Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II....at last, it's announced!!

dolina said:
Robin if you want a cheaper lens wait 6 months after it first lands on shelves. Hopefully they'll reduce prices by $250-500.
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....Is that $ US dollars or £ pounds sterling? Either way, there'll be a significant saving worth waiting 6 months for - Thanks :)

I have bought all four of my Canon L lenses secondhand here on TP Classifieds although one of them was a brand new insurance replacement for the seller.

Depending when it's launched in the UK, and also depending on favourable reports, I can wait 6 months but I'm 67yo and life isn't a rehearsal and so I wouldn't want to wait much longer. Methinks that this new 100-400mm v2 will be a perfect technological match with my 7D Mark II.
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
It will be interesting to see the side by side comparison of this vs the Sigma 150-600 Sport considering they're both going to be in the same ball park, but with the Sigma having an extra 200mm.
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The Sigma won't be as well built and won't be as sharp.
 
RedRobin said:
Depending when it's launched in the UK, and also depending on favourable reports, I can wait 6 months but I'm 67yo and life isn't a rehearsal and so I wouldn't want to wait much longer. Methinks that this new 100-400mm v2 will be a perfect technological match with my 7D Mark II.
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It will drop by a fair amount pretty quickly though.

I think I'll hold off.
 
Phil, same with me. Will wait it out but the 7D Mark II I am eagerly waiting for the shipment to get into my hands. Would've gotten it earlier than the US but govt... :(
 
Jackwow said:
The Sigma won't be as well built and won't be as sharp.
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ChrisHeathcote said:
How are you validating this comment? Just curious as given recent performance and announcements the 3rd party lens are performing very well.
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....I think that such comments are valid generalisations based on Canon L lenses having more rugged and weatherproofed construction. In such a competitive market, you tend to get what you pay for. That doesn't mean that the Sigma referred to isn't a very good lens.
 
Amp34 said:
Then add VAT (US price is tax free) an d you get about £1700.
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Yep. So that's a decent indication of roughly where the price will settle down, long term, assuming that the price mentioned here is accurate. (Remember, it's still just a rumour - no official announcement yet.)

In the short term, UK retailers are likely to charge the usual early-adopters tax for the must-have-it-at-any-cost brigade, so if it launches at $2199 in the USA then it will probably launch at £2199 here.
 
RedRobin said:


....I think that such comments are valid generalisations based on Canon L lenses having more rugged and weatherproofed construction. In such a competitive market, you tend to get what you pay for. That doesn't mean that the Sigma referred to isn't a very good lens.
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I'm not disputing the history of Canons lenses, I was just wondering what, other than historic evidence, there was to quantify the statement. Because by all accounts the Sigma is looking impressive.
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
I'm not disputing the history of Canons lenses, I was just wondering what, other than historic evidence, there was to quantify the statement. Because by all accounts the Sigma is looking impressive.
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Chris, surely you're being a bit argumentative for the sake of it here. You KNOW there is no evidence, because nobody here has seen one of the new Canons, assuming they exist. (Remember, it's all still a rumour.)
 
StewartR said:
Chris, surely you're being a bit argumentative for the sake of it here. You KNOW there is no evidence, because nobody here has seen one of the new Canons, assuming they exist. (Remember, it's all still a rumour.)
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Bet it won't be by tomorrow morning!!...
 
RedRobin said:
Hmmm... I've always been told that the Canon 400mm F/5.6L is a sharper lens than a Canon 100-400 zoom (excluding this latest one which we can't assess yet).

If the new 100-400 is sharper and isn't the type of zoom which creeps out like a horse's cock and also focusses down to just over 3ft (the 300mm F/4L IS does just under 5ft) then it might be worth selling both my 300L and 400L lenses.
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Announced 11 Nov.

I'm thinking along the same lines, with my 300mm f4 and 70-300mm L!

It'll be interesting to see what the max magnification is like at the minimum distance compared with the 300mm f4. Internal focus zooms lose focal length at close focus which may not give the mag that a 400mm at 0.9m suggests.
 
Brachytron said:
It'll be interesting to see what the max magnification is like at the minimum distance compared with the 300mm f4. Internal focus zooms lose focal length at close focus which may not give the mag that a 400mm at 0.9m suggests.
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....Yes, the 300mm F/4L IS is very good indeed at its Minimum Focal Distance (MFD) - Many of my photos on Flickr are evidence of this. But wouldn't Canon be consciously developing their lens technology to solve such issues? It certainly will be interesting to see how well this new zoom performs. I think I would buy it before offering my 300mm and 400mm primes for sale.
 
StewartR said:
Chris, surely you're being a bit argumentative for the sake of it here. You KNOW there is no evidence, because nobody here has seen one of the new Canons, assuming they exist. (Remember, it's all still a rumour.)
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Apologies if it came across that way, I wasn't meaning to be. Guess I must have been having a bad morning :D I took the comment as being a flippant as in "of course it's going to be better it's a Canon" and therefore responded accordingly. Apologies to anyone offended :D
 
RedRobin said:

....I think that such comments are valid generalisations based on Canon L lenses having more rugged and weatherproofed construction. In such a competitive market, you tend to get what you pay for. That doesn't mean that the Sigma referred to isn't a very good lens.
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Sigma 35mm prime destroys Canon. The new 50mm does the same. They are on level playing field now.
 
