The rumor mills have been churning for years now on a replacement for the Canon EF 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L IS USM which was initially released over 10 years ago. Finally Canon have come through with an update to this lens.
The lens comes very well packaged from Canon with foam protecting just about everything, including the lens hood. In the box you will find the lens, tripod mount, front and back covers, a new ET-83D lens hood with a sliding door (about an inch square) that is very useful for circular polarising filters and a very nice carrying case which is very similar to the case the 70-200L f2.8 comes with.
On the lens you will find switches for auto-focus/manual focus, full focus range or 3M to infinity (the lens will ignore near objects and only try to focus on objects further than 3 meters (about 10 ft) out or beyond), Image stabilization on/off and three different modes of image stabilization.
The lens comes in Canons famous white L metal finish and is fully weather sealed (you do not need a filter to complete the weather sealing like you do on some other L lenses that I have). The build quality of this lens is excellent as you would expect from any of Canons L series lenses.
Rather than the old, dated push/pull mechanism of the previous lens, this lens uses the normal rotational zoom with the barrel extending out from the main body. Canon has used an internal floating focusing mechanism which results in non-rotation of the front element (something you want if you are using graduated filters for example). The zoom ring is strangely at the front of the lens whilst the rear ring is focusing (this is essentially a reversal of what you normally find). Both the zoom and the focusing rings have a smooth motion to them giving you excellent control over both with a friction ring directly behind the zoom ring allowing you control and locking of the zoom.
Canon have updated their Image Stabilization to the latest and greatest which according to the specs allows you an equivalent 4 stop gain. The IS really is very good however in the few tests that I have managed to complete, this is more of a 3 stop gain, not 4. You now get 3 flavors of image stabilization as well as tripod detection so the IS doesn't have conniptions by the lack of movement anymore (a great feature if, like me, you sometimes forget to turn IS off when you mount the lens on a tripod). The front element has a new ASC (Air Sphere Coating) which is supposed to reduce backlit flaring and ghosting whilst the fluorine coatings on both the front element rear lens surfaces is meant to help reduce smears and fingerprints.
The lens also features an upgraded USM ring-type drive which results in extremely fast and virtually silent auto focus operations. You can manually focus the lens in auto-focus mode and sometimes this helps when going from near focus at full focal length to far focus. There can be little focus hunting when you do this.
So how good are the optics? The center of the lens is tack sharp, in fact the lens as a whole is extremely sharp but there is a little fall off towards the edges, and by a little I mean a very little. The peak lens performance occurs seems to be around 190-220mm with the weakest spot not surprisingly being at the full 400mm but even at 400mm this lens is very sharp. There is slight vignetting the further you zoom out, again nothing to be worried about and there is virtually no chromatic aberrations (color shadows/fringing at image borders).
You will not find a creamy smooth bokeh like you find on a f2.8 prime on this lens, that is to be expected but it is better than the original 100-400L and is generally very good. If you are a pixel peeper you will find a slight halo around the out of focus discs but you have to zoom quite far in on your image for it to be noticeable.
Pros :
Image Sharpness
Image Stabilization
Flexibility of the lens
USM focusing is very fast and silent
Cons :
Bokeh isn't as creamy smooth as other L prime lenses but still very good.
The image quality of this lens is outstanding and the build quality superb. The focal range of 100-400mm (160-640mm on an APS-C camera) gives you more options than say the 70-200mm especially for wildlife and sporting events. Did I mention the tack sharp image quality? It really is so good that I'm seriously considering whether I need to carry both this lens and the 70-200mm f2.8L in my bag, which gets to heavy with both lenses, or whether I can just leave the 70-200mm at home unless I know I am going to need its lower settings. canon have done a wonderful job with this lens and it is a significant improvement over the mk I.
A couple of other things worth mentioning. This lens does work with both the Canon 1.4x and 2.0x TCs and also the Kenko 1.4x Pro 300 TC with full autofocus. It also works with the MetaBones III adapter with full autofocus if you are thinking of using this lens on a Sony A7 or A7R. When used in conjunction with the MetaBones III adapter the autofocus does take a lot more time to lock in and you will notice some slight hunting but combined with the A7/R sensor it creates some sensational images.
