Canon EF 400mm f/5 : Too slow for the UK. Would be OK in Australia.

This is a lens designed for those who like sports and wildlife photography. One thing that can’t go unnoticed is the optical quality even in maximum aperture. Images produced by this lens are extremely sharp and contrasty. Autofocus is very quick and accurate. The lens is not very heavy (1. 2kg) and it is easy to take handheld shots but if you choose to use a tripod or a beanbag (in safari vehicles) then this lens is an absolute joyit is probably the only “affordable” super telephoto lens in canon l series telephotos range and if you add the 1. 4x mkii teleconverter you have a 560mm f/8 lens with only a barely noticeable image degradation. You can’t go wrong with this lens. Excellent optics, beautiful. White-professional appearance, tempting price.

The sharpness and clarity of the images from this lens have to be seen to be believed. I’ve owned the 100-400 l is and the 300 l is previously and can say without hesitation that the 400 5. 6l just blows them away, even wide open at 5. 6 the sharpness is incredible. Some say they would like to see image stabilising built into this lens. I disagree, in my opinion this would ruin it, (as it did with the original 300 f4l). The trouble with image stabilising is that it doubles the number of elements within the lens and the more the light path through the lens is modified the more image degradation you will get. So best to leave “is” where it belongs, on the back of a lexusyou get great versatility with this lens, light enough to take rambling, good for sports etc. The tripod foot has a clever design enabling it to be removed without taking the lens off the camera, the same as on the old 80-200l.

Much lighter than i had anticipated. Ok for handheld shots provide the correct shutter speeds are used. Very pleased with this lens.

Just switched from pentax after using their camera for two years. Good products but not that good for sports which is the main reason i switched. Saw this lens and ordered it after all the reviews. I have shaky hands so the lack of is was a problem at the beginning but after a week i’ve got quite good at hand holding it attached to my 7d. The image quality, provided you have a high enough shutter speed and give the lens the light it needs, is amazing. Being able to crop and get tack sharp images is amazing. It’s by far sharper than my old ks2 and sigma 150-500, lighter better built faster focusing the list goes on. If you mainly shoot aircraft or bif where is isn’t that important and want a long reach with good quality, put this lens high up on your list of options you will not regret it. Also, bought it used from camera exchange store ltd off of amazon.

Tricky review for me because i own a 400mm f2. 8 usm ii and there is no comparison, nor should there be at eight times the price. However, i bought this as a grab and go 400mm to use with a teleconvertor and keep on a cheaper dslr. And that was my first surprise. This lens works better on a 600d than it does with a 1d mk4 or a 7d. Perhaps it’s just weight distribution?i was getting better images handheld with the 600d over the more expensive canons on a tripod. I’m at f11 with a 2x and iso800. Focusing is manual and that is the trickiest issue. Because i want it for birds i’ll need the 800mm most of the time.

This is really a very very good lens. Its undoubtably one of the best lenses for birds in flight which i suspect is what most people ‘including myself’ bought it for. Sharpness wide open is extremely good, but tbh i would hope it would be, @5. 6 there isnt much wiggle room for it to really improve before diffraction starts lol, that being said though you really dont need to stop it down to greatly increase sharpness. I wouldnt say its tack sharp, tack sharp in my experience is 85mm f/1. However i am nit picking, this is a sharp lens, it is just not outstanding like those mentioned, but certainly good enough for any commercial work.

Bought this lens for 5d mk2 7 months ago and still very pleased with this purchase. Very sharp through all apertures, and have captured some great moon shots which have been sharp even after cropping. Best used with a tripod, but hand holdable if using faster shutter speeds and steady hands. Amazon delivery was within given time scale and item arrived in one piece. 5 stars as lens does everything expected and despite being one of the older ‘l’ series still holds it’s own against newer telephoto and significantly more expensive glass.

• To zoom or not to zoom?
• Great Lens
• Great telephoto Lens

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM Lens

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• Focal length and maximum aperture: 400 mm f5.6
• Lens construction: 7 elements in 6 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 6°-10°
• Focus adjustment: Inner focusing system with USM
• Closest focusing distance: 3.5m / 11.5ft
• Filter size: 77mm

I love this lens, i use it mainly for birds and the auto focus is quick and precise particularly when birds are in flight. The pictures it produces are sharp and clear.

It’s light, fast and gives sharp images, perfect for shooting flying birds. The price is reasonable as well for an l lens that’s built like a tank. What else could you ask for?.

