STEP BY STEP HOW TO USE CANON’S MEGA TELEPHOTO ZOOM
01 MIGHTY TELEPHOTO ZOOM
Canon’s RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM comes in the white L-series colour, but it’s not an L-series lens, so it doesn’t have full weather sealing. However, Canon says it’s “dust and moisture resistant”, so should withstand light rain and dusty conditions.
02 SMALL & LIGHT FOR HANDHELD
The lens felt light and easy to shoot with handheld, with no arm ache while we shot for an hour. Camera shake is more noticeable with very long lenses; IS oers 5.5 stops, or 7.5 stops with cameras with IBIS. This helps avoid shake at 800mm.
03 USE WITH NEWER EOS CAMERAS
We recommend you use one of the latest Canon EOS R mirrorless cameras with the RF 200-800mm lens, such as the fullframe R5 or R6 Mk II, as you will want the autofocus AI tech with Eye Detection for Animals for sharp shots of distant subjects.
04 WHEN APERTURE DECREASES
Aperture decreases as you zoom in, so it’s f/6.3 at 200mm, but even at just 300mm, it drops to f/7.1, then drops again to f/8 at 500mm, and you’re stuck with f/9 at anything over 600mm, up to 800mm, when the narrowest aperture is f/51!
05 SHUTTER SPEED TOO SLOW
Narrow apertures = slower shutter speeds, so be prepared to push your ISO for faster shutter speeds with the RF 200-800mm. We shot at 1/500 sec, f/9, ISO1600 here, but this wasn’t fast enough to freeze this kestrel’s apping wings as it hovered.
06 EXPOSURES FOR WILDLIFE
Even in daylight on an overcast day, we had to resort to shooting at ISO3200 at f/9 to get a high shutter speed of 1/1000 sec for the birds. The tawny owl was sitting fairly still, but the fast shutter speed was needed to freeze the feathers in the wind.