Product Reviews
Fine Piece of Kit I Would Not Be Without
- July 21, 2011
- By: Paul
The 100-400 is a versatile, sharp long zoom - perhaps the only one you will ever need. Considering the long focal range offered, this lens is not overly large or heavy, and is surprisingly well-balanced, even when fully-extended. The older-generation image-stabilization gives about two stops improvement in sharpness - not great by current standards, but enough to change this lens from tripod-only to a viable hand-held piece of equipment. In fact, even with the small maximum aperture (f5.6 at 400mm), I have gotten usable hand-held shots while standing on a moving tour boat at dusk. As you would expect from the L-series, it is very sharp. While barely within classic birding lens range, the 100-400 has given me a number of bird and wildlife images I am proud of. Other uses for which the lens is ideal is public sports, racing and similar events. I also met a keen plane-spotter who uses his 100-400 to frame, follow and image aircraft taking off and landing (again hand-held). Closer at hand, I often do intimate deep woods shooting and, on a tripod, the 100-400 saves me pushing through thick shrubbery to close in and frame a patch of sunbeam-illuminated greenery. Not everyone is comfortable with the push-pull sliding zoom collar, but I had no trouble adapting to it; it seemed a very intuitive way of adjusting your viewpoint, and the pan and zoom is very fluid. The one flaw of the lens is that, if inadvertantly tilted forward, the outer sleeve can slam abruptly to full extension, and eventually damage the inner mechanisms. There is a tension ring to prevent this, but it is awkwardly placed and not rubberized, so it takes much practice to be able to adjust the tension on the fly without fumbling. With that one exception, the 100-400 is a fine piece of kit that I would not be without.
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Needs an update
- October 27, 2011
- By: Ryan
This lens has a good zoom range, no other canon zooms go to 400mm.
Now, to explain the review title, I have tried 2 versions of this lens. The first one I tried had good color and contrast, and the images were to my surprise reasonably sharp. The second lens I borrowed from a friend, and the colors and contrast were flat, washed out and the images were soft. I have done some research and it seems like this lens is hit or miss. He had bought the lens used from ebay. It seems like people that like this lens will keep it and those that got a bad used copy put them on ebay. Anyways, buy new if you can and test out the lens for yourself.
Pros: Good reach for APS-C users with the 1.6 crop sensor (Ex.any camera that is not full frame like the 5D and 1D), push/pull zoom is fast for quick shots, decent images if you get a good copy.
Cons: Very heavy and awkward to handle. Using the push-pull zoom lens makes your shoulder feel like it is going to fall off! Use a tripod or some kind of support system (or go to the gym to strengthen those shoulders!). Reach isn't really that far on a full frame camera.Price. Good value but still pricey. For people that don't have a 5D or 1D this lens will cost twice as much as their camera. Another con is no weather sealing. For the price, it should be!
Bottom line. Good lens but it needs to be updated.
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