Canon EF 100-400 L f4-5.6 first subjective impressions
I have bought a lens recently. It is a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM. I want to provide here first impressions with a bunch of sample photos made with this lens. It is my first bought L lens. I have used L-s before, like Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM or Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L EF USM. They are all good Lenses in its class, except for only 24-105. It is Ok to. But it comes much overpriced over used lenses too.
My first idea to buy a L lens came in form of desire for Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. I have had my hands on it for a week or so. Its the best Lens in terms of picture quality I have ever used. (In its focal characteristics of course). Main idea it has slightly less usable focal range. I have a passion for Tele Hunting. Capturing various birds. I'm only learning however. So my expectations from Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM was to capture nice pictures of birds and have a good low light capabilities. I have a strong understanding of what I could get for this type of focal range and L quality lenses mixed up. I have used a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro on a Canon EOS 6D Body. It have provided me enough quality for shots. However I have started to notice sort of professional shots on Flickr and 500PX made by many users. SO the idea came that I need to improve possible picture quality to progress. 100mm in addition became the big factor to. Enough introduction and lets go up to tech specs of this lens.
In terms of build quality this lens is great. It costs a lot to produce this lens. 1 Fluorite element and 1 UD element.
This means the chromatic aberration filtering and color capture is one of the best in the lineup. Practically this means I have not had any visible chromatic aberrations that I could not deal with in post production. Usually I do not have ANY. Some cons like taking a dark object in front of setting sun and other crazy conditions that you would never experience in real life with a lens like this.
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Special regards are due to auto focus system. Capturing nice birds shots is a hard enough task. This lens is the perfect auto focus helper. USM motor, despite reported slow by many is the best thing I have experienced so far. The lens has minimum distance switch that really doubles the speed of autofocus. That is true however only in case you require only distant objects (6.5 meters away). Real life experience is usually forcing you to keep that switch at 1.8m however. I have used it much really. It is extremely helpful while you see a distant object. Birds usually are a distant object. Thats it.
As for manual focus it has a full time manual override, as most of the Canon L do.
Build quality of this lens is really one of the imho best around. The whole lens is glass and metal. Not a cheap plasticky toys you get as a kit with entry level DSLR's. This however makes them really much heavier in comparison. Sigma 70-300 of mine weights half of this lens, if not the third. Note however this makes it much easier to hold still. Because your hands would not shake, in comparison to keeping plasticky kit lens.
Lens zoom construction is one of the best you could imagine for this kind of task. The lens construction is called push/pull zoom. This means you have a ring that is rotated with focus ring. Rotating them against each other tightens or hardens the amount of resistance to your lens. You can make it fall down while leaving your camera on your strap or keep it so tight you could not expand it without applying tremendous amount of force to it.
In real life, this means you could track an object moving into you intuitively. This means you won't crop unnecessary things in an object like this.
Rotating lens is worse in terms of intuitive movement your body would do. And you can also switch between 100mm and 400mm in no time. No rotation. Just a push/pool move. It is really handy and important.
This lens works with Canon EF 1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters. However 1.4 only preserves autofocus. Because you need a camera that autofocuses at f8. I'm striving to buy one someday. Not today though.
Attaching this lens to my other camera (Canon 650D) makes it work like with 1.4x extender anyway.
Macro of this lens is really good to. In case one would deal with the amount of light required. I have used it with the macro rings that can AF. The results are great too. Sharpness is enough for making great macro photos too. Just the practical use of such a macro lens is doubtful. Because the depth of field you could get from this setup.
In general this lens is great for nature and wildlife capturing. Sports is the case what it was made for. One word - Great leans. Buy Canon. You wont regret.
After all this being said. lets switch to the images. I'll try to provide the ones that I took at one of first days using this lens. So you would have a picture obtaining it for your own.
My first idea to buy a L lens came in form of desire for Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. I have had my hands on it for a week or so. Its the best Lens in terms of picture quality I have ever used. (In its focal characteristics of course). Main idea it has slightly less usable focal range. I have a passion for Tele Hunting. Capturing various birds. I'm only learning however. So my expectations from Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM was to capture nice pictures of birds and have a good low light capabilities. I have a strong understanding of what I could get for this type of focal range and L quality lenses mixed up. I have used a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro on a Canon EOS 6D Body. It have provided me enough quality for shots. However I have started to notice sort of professional shots on Flickr and 500PX made by many users. SO the idea came that I need to improve possible picture quality to progress. 100mm in addition became the big factor to. Enough introduction and lets go up to tech specs of this lens.
| Lens type | Zoom lens |
| Focal length | 100–400 mm |
| Image stab. | Yes |
| Lens mount | Canon EF |
| Max aperture | F4.5 - F5.6 |
| Min aperture | F32.0 - F38.0 |
| Min focus | 1.80 m (70.87″) |
| Max magnification | 0.2× |
| Weight | 1380 g (3.04 lb) |
| Length | 189 mm (7.44″) |
It did not tell me anything in fact. Basically average Diaphragm numbers. 100-400mm zoom range. Minimum focus distance of 1.8 meters.
