Pelican and Snow

Posted on by

IMG_0937Canon EOS 6D (245mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO400)

Yes this is still a blog dedicated to little cameras with big sensors => littlebigtravelingcameras. And the Canon 6D is one. It’s not exactly little but little by full frame standards. And it features GPS. Finally one of my cameras is capable to record where I took the image. Great. Just like my iPhone. 😉

It’s a modern DSLR and shooting it just feels good. I need to use it a little bit more before I will put down my final thoughts but I like it so far. I also changed my lenses. I traded in my Canon 5D, 17-40L, 4/24-105L, 4/70-200 IS L, 135L and TC 1.4 mkII  to get the Canon 6D, 4/24-70 IS L, 2.8/70-200 IS L mkII and the TC 1.4 mkIII.

This was my first outing with the 2.8/70-200 IS L mkII. There was heavy snowfall the night before so I went to the Zoo in Vienna to test it. It’s good to have a fast lens again. Don’t get me wrong: I love to travel light and the f4 version is half the weight and bulk but the f2.8 can do things that the f4 can’t. There is a much better subject to background separation and combined with a 1.4 teleconverter you end up with a still fast 4/280 lens. And that means traveling light because you have a portrait lens that also works as a tele lens if you need it.

This year I will travel to the USA and I plan to bring only these two zoom lenses and the converter. I know it is not a super light combo especially compared to a M43 kit but you can’t really compare them. This combo will give absolute professional results without compromise. And the 6D with the 24-70 IS is not heavier than an APS-C DSLR plus a 18-200 lens. It is not as versatile but there is more wide angle and image quality is in a different league. It is traveling light – kind of.

When I shot with tele lenses and if there is snow I prefer to change to manual. I set ISO to 400 to allow a motion stopping shutter speed of 1/1000s. I shot wide open to 1. test the performance of the lens. 2. to separate the background.

IMG_0943Canon EOS 6D (255mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO400)
   IMG_0944Canon EOS 6D (255mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO400)