Works with 1.4x & 2.0x Extenders / TCs

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_tele_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_wide_mtf.gif

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext14_t_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext14_w_mtf.gif

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext2_t_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext2_w_mtf.gif


Official Tech Specs

Focal Length & Maximum Aperture 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6
Lens Construction 21 elements in 16 groups
Diagonal Angle of View 24°-6°10'
Focus Adjustment Inner focus system / USM
Closest Focusing Distance 3.2 ft. / 0.98m
Zoom System Rotation Type
Filter Size 77mm
Max. Diameter x Length, Weight Approx: 3.7" x 7.6" / 94 x 193mm
Approx: 3.46 lbs. / 1570g (lens only, including removable tripod mount)
3.62 lbs. / 1640g (lens + tripod mount)
 
That MTF just left me desperately wanting for one. There is like no reason to go for 5.6L prime other than lower price. Maybe I'll get this if I get another big sale this year.
 
Looks like the price will be £1999 in the UK at launch, I believe.
 
George said:
Looks like the price will be £1999 in the UK at launch, I believe.
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At current exchange rates, that would be around £600 more than the US price, or a bit more than £300 once VAT is added. You could almost pay for an air fare for an Xmas shopping trip to the US.

Hopefully the price will drop within 6-12 months of relesae, once the initial rush has subsided.
 
George said:
You can't just do a straight conversion, firstly, unless you get it shipped out of state, there is a sales tax in the US. Secondly, I think there's a tax on lenses in the UK of 5%?...and of course VAT at 20%, and the pound is slipping vis à vis the dollar, probably only get about USD1.5 to 1GPB, so if you do this calculation the price comes out about £1850, which is where it will probably settle at.
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I quote my thread a few days ago, I think this is a more accurate conversion.
 
If this lens delivers what it promises to, I am going to find it extremely difficult to hang on longer than next April/May which is barely 6 months. I definitely am not happy to wait 12 months - I would rather sell something to finance it.... Anything!

Walkaround hunting wildlife with just this 100-400L on 7D2 plus my Macro 100L and tripod, streamlines what I carry. But I wonder what it's like handholding a 1,570g lens up to the sky for flight shots - I'm used to the 1,250g of my 400mm F/5.6L. A Manfrotto fluid video head on a fluid foot monopod for inflight shots doesn't actually work as well as it does in theory.
 
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This looks like it will be an amazing lens !!!

£6700 cheaper than the Canon 200-400L for pretty much the same performance.
 
I was wondering why you mentioned the 100mm Macro and saw the similar MFD. Their max magnification differs from 1x for the Macro while 0.31x for the Series 2 lens.

Also of interest is that the initial MSRP of the Series 1 lens was $2,187 back in 1998 vs $2,199 making the Series 2 cheaper by today's standards.
 
dolina said:
Works with 1.4x & 2.0x Extenders / TCs

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_tele_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_wide_mtf.gif

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext14_t_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext14_w_mtf.gif

ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext2_t_mtf.gif
ef100_400_45_56l_isii_usm_ext2_w_mtf.gif


Official Tech Specs

Focal Length & Maximum Aperture 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6
Lens Construction 21 elements in 16 groups
Diagonal Angle of View 24°-6°10'
Focus Adjustment Inner focus system / USM
Closest Focusing Distance 3.2 ft. / 0.98m
Zoom System Rotation Type
Filter Size 77mm
Max. Diameter x Length, Weight Approx: 3.7" x 7.6" / 94 x 193mm
Approx: 3.46 lbs. / 1570g (lens only, including removable tripod mount)
3.62 lbs. / 1640g (lens + tripod mount)
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Those MTF graphs look very good indeed, way ahead of the old version, perhaps better than the 70-300L at the long end. It even looks good with 1.4x extender. Stick it on a 7D2... sweet (y)
 
dolina said:
I was wondering why you mentioned the 100mm Macro and saw the similar MFD. Their max magnification differs from 1x for the Macro while 0.31x for the Series 2 lens.
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....I only mentioned my 100mm Macro because I am in the habit of getting a first shot--in-the-bag with my prime 300mm with ~5ft MFD and then swopping lens for proper macro close-ups with the 100mm (if circumstances allow). If I buy and use the new 100-400mm v2 to grab my first shot-in-the-bag (and sell my 300mm prime) I then gain MFD to be ~3ft.

I really doubt that the new 100-400mm v2 will compete with the image quality of the 100mm F/2.8L IS Macro when at closest MFD.
 
JohnStewart said:
At current exchange rates, that would be around £600 more than the US price, or a bit more than £300 once VAT is added. You could almost pay for an air fare for an Xmas shopping trip to the US.

Hopefully the price will drop within 6-12 months of release, once the initial rush has subsided.
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....Buying across the pond probably will not give you UK warranty.

Yes, hopefully, but isn't a price drop of Canon RRP unlikely with such a lens for a very long time if at all? The only hope is the larger retailers such as Park Cameras, Wex Photographic, etc, but supply and demand could delay their price drops too.
 
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dolina said:
You could always fly back to the States and have it fixed there?
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....Sure, but personally my days of business and pleasure trips across the pond are over. The actual saving when you take into account ALL the real costs of hotel accommodation and so on are very doubtful indeed. Concorde isn't flying nowadays unfortunately, so it couldn't be a quick dash there and back.

Perhaps being a member of Canon Professional Services (CPS) might help.
 
Consider it a holiday of sorts. ;)

When prices in Manila aren't that favourable it is known for photogs to flock to Hong Kong to buy Canon gear on the cheap. If it breaks fly back to HK to have it mended or just get the next replacement if it is a point & shoot.
 
George said:
Looks like the price will be £1999 in the UK at launch, I believe.
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yes, you're right.

Sigma 150 - 600 twice as heavy, wonder how the canon will perform with T/c's in comparison to sigma without
 
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