I was looking at purchasing the canon 100-400mm zoom then convinced myself i would be mainly using it at the 400mm end so why waste money when you can buy the canon 400mm f5. Received my lens just over a week ago and have not used it much beyond the wildlife in my garden. Using the lens on a canon eos 7d (mk 1) i have been highly impressed with the sharp images, silent focussing and colour reproduction. The amount of detail captured of bird’s feathers is phenominal. Although it does not have is i do not find this a hindrance as i generally use a tripod/monopod for many of my shots. I also find the lens well balanced on my camera for excellent hand-held shots at fast shutter speeds to overcome my shakey hands. So pleased i purchased this lens and i can see why (first hand) it has such a great following in the user reviews everywhere. It is an absolute legend of a canon lens.

Excellent product – at the price it should be.

All my long reach lenses are zoom, so i decided to purchase this prime lens as i had read that the images produced by primes are better than zooms. I went out today with my 7d & this lens – weather conditions were not ideal : cloudy with intermittent sun. I photographed squirrels & birds and had to take the speed down to 1/400s because of the lighting. I have been very pleased with the photos taken today – all my shooting is done handheld & i was a bit concerned about the lack of is. I have to say though that the image quality is superb, with excellent definition of the squirrels’ fur. I’m looking forward to getting out with this lens in better light so that i can really put it through its paces. I’ll update this review in due course. 28 december – took this lens out today in brighter conditions, but not full sun. I have to say that lack of is was not a problem at all, but i was shooting at speeds of 1/1250s minimum. All my shooting was handheld.

Not long acquired this lens as i could never justify spending the extra cash for the 2. 8, indeed i may have had to sell my kidney to have afforded one of those. I was a bit worried purchasing a fairly slow lens without is, and maybe in the future my fears may prove correct. But so far in the conditions ive used it, i. Good light it hasn’t really been a problem, as the winter arrives and the light gets worse, maybe the lack of is and camera shake will become more of a problem, time will tell. I had a few issues with it tracking / focusing on some flying birds in the beginning and got rather frustrated even trying to get them in the view finder, and had to constantly look to see where they had gone, this is more than likely my technique rather than the lens. Using it on my crop factor body its really shooting at about 640 so the range is great. The pictures i have taken so far (not really had much chance to get out with it) they appear pretty sharp in the middle just getting a touch soft towards the edges. I think for the price this would make a great lens for those who need the range etc, i do think that for sports photography, unless it was a beautiful bright day, this lens would struggle a bit, its quite slow, but again as far as value for money is concerned i would rate this lens very high and in general you will not be disappointed.

I chose this lens over the 300mm f/4l is – i figured, as i wanted to photograph birds, i needed as much focal length as possible, and since i’ve never used an is lens, i wouldn’t miss it. It *is* sharp, and the autofocus is fast – although be aware, if you’re trying to focus on a small bird with intervening foliage, it’s still better focusing manually. It seemed terribly heavy and large out of the box, but i’ve walked around (up to several miles for many hours) with it, and it’s no problem. However, the weight does make framing a small, distant subject trickier – and a lack of is doesn’t help. To be honest, the modest maximum aperture (f/5. 6) and lack of stabilisation does make a difference – i’m trying to keep exposure times to 1/400sec or faster, but even so, many shots have slight motion blur. Adding a teleconverter (extender) renders the viewfinder quite dark. Still, it can produce excellent shots of small perched birds, and larger birds in flight – the autofocus shines in this situation. Photographing flowers or insects is tougher – the large minimum focus distance (3500mm) means i’m constantly having to scooch backwards, and that can be hard in confined spaces (you’d need extension tubes for this sort of work). Butterflies can be a good subject, however – you can snap them from far away, thus not disturbing them.

Hired this a few times and the images are super sharp.

. Produces sharp images with good colour and contrast. No image stabiliser, so a tripod is a must. Well up to the expected canon standard. Strong build and easy to use. Recommended for high quality telephoto pictures.

Fabulous image quality, exactly as all the reviews promise. There is a bit of learning though to get the best out of it. Fast shutter speeds needed to counter lack of is ( keeps weight and cost down) and for those used to zoom lenses a new technique is needed to shoot moving targets. The built in lens hood and the case are good. Overall despite the cost this is an excellent lens which should last for years given the quality of its construction, built like a tank. Cannot fault the image quality.

An excellent lens and easy to use but a must is a strong sturdy tripod. The lens hood on it is excellent and is a tight fit.

I bought this for wildlife photography and use it on a canon 7d, which extends the zoom to 640mm or so. The 100-400mm is in around the same price but as i reckon i’ll never be very close to any wildlife subjects i don’t mind not having the ability to zoom out. And the image quality from the prime lens is so much better. Seems sharp at most settings and the autofocus is good too. Heavy enough but nothing’s perfect. This is an exceptional lens.

