First play with the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS

[Scuzi]

DISCLAIMER: This was just a first play and a few snaps, nothing was set up properly and I didn't put any effort into taking properly composed pictures. This was just a quick play to see how the IS worked!

The new lens arrived this morning and after trying to get my head around the push pull mecahnism, I stuck it on the camera whilst sat on the couch and fired off a few shots. All are handheld, in fairly poor light (hence the high ISO) and are by no means an attempt at good shots, they were just a few I fired off whilst playing with my new toy.

Here are the results...

Photo 1-
100mm - f/5.6 - 1/30 - ISO400
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-1.jpg

100% Crop:
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-1crop.jpg



Photo 2-
200mm - f/5 - 1/40 - ISO800
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-2.jpg

100% Crop:
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-2crop.jpg



Photo 3-
300mm - f/5.6 - 1/80 - ISO800
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-3.jpg

100% Crop:
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-3crop.jpg



Photo 4-
400mm - f/5.6 - 1/200 - ISO800
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-4.jpg

100% Crop:
http://www.scuzi.eclipse.co.uk/100400 test/100400test-4crop.jpg


All I can say is that I am astounded by the Image Stablisation. All of these shots were handheld in very poor light and to get those results is hard to comprehend! I will have to do a more controlled test rather than a fart about like this but so far I am very impressed with this lens.
£800 well spent!

[CT]

It's an excellent lens - congrats! :)

Top tip.

If you have the locking collar too slack and tip the camera and lens downwards, the lens can slide right out to 400mm, coming to a stop with a real whack. This is thought to be responsible for the high incidence of IS failure with this lens. so something to be wary of.

[Scuzi]

Thanks for the tip CT. I found this out within about 10 minutes of opening the box! Luckily it didn't stop with a whack but it was enough to teach me to be careful in future.

I actually quite like the push-pull design but it does have it's drawbacks, this being one of them.

[CT]

Well I think it's the repeated whacks which are the problem. I actually prefer to have the collar slacked right off in use for fast zooming, and I really do like the push pull too. It's just become second nature to me now to just reach down and nip up the collar before I lower the camera.

[moomike]

Congratulations on the new toy, looking forward to some more shots :thumbs: