this time i have been to the zoo alone, and - happily - there were not many people, as it was thursday afternoon. while the main reason for going to the zoo was to test my new canon lens, the other main reason of course was - you might have guessed it - the cheetah cubs[01-33]. they are still so very fluffy, still so super cute, but already a little bigger this time, yet, as ever, still so adorable! then i moved on and paid the koalas[34-35] a visit. but there was only one left, as the other one had died recently. a notice said the koala died because of its age, and that it had been very old for koalas, namely 16 years. but the remaining koala is already 14 years, so one wonders how long there will be a koala left at the zoo - poor koalas. passing by the flamingos[36-37], and cranes[38-40], i soon ended up at the lions[41-87]. the big kitties were rather lazy either, busy with grooming and washing. this gave me a good and nice look at their big tongues, impressive as the domestic cat's one with their barbs, but even bigger. last stops were the polar bears[88-91], whose fur was green today, because of all the algae in the ponds, and the newly opened coati[92-93] enclosure right next to it. and eventually the lynx. for the first time ever since my visits to the zoo at schoenbrunn i saw two lynxes - isn't that awesome? all this time i really doubted there's even more than one lynx at all, because i never spotted them. if i was very lucky, sometimes there was one, but even then he was always well hidden, so only the back of his ears were visible. i was really surprised and happy - yay. also i'm really happy with my new lens, and i'm still quite amazed by the image stabilizer. all pictures today were taken with it, i did not even bring my other lens with me, so i can test it thoroughly, and can get acquainted with the lens in a known environment.

ever since i bought my canon eos 5d mark II i thought about upgrading my telephoto zoom lens to something "appropriate". also with the upcoming trip to canada and the loss of the 1.6 crop factor when switching to the full frame body my old 300mm was only a 300mm lens, not the 480mm i was used to. so i searched the internet for good second hand lenses, and i found the canon L-series EF 100-400mm (f/4.5-5.6L IS USM) for a good price on a consumer-to-consumer sales services website. a thing i never had before was the "IS", the image stabilizer. i was amazed how cool this tool works and how much it can improve pictures under bad conditions - this is really awesome. also i am back to my 400mm focal length, and the maximum aperture of 4.5 to 5.6 is also quite okay. the ultrasonic motor for focusing also works like a charm. i'm super happy with lens and cannot wait to take it out for some test pictures. the only downside is the weight of 1.4 kg. this will add up to approximately 2.5 kg for my camera gear. luckily i also bought the "carry-speed prime" sling strap, so that the weight will be on my shoulder, not on my neck. having all the stuff on my shoulder feels way better than before with the old sling that came with the camera. another wonderful tool i can totally recommend for people with heavy camera gear.