What it really means:
You need a camera that handles high ISO well. In ideal daytime conditions you could get photos similar to ones made by prime lens. Autumn fog weather and cloudy leads you to working with high ISO values. The cause of this is the distance of your capturing object.
Typical shutter speed value is usually starting from 1/320 and higher. (For Canon 6D) It is true even with IS. The IS is really good. It adds several stops to the lens. However it does save you from washing out movement when handhold. Tripod would save some. Not an option for me however. I dislike using a tripod, while making nature pictures.
So the conclusion is - Either get ready to use a tripod or have a camera that handles high ISO values well.
The weight of this lens is not too high. It is ok to carry it attached to the camera with a strap on your neck or over the shoulder. The weight is acceptable as for me. In comparison to other similar lenses.
You need a camera that handles high ISO well. In ideal daytime conditions you could get photos similar to ones made by prime lens. Autumn fog weather and cloudy leads you to working with high ISO values. The cause of this is the distance of your capturing object.
Typical shutter speed value is usually starting from 1/320 and higher. (For Canon 6D) It is true even with IS. The IS is really good. It adds several stops to the lens. However it does save you from washing out movement when handhold. Tripod would save some. Not an option for me however. I dislike using a tripod, while making nature pictures.
So the conclusion is - Either get ready to use a tripod or have a camera that handles high ISO values well.
The weight of this lens is not too high. It is ok to carry it attached to the camera with a strap on your neck or over the shoulder. The weight is acceptable as for me. In comparison to other similar lenses.
Special regards are due to auto focus system. Capturing nice birds shots is a hard enough task. This lens is the perfect auto focus helper. USM motor, despite reported slow by many is the best thing I have experienced so far. The lens has minimum distance switch that really doubles the speed of autofocus. That is true however only in case you require only distant objects (6.5 meters away). Real life experience is usually forcing you to keep that switch at 1.8m however. I have used it much really. It is extremely helpful while you see a distant object. Birds usually are a distant object. Thats it.
As for manual focus it has a full time manual override, as most of the Canon L do.
Build quality of this lens is really one of the imho best around. The whole lens is glass and metal. Not a cheap plasticky toys you get as a kit with entry level DSLR's. This however makes them really much heavier in comparison. Sigma 70-300 of mine weights half of this lens, if not the third. Note however this makes it much easier to hold still. Because your hands would not shake, in comparison to keeping plasticky kit lens.
Lens zoom construction is one of the best you could imagine for this kind of task. The lens construction is called push/pull zoom. This means you have a ring that is rotated with focus ring. Rotating them against each other tightens or hardens the amount of resistance to your lens. You can make it fall down while leaving your camera on your strap or keep it so tight you could not expand it without applying tremendous amount of force to it.
In real life, this means you could track an object moving into you intuitively. This means you won't crop unnecessary things in an object like this.
Rotating lens is worse in terms of intuitive movement your body would do. And you can also switch between 100mm and 400mm in no time. No rotation. Just a push/pool move. It is really handy and important.
This lens works with Canon EF 1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters. However 1.4 only preserves autofocus. Because you need a camera that autofocuses at f8. I'm striving to buy one someday. Not today though.
Attaching this lens to my other camera (Canon 650D) makes it work like with 1.4x extender anyway.
Macro of this lens is really good to. In case one would deal with the amount of light required. I have used it with the macro rings that can AF. The results are great too. Sharpness is enough for making great macro photos too. Just the practical use of such a macro lens is doubtful. Because the depth of field you could get from this setup.
In general this lens is great for nature and wildlife capturing. Sports is the case what it was made for. One word - Great leans. Buy Canon. You wont regret.
After all this being said. lets switch to the images. I'll try to provide the ones that I took at one of first days using this lens. So you would have a picture obtaining it for your own.
Examples:
Every of those pictures has its own story. Not the theme of this article however.
At last here is how my camera looks with this lens.
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