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.
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is II USM Lens, Lens Only
4.7 | 507 ratings
Price: 2399
Last update: 10-09-2024
About this item
Compact, high performance L-series super-telephoto zoom makes it ideal for sports and wildlife photography
Rotation-type zoom ring allows for more precise composition and excellent balance when handholding.Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm
Improved zoom torque adjustment ring allows easy setting of zoom tension, Focal Length & Maximum Aperture:100-400 millimeter 1:4.5-5.6, Closest Focusing Distance-3.2 feet; 0.98 meter
New Air Sphere Coating (ASC) helps to significantly reduce backlit flaring and ghosting, Highly resistant to dust and water, and amazing durability enabling shooting even in harsh conditions
Rotation-type zoom ring allows for more precise composition and excellent balance when handholding.Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm
Improved zoom torque adjustment ring allows easy setting of zoom tension, Focal Length & Maximum Aperture:100-400 millimeter 1:4.5-5.6, Closest Focusing Distance-3.2 feet; 0.98 meter
New Air Sphere Coating (ASC) helps to significantly reduce backlit flaring and ghosting, Highly resistant to dust and water, and amazing durability enabling shooting even in harsh conditions
Product information
Warranty & Support
Amazon.com Return Policy:Amazon.com Voluntary 30-Day Return Guarantee: You can return many items you have purchased within 30 days following delivery of the item to you. Our Voluntary 30-Day Return Guarantee does not affect your legal right of withdrawal in any way. You can find out more about the exceptions and conditions here.
Product Warranty: For warranty information about this product, please click here [PDF ]
Feedback
Would you like to
tell us about a lower price?
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L is II USM Lens, Lens Only
Share: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PF39PEY
Found a lower price? Let us know. Although we can't match every price reported, we'll use your feedback to ensure that our prices remain competitive.
Where did you see a lower price?
Top reviews from the United States
Colin Brown
Took years to get here but worth the wait
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2014Starkid
My first great white lens
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2015