Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

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Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Big Kev »

Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II

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Price: $2199 USD
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Ship Date: Unknown

Focal Length & Maximum Aperture: 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6
Lens Construction: 21 elements in 16 groups
Diagonal Angle of View: 24º-6’10’
Focus Adjustment: Inner focus system / USM
Closest Focusing Distance: 3.2 ft. / 0.98m
Filter Size: 77mm
Max Diameter x Length, Weight: 3.7 in. x 7.6 in. / 94mm x 193mm; 3.46 lbs. / 1,570g

Overview
The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM telephoto lens delivers a superb combination of cutting-edge performance, compact construction and brilliant resolving power that’s great for sports and wildlife photography.

The telephoto lens features one fluorite and one super UD element to help provide impressive contrast and resolution with reduced chromatic aberration across the entire zoom range. Canon’s new Air Sphere Coating (ASC) helps significantly reduce backlit flaring and ghosting, while fluorine coatings on the front and rear lens surfaces help lessen smears and fingerprints.A 9-blade circular aperture renders beautiful, soft backgrounds, and a 3 mode (standard, panning and exposure only) Optical Image Stabilizer provides up to 4 steps* of image correction.

The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM telephoto lens is equipped with a new inner focusing AF system to help ensure fast and accurate focus down to 3.2 ft. with a .31x maximum magnification. Usability enhancements include a rotation-type zoom ring with adjustable zoom torque for more precise, customizable zoom performance, a redesigned tripod mount that can be attached and detached without removing the lens from the EOS camera, and an all-new lens hood with a side window that makes it simple to adjust specialty filters-like polarizers-without the need to remove the hood.

Ruggedly constructed with advanced dust and water sealing for durability in a range of environments, the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM telephoto lens is a stellar performer with refined controls for a wide variety of situations.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Speed »

Looks great. Think Emjay and I have got Christmas presents sorted. :yes:
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by DexterPunk »

I love my 100-400... Which makes me tempted, but then again, it's hard to fault the old lens. I even find the IS on my current one excellent. The closer focusing looks interesting to me though. But not sure if it's worth handing over all that cash for some minor improvements.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

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DexterPunk wrote:I love my 100-400... Which makes me tempted, but then again, it's hard to fault the old lens. I even find the IS on my current one excellent. The closer focusing looks interesting to me though. But not sure if it's worth handing over all that cash for some minor improvements.
Trade-in?

To me....?
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Speed »

We have had our current 100-400 lenses for 5 years in December and we have been incredibly happy with them so the way I look at is that they have really paid for themselves.
The improvements in IS and focus are enough for me to bite the bullet and trade up.

So, when these new ones come out we'll be offloading the old ones.
I'm not exactly sure what we will want for them but I would think somewhere around the $1400 mark or $1300 to ARSEs, without UV filters.
They are both in perfect condition, have always had filters on them and when not on the camera are stored in their protective carry bags. They also have their original boxes.
I'm happy to offer them for sale here first....buyers would need to pay for shipping.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by DexterPunk »

Id say pretty much the same deal from me if I decide to do it. It's likely to be the case pre Galapagos MkII in 2016.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Speed »

I've made few inquiries about P&A of this lens and I can't get much.
The only price I can get is that it's expected to be $2,800, which is BS if it's true when it's 2,200 in the U.S. and hopefully it might be available by Christmas but no guarantees.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

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UK shops are advertising it for £750 more than v1 at £1999.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by DexterPunk »

I'm starting to have second thoughts... It's meant to be heavier and bigger. That's a bit of a negative for me when traveling o/s. I find the push/pull actually a brilliant way to adjust focal length, and wonder whether a twist might be more awkward. Of course it has a number of improvements, but it's not a clear cut winner between the two lenses for me.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

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Big Kev wrote:UK shops are advertising it for £750 more than v1 at £1999.
Wow £750 is cheap....I might get mine from the U.K.
incidentally v1 here at my local is $1928 AU which is £1076 so V1 there is pretty pricey.

I'