The new (and last, for a while) lens arrived today. I wasn’t going to play with it — I have too much work to do — but a transformer blew on our street, and we were without electricity most of the day. So, what the hell…

This is my new Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS. To translate for the non lens-obsessed, that means it’s a zoom lens with a range between 100-400mm (for comparison, the popular Canon PowerShot SD800 IS is equivalent to 28-105mm), shooting at a maximum aperture of 4.5-5.6, depending on zoom amount (essentially a measurement of how “fast” the lens is), it’s part of the Canon “L” series (that’s the line of white lenses you see at sporting events), and it has in-lens image stabilization.

It’s enormous. I put a Japanese sucker next to it for reference.

Here’s another angle.

It uses a “push/pull” type of zoom. I can adjust whether I want the push/pull to be “smooth” or “tight.”
I’d comment further, but a mixed-age audience reads this blog.

I messed up the exposure on this one, and it turned out pretty sweet.

Here it is between two of my other lenses. Somehow, this shot feels kind of dirty.

Here’s a picture of a flower taken with the 100-400 lens. I took this picture from the deck — across the street from the flower. I was probably 75 feet away. This image wasn’t cropped.

Here’s Loki, from about 10 feet away. The focus isn’t right, but the color is nice.

And here’s Loki from about 10 feet away, but at only 180mm. When I went to 400mm, I only got (most of) his head.

I’ll take it for a walk sometime this week and get more shots in a more practical (and less cat-heavy) setting. I’m very excited to take it to the zoo.

This weekend, AEJ and I are driving up to Napa to hear the University of Texas Wind Ensemble perform “Circus Maximus” at Festival del Sole. Corigliano will be there, and I’m sure it’ll be a great weekend. I think I’ll have to bring the camera.