6 is a fabulous lens: very quick and accurate af, very sharp (sharper than my 72isii), good contrast and colour and surprisingly light. I bought this as i needed more reach for my 5d3 and 7d than my 300l2. 8is – just thought it would be a better option than using extenders. But it really is way way better than that. I have 9 l primes and this is as good as any of them (apart from 300l) and a bargain at that. Can’t recommend it highly enough for anyone who requires the extra reach but not the expense or f stop as the other 400ls and 500l.

I owned for some time the canon ef 100-400mm f/4. 6l is usm and was generally happy with the performance, it is a great quality lens. I noticed after some time however that almost all of my shots with it were taken at the 400mm end. I started to question whether i would be better off with this prime, giving me sharper shots in a smaller, lighter lens. Here are some of the reasons why i prefer this prime:—- image stabilization:this is a great feature to have and the 400mm prime lacks it. However, consider your shots. If like me you shoot birds, wildlife, sports etc. Then your shutter speeds are going to be so high as to nullify this anyway.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then i am glad i bought this. Go to flickr and search this lens, for all the answers. Second to none in its price range.

This is a cracking lens and worth every penny of the cost. It exudes quality and solidity. It’s autofocus is fast and it captures images of extreme detail. You will miss out on some landscape shots if you go out with this lens alone, but for wildlife and birds in particular its a real treat.

A lot more paint damage than was advertised.

I have used this lens on a four day safari in the selous in tanzania and for a weekend of bird photography at rye, sussex. The results have been stunning and my bird photography has moved on to a whole new level with what this lens enables.

Great lens and excellent value.

Obviously not image-stablised but so long as the shutter speeds are high enough you should be ok. I’m generally shooting at over 1/2000 secs birds in flight so no problems with a lack of is. Decent range at a decent price.

Seems like a great lens in the short time i have used it. The autofocus is fast and silent, much better than long zoom lenses i have used in the past. Look forward to many bird shots in the future. An update after 2 years of use: the lens is great for the price, it is fast to focus and superb for birds in flight but you do need to keep the shutter speed up to get the best out of it, over 1/1000th for anything hand held. I dropped it in autumn last year and it hit the tarmac with my eos70d attached, luckily it bounced, the only damage being a dent to the hood. The hood which is attached but twists down over the body is a brilliant idea/feature, if only my 500 did that.

Arrived quickly, this item is fit for purpose and fulfils my needs. I will use this seller again.

This is my first l-series lens. Given my experience, it won’t be my last. I enjoy bird photography, and my ‘go-to’ lens with my canon 60d (reviewed as 5 star elsewhere) is the canon ef 70-300 is. Although happy with its performance, i felt the need for a little more length – and better quality glass, as most of my shots need tight cropping. My choice was the 100-400 l zoom, or this 400 5. Having heard stories about the zoom sucking dust, i chose the prime, sacrificing zoom and is, but gaining a slightly lighter lens and slightly better image quality. Pin sharp even to the edges, and quite stunning image quality, even after cropping and at high iso.

. This is the lens to own for bird in flight photography. I jumped from the nikon camp just to get my hands on this lens ‘ and it was well worth it. Pair with a 7dmkii or 70d it’s bif heaven. Fast and reasonably cheap compared to other l lenses. Check out my flickr account. Most of the images were taken with this lens pair to a 70d or 7dmkii. Com/photos/wildlifeinshropshire/.

As one would expect from a canon l lens good quality. Produces good quality images.

Sorry to say i have to disagree with the majority. Yes this lens is very well-made, has excellent optics and on a bright, sunny day it will do the job but i found that there are just not enough days like that here in the uk. I photograph wildlife and found this lens frustrating. 6 just isn’t fast enough most of the time, certainly not for hand-held shots. Yes you can crank up the iso but then cropping becomes a problem with regard to noise. I sold my canon 400mm and invested in a sigma 120-300 f2. 8 which is heavy but does the job, and does it very well. 300mm is less than ideal for birding but with either the 1. 4x or the 2x sigma converter it works exceptionally well.

Great lens first class service.

Fabulous lens, very sharp, very fast to focus, light weight, a joy to use. Only downside is that it is quite long and i need to buy a new camera bag to put it in when mounted on my 7d.

I’ve been using the sigma 120-400mm for over 2-years and i thought, for a budget lens, that it was good(i’ve had some great shots with that lens so i can’t knock it fully). Increasingly though, i’ve been wanting something with better overall quality. I couldn’t afford the 500mm and i wasn’t keen on the canon 100-400mm(partly because i have the sigma which is almost as good, and partly because i didn’t fancy the push and pull zoom). So i was only really left with one option: the canon 400mm f/5. I took the plunge and i’m so glad i did. I’ve only been using this lens for a few hours and i’ve already got some amazing shots of birds. If you want a wildlife lens around this budget, skip the telephotos and get this.

I gives me all it promises to and despite other comments, some of my best shots have been taken hand held.

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