Renting a 500 f/4

[jerslice]

I've wanted to pick up the Canon 500 f/4 for awhile and give it a run at the zoo I frequent. Finally I just went and did it today. First, and perhaps pretty obviously, the thing is a beast. It's very hard to handhold and keep anything close to stable. I find myself using high ISO to combat my wimpy arm strength :-)

From today:

[tlabranche]

Great shots! And nice use of the word wimpy!

[jerslice]

Thanks Tim!

Here's the set from today's outing. My poor arm can't take much more, thank god I have to turn it on Monday morning. That being said, this lens is awesome but unforgiving:

[Zee71]

Jeremy ..... Fantastic images. I can speak first hand on the Nikon 500mm f/4, it's a monster of a lens! Not something to walk around with all day. I use mine for some backyard spotting and have used from HoBe and a other locations. The imagers on your 500mm are sweet to say the least.

[megatop412]

Wow, those shots are really nice! Renting sure is the way to go with this monster though

[Joe]

Nice images Jeremy. That is some lens. Did you rent the new or the old version? The new version is supposed to be about a pound and a half lighter, which would make a big difference if you were hand holding the lens all day. Either version is a steep rental from lensrentals, but not as steep as $10k + to purchase. Hope that you enjoyed it.

[jerslice]

Thanks everyone!

@Joe: I am pretty positive it is the older version...it weighed about 8lbs. I rent it from a local place in Seattle - Glazers - for $80 ($87 w/ tax) which counted the weekend as Friday after 3pm through Monday at 10am: it's a steal of a deal.

[Joe]

Wow, what a great deal, the 600 is the same price and the 800 only $20.00 more. For that price, you can't go wrong. Lensrentals was something like $275.00 for 4 days plus $50.00 shipping. Local stores that rent here are a fortune. Oh well, what can you do? Glad that you had fun.