![\"500](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/500-mm-lens-2132-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the past I’ve been lucky to avoid faulty or defective camera gear but now it’s my turn to pay the piper.<\/p>\n
For several months now I’ve been having an issue with soft shots (focusing). I thought it was a problem with my relatively new Canon 7D Mark II camera but because the issue has been intermittent and variable it’s been extremely difficult to track down. But after weeks of scrutiny and many thousands of test shots with three different cameras and two different lenses I’ve concluded that it’s a problem with my 500 mm lens rather than the Mark II.<\/p>\n
So the lens will be shipped off to Canon for repair\u00a0today.<\/p>\n
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This will be the first time I’ve been without a 500 mm lens for about 8 years and I already feel naked without it. It usually rides shotgun in my lens caddy\u00a0right next to me in my pickup so it will seem strange, even bizarre, for it not to be there.\u00a0I might even see what my pickup interior\u00a0looks like with the center\u00a0console in the “up” position but I’m not looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
At this point I don’t know how long it will be before I get the lens back but a minimum of 10 days seems likely.<\/p>\n
I’m announcing this here because the situation is likely to have an effect on my Feathered Photography posts. Until I get the lens back my only other telephoto lens option is my 100-400 mm but using that lens will be like going from a\u00a0cannon to a pea-shooter in comparison – it reduces my effective focal length from 1120 mm to 640 mm. That’s generally just\u00a0not enough reach for birds.<\/p>\n
So there may be\u00a0days when I don’t publish blog posts. And when I do I’ll have to rely more heavily on older images (as I’ve already been doing for some time now). Regular readers will likely notice the change and I figured you deserved to know the reason\u00a0for it.<\/p>\n
Hopefully it won’t last long.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
PS – What’s the “good news” I refer to in my title? It’s the fact that my new Mark II apparently isn’t defective.\u00a0 But I wish it had been, instead of the lens.<\/em><\/p>\n A Late Addendum:\u00a0 Some have noticed and commented on the patch of carpet (“tear strip”) where I rest my elbow on the door. Sharp eyes might also notice the piece of duct tape covering the buttons controlling the back windows.\u00a0Mia shoots the same birds as I do from the back seat and I have to adjust my window to the best level to rest my lens on when we’re on a bird.\u00a0You ought to hear (maybe not?) her reaction when in the excitement of the moment I blindly hit her button instead of mine and her window moves and tosses her lens around.\u00a0 Thus the tape…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past I’ve been lucky to avoid faulty or defective camera gear but now it’s my turn to pay the piper.<\/p>\n