70-200L lense use confusion

[gtirman]

I was overseas recently and the days were bright and sunny, i had my 70-200L 2.8 attached to my 50D and thought i would take a few landscape shots with using f11 or f16 to get maximum DOF.
The camera told me i was underexposing and to shift F stops.......so i went to f9...then to 5.6 [still no good ]....then eventually i ended up at 2.8 where it was happiest.


Is this lense supposed to stay at f2.8 at all times if possible? I know its a gem in poor light at 2.8 but thought it could use other f stops as well....it seems not IMHO.

I am off to a very photogeneric lanscape country soon and wanted to get some tips on using this lense correctly.....any tips?

Cheers John

[AndrewKulin]

Was your shutter speed set and locked too fast? Had you accidentally set the exposure compensation to underexpose?

Whatever the case it sounds to me as if you had your camera inadvertently set up to lead to what you described rather than it being the fault of the lens. I have a 40D and I sometimes get similar odd behaviour and need to look around until I find the "oops" setting I had set the camera to.

The lens is not locked at f/2.8 at all times, that is simply as wide open as it can get (it also uses f/2.8 to assist in auto-focus, but will fire at f/11 or whatever you had it set at for proper exposure)

[GeoffWessex]

Maybe you were using 'Manual' exposure, maybe 'Auto'. But clearly the important thing - what you want to give priority to - is the aperture. Therefore use.... Aperture Priority!
Set the aperture to your f/11, see what shutter speed you get.... if it's too slow to hand hold, up your ISO (but best not to go above ISO400 on a 50d) or use a tripod.

[OldBoy]

Never had a problem using my Nikon 70-200mm VR for landscapes including sunsets, but then it's mostly in program mode and shutter speed set to 1/500s.

[gtirman]

Andrew: Was your shutter speed set and locked too fast?
No, i always ensure it is just over the focal length...e.g. at 200 it would be around 300 to 400 shutter speed.

Geoff: This was in broad daylight....surely i shouldnt have to up my ISO !! And i shouldnt have to use a tripod either. :]

[dan123]

never had a problem witl my 70-200l, i set my camera to manual and it works a treat altohugh apperature prioity is easier to shoot in, i can shoot at f11 with a reasonably quick speed, not sure whats going on there, the higher your f stop goes your shutter speed needs to slow,

dan,

[ianpinion]

Do you have any of the shots you took available to post up on here for us to look at? Only from what you describe, I wonder whether this problem you've encountered is down to how the camera's metering system was set?

Looking at the shots you captured, to you does the sky look to be exposed correctly? Are there any blown highlights? If not, then I think your camera has metered off the sky, which was probably 2 - 3 stops brighter than the land in your scene, so the land is underexposed. If so, in these situations you're best putting the camera on a tripod, switching off the IS and taking two shots, one metering off the sky and the other off the land and blending them together like an HDR shot. If you're using full manual mode, leave the aperture set at somewhere between f/11 and f/16 and adjust your shutterspeed for the two shots. Alternatively, invest in some ND soft grad filters to help you balance the exposure values in camera.

[Cathus]

It sounds like you were on shutter priority & had the shutter speed too high.

Personally speaking, I stick to aperture priority in most situations as the depth of field is generally more important to the production & composition of an image than the shutter speed. In good light you should have no problem getting a range of hand holdable shutter speeds with that lens (I have one).

Also to note that your exposure meter can affect the reading & therefore shutter speed/aperture of your shot, you may find that evaluative gives a completely different reading to spot metering, would this have affected your readings

[GeoffWessex]

Originally Posted by gtirman

Geoff: This was in broad daylight....surely i shouldnt have to up my ISO !! And i shouldnt have to use a tripod either. :]

Personally I always use a tripod for landscapes..... particularly if using small apertures, like the f/11 or f/16. (I also use a remote release and the short - 3 seconds - self-timer to reduce even the vibration of the mirror going up).

I was just pointing out the options of either raising ISO or using a tripod. The raising of ISO is always a bad idea (unless it's really getting dark) - and perhaps I wasn't making it clear that using the tripod is a far better alternative to raising ISO.

[gtirman]

Ian,
I think you have hit the nail on the head with your description.
I use full manual and the evalu setup for what it is worth.
Unfortunately when travelling around a country in a short time one cant just simply get out the tripod for every landscape....my travelling buddies would really like that LOL

i'll do some more testing with the lense...more than likely it is operator error ! :{