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Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is II USM Lens - 9524B002 (Renewed) $1,596.96 & FREE Shipping
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This Item  Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is II USM Lens, Lens Only |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $2,399.00 | $836.01 | $1,839.95 | $1,089.00 | $1,999.00 | -23% $1,044.70 New Price: $1,349.00 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16 | Get it May 21 - 24 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 | Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Picture quality | ||||||
| Image stabilization | ||||||
| Auto focus | ||||||
| Sold By | Amazon.com | Port Hole Renewed | Electronics Basket | Minty Gadgets (we track serial numbers) | Amazon.com | Minty Gadgets (we track serial numbers) |
| lens type | Telephoto | Telephoto | Telephoto | Telephoto | Wide Angle | Telephoto |
| compatible mountings | Canon EF | Canon EF | Canon EF | Canon EF | Canon EF | Canon EF |
| lens design | Zoom | Prime | Zoom | Zoom | Prime | Prime |
| focus type | Ultrasonic | Manual Focus | Auto Focus | — | Manual Focus | Ring-type ultrasonic |
| minimum focal length | 100 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 100 millimeters | 100 millimeters | 35 millimeters | 70 millimeters |
| max focal length | 400 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 35 millimeters | 300 millimeters |
| fixed focal length | 100 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 400 millimeters | 35 millimeters | 300 millimeters |
| model name | 9524B002 | 2526A004 | — | ef | 9523B002 | 4426B002-cr |
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Reviews with images
Outstanding!
I've only had this lens for 2 months, but I've put it through it's paces. Probably 1000 shots +. Everything from insects to flowers to birds and landscapes. I use it on a Canon 7D mark II and it is my "walk around lens". Out of the box my copy had a back focus issue at 100mm, but a quick micro adjustment solved that (-10). I shoot hand held, so it was really hard to get used to that extra 100mm moving from my EF 70-300L f/4-5.6 IS USM. I was kind if disappointed how little that extra 100mm gave me. Not sure exactly what I expected, but it was more than what I got, LOL. I have to be really careful to control camera shake withe the 100-400 because as we all know, the longer your focal length the more exaggerated shake is. Now, the IS in this lens is bona fide 4 stops. I've taken shots with a single room light bulb, hand held, at 1/10 second and they were as sharp as could be expected. Where I have problems is shooting in cluttered areas like tree leaves. The camera wants to hunt a bit more than I would like. The EF 70-300L locked on in these situations without any problem what so ever. I use the 1st AF spot in the 7D2, the square within the square, so I can literally pin point a focus spot through the leaves and branches. I realize the auto focus is largely done in camera, and the 7D2 is amazing, but there is something with this lens that makes it hunt in these few situations. I do set the lens AF to 3m to infinity, and that helps, but doesn't eliminate the problem. 90% of the time, it locks on instantly, even in clutter. I suspect low light to be the culperate. It just causes me to take as many shots as I can until the subject leaves. Sometimes I'll get 100% others I'll get 60% (I'm used to 90%) with the 7D2 and the EF 70-300L. I'm not a fool, so I know camera shake plays a part. Another problem I'm adjusting to, but it's a good problem, is finding my target when zoomed to 400mm.Now, here is what I don't get. All the reviews that say the twist in the zoom ring is to long. I have small hands and fingers, and I just don't get that. I can go from 100mm to 400mm in a flash, in one twist and it's not the least bit aqward. I'm not sure if these people have ever used this lens or their technique is wrong.. I just don't get itEDIT: Note, this lens will focus to 3 feet, even at 400mm. You have to be aware of your DOF or you will think you are having focusing problems. Check out a youtube video by a guy who tested this lens in the Galapagos Islands. Close focusing is actually what sold me on this lens.I realize that images uploaded are not really a good representation of the lens, but you might get something out of these shots:1) Hummingbird at 30 feet; Roseate Spoonbills at 200 feet; Lizard at 6 feet (400mm); Gull at 100 feet; Skipper at 4 feet (400mm); Flower and Bee at 5 feet (400mm); Pileated Woodpecker at 50 feet; The obligatory moon shot : )All of these shots have been CROPPED.EDIT 5/26/2019: This lens is holding up well. I am notorious for not taking care of stuff and being a little rough, so that is why I even mention it. You would expect it too, but I am not the normal user. It's been dropped, banged, taken out in the rain, fog, heat, cold... You get the picture? I always do, LOL.EDIT 8/24/2019 to add some raptor shots. All are zoomed/cropped from 50-75% and at a min. of 200 feet up.
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Shannon C.
A must for wildlife photographers
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Excellent item!
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Ernesto Chávez Féison
Reviewed in India on May 12, 2023
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al488j
A great lens
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Un lente de excelente calidad
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