to get on his eye level and he was quite cooperative as I moved in. I had to move in closer than usual because I was using my new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. I haven't owned a lens like that since my Minolta MD 70-210, and I think I'm going to really like it.

The 70-200 2.8 IS II is replacing my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM and Sigma AF 120-300mm f2.8 APO EX IF USM lenses. I've been dissatisfied with the 100-400 for years, and didn't use the Sigma 120-300 much. The Sigma 120-300 was perfect for mountain gorilla photography with a full-frame camera, but on my upcoming trip to photograph mountain gorillas, I've decided to use my Canon EOS 1D Mk IV with a 1.3 magnification factor, mainly because it has better high-ISO performance than my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III and it has a faster frame rate and a larger buffer. The 70-200 with the 1.3 magnification will be like a 91-260, almost as long as the 120-300, but it will be sharper and will have IS to boot.

I've also purchased the new series III extenders, the Extender EF 1.4x III and Extender EF 2x III. Based on preliminary reviews, the new series III extenders a sharper than the older series II extenders, and the 2x III is significantly sharper. I was hoping that the extremely sharp 70-200mm 2.8 IS II would work well with the 2x III to give me an effective 140-400 f5.6 lens that was sharper than the 100-400, but preliminary results have been disappointing. I'll have to run some more tests before I'm comfortable using that combination.