100-400 replacement soon? or 70-300 IS for now ?

combat squirrel

combat squirrel

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As title, im really struggling deciding between the 70-300IS, which ok aint an L but its still really good for the money iv read, thats what im after, excellent value for money.........or the 100-400L, now how old is this lens design? Is a newer version out soon ?

I read it has a 2nd gen IS, while the newer 70-300 has 3rd gen, advantage being apparently a 3 stop IS, while 100-400 being 2 stop, and not getting confused on tripods, this is all very appealing to me, addtionally its f4-5.6 instead of 4.5-5.6 on the L glass.

Also its a hella lot cheaper, so what to do, abit higher IQ on the L with a 2 stop reach and 400 zoom, OR a smidge lower IQ (not that its easy to see iv seen from sample images unless you pixel peak), 3 stop IS and very cheap price :shrug:

Im stuggling to see differences in focus speed as well, although i guess the L will be faster.....

So what to do guys ? It will be for general use, wildlife, birds, some rally stuff, boats etc type of shots............its really difficult to decide to take into accounts of pros and cons vs prices of them :help:
 
The 100-400 was launched in 1998 and has been up for a replacement for a while. Specualtion over a 200-400 F4 hasn't materailsed though.

How about the Canon 300mm F4 IS
 
I've owned the 70-300 IS in the past and own a 100-400 L at the moment. The 70-300 IS is a good lens and doesn't get as much attention as it should but the 100-400 L is a better lens.

I can't say I noticed the difference in the two IS systems but then most of my photography is high shutter speed. The focus speed on the 100-400 L is noticeably faster and the optical performance is also an improvement over the 70-300 IS. The build quality of the 100-400 is vastly better as well.

The push / pull design is ok. I think it was a good idea but I'm not so sure it's been implemented correctly. Some examples of the 100-400 L don't zoom smoothly and these are usually the ones that have problems with the locking ring later in their lives.

Rumours of the 100-400 being replaced have been around for years. I'd like to see an updated model (200-400 f/4 would be good) but I wouldn't hold your breath.

I would get the 100-400 L IS given the choice of the two but ^SDK's suggestion isn't a bad one either (I have a 300 f/4 L IS on it's way to keep my 100-400 L IS company).
 
I have been looking in to the 100-400 quite a bit as I am thinking of replacing my sigma 70-300 with one later this year.

The 100-400 is 10 years old now and there have been rumors of a replacement for the last few years, but it has yet to appear.

Both lenses are good, I would probably go for the 100-400 provided you can live with the push pull zoom.
 
With the advent of cameras such as the 1Ds lll that tend to show up the limitations of many lenses Canon I think will at some time look to update the 100-400. However this is not going to be an easy task, so the replacement may be several years away yet.

The 100-400 is a good lens, I've had mine now for about 2 years, and on the 5D you can see it getting a bit soft at 400mm, but only if you really look. On a typical A4 print I doubt if you'll see it.

I replaced a Sigma 135-400 with it due to the slowness of the Sigmas focus mechanism, and the Push Pull zoom works fine, takes about 5 minutes to get used to it.

There are some good offers around on this lens at the moment. Kerso has them on offer at £819.
 
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