Ah, such a compliment! I hope to do as well as him in time.
These last shots I just posted may include some triggering A380 angles - viewer discretion is advised. 
NOICE! And the side-on aspect changes the effect of shutter speed as well. Another thing to remember.
My friend, that is such a good suggestion that you have stumbled upon a story of another EF lens. Allow me to make a long post once and brace for…
The SAGA of the lens!
Primer
Our story begins with my decision to purchase the RF100-400mm lens, seeing as how the last photos I shot as the Quinte International Airshow in with my Dad’s Nikon D3000 left me wanting more and something different. The D3000 is only 10MP, surpassed by my iPhone these days so I wanted something with more pixels. His lenses are the kit 18-55 and a 55-200mm (Nikon’s crop factor is 1.5x so multiply by that for full-frame equivalent requirement to match) - and I found myself bridging the “55mm gap” as I called it often, which was one problem - but the other issue was that once airborne, and even at the full 200mm (300mm on full frame) the aircraft were still very small in frame. I wanted more reach. The 100-400mm gives me not only double by the max focal length, but once you add Canon’s 1.6x crop factor - you’d need a 640mm lens on full-frame to match.
The 100-400mm lens is much cheaper than longer length telephoto, which are also mostly primes. The lens was $880CAD at Henry’s - our local Camera gear chain, which also is basically a monopoly…
So I ordered it:
Ordering online these days is usually straight forward and I haven’t had an issue buying online since trying to get my TM WH in 2013. As a national brand, I thought this would go well with Henry’s and wasn’t too worried about the cost for an online order. Henry’s showed In-Stock, which is supposed to mean it is available at the Vaughan warehouse, which is a town over from me and should arrive quickly.
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Thursday, Sept.29: Lens Ordered
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Monday, Oct.03: “Shipping Soon” notification - “order is packed and ready to ship”
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Wednesday, Oct.05: No updates. Contacted support live chat. They investigate. Turns out order is coming from the Vancouver, BC store… they seems to have packed and forgot to get it to Canada Post for delivery. I am told they will get it out and me the tracking number that evening, which they do.
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Thursday, Oct.06: Order gets moving and reaches the Richmond, BC airport Friday. Over the weekend, which was a holiday weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving on the Monday) the post office air-mailed it over to Toronto. It was ready to get on to local delivery Tuesday at 4:00 AM - so far, awesome!
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Tuesday, Oct.11: I excitedly grab the box from my mailbox when I get home from work, open it and then…
We got the wrong item!
I saw 24-70mm f/2.8L and thought - MY GOD, this is amazing a $3000CAD lens!
But no, that is EF not RF so now I cannot use it, without said adapter, and it is only retail for $2500. They also sent the wrong lens protector - right brand, wrong model - which was sized for the 100-400.
I thought about just keeping it as I am basically $1620 ahead at that moment but:
- I’d have to buy the EF-RF adapter, $130 for the basic one OR $260 for the control-ring version.
- I’d have to get a lens protector to fit this lens, about $70-80
- I’d have to rebuy the 100-400mm lens for $880
- I’d have to buy the lens protector I actually wanted for the 100-400, another $60
Sell the EF? - No, while retail is $2500 the used market they go for $800 or so, in “like new” condition - wouldn’t cover buying the lens I actually paid for.
Then there is the fact that it just isn’t what I ordered and somebody at Henry’s was going to get in major crap for this mix up. So back to the live chat I go, and to get their attention that the order was wrong, I said “you accidently sent me a lens worth 3x what I paid for” and sent them a photo.
Correction time
Luckily, chat was still open as it was 7PM my time, but 4PM in Vancouver. The chat agent got the Vancouver store on the line, verified my order was still on the shelf there - and sent me a return shipping label. My post office closed at 9PM, so I re-packed the stuff and dropped it off that night.
For the troubles of them forgetting and the mis-shipping my order, the CS guy sent me a $100 gift card. The chat was all level-headed, I was livid (internally), but the CS reps have been excellent so no need to ruin their days and raise my blood pressure!
Being a short week, I was worried I wouldn’t get the lens for the weekend - I wanted to be going to the airport having already missed a weekend from them forgetting to ship it initially, even if it had been right. Canada Post pulled it off, and I had it on Friday the 14th - and it brought the shots at the start of this thread two days later.
Next Up...
Well that is my story for the day! I do have other lenses on my wish-list, but they will have to wait for the hobby budget to be refilled sometime later. I still need to catch the A380 coming in to land - those flights are daily, but I can only really go out on the weekend - and it arrives around 8:30AM.
