Reviewing the Canon RF 600 mm F11 IS STM lens used on a Canon R7 Body

I have been photographing wildlife with the Canon F-11-600 mm prime lens and have had to face a few challenges, like the narrow field of view and, well, of course, a fixed aperture, but then, with practice, this lens turned out to be quite good, too, when used with a Canon R-7 mirrorless body. I used focus tracking on the camera, selected animals and eye detection, and for metering went for evaluative metering. For the shutter speed, I switched from 800/Sec all the way to 1200 and beyond. And, yes, I selected the large area focus region for the lens. I wouldn't, however, claim that you would be able to look into the eyes of birds flying in the distance, but then not all photographs have to be that clear? Well, that depends...

I have written quite a few reviews about this lens, and what I have observed throughout is its compact form factor, ease of use, and decent quality of photographs. While some of the other Canon Lenses cost more than a few Lakhs of Rupees, this one will set you back by about Rs. 72000/-! Obviously, the trade-off lies in the fact that this lens needs a lot of light, and you need to have a good amount of gap between the object and the background to get bokeh and the required depth of field! And, yes, it can be done! I am sharing below a few photographs of a Pied Kingfisher that I photographed recently.

As for background blur, this lens works really well. I put the lens through its paces, and these are a few examples of what it can do!

I loved the sparkle of the sun in the Pied Kingfisher's eyes! It was one thing that drew me to this particular photograph, apart from others! This lens is also pretty good at freezing action! I am sharing a photograph of the very same Pied Kingfisher.

Tricky lighting conditions are handled fairly well by the lens and the camera. I was able to photograph a few juvenile Flamingo birds in spite of the fact that the water was throwing back light, thus overwhelming the actual image. Call it backlighting?? Well, these are a few photographs that I have pasted below.

  

I like the above photograph. It shows two juvenile Flamingos close to each other, probably sharing an assurance of support. I am sharing a few more photographs of the adult Flamingos that were on the other side, away from the juveniles. I guess juveniles need to be weaned away and learn to fend for themselves before joining the adults!

But then, I would like to reiterate my statement that the Canon 600 mm prime lens is a fine lens to work with.

I am sharing below the equipment I used by me to photograph the above birds. You might like to try the combo. For any queries, drop in a comment in the comment section of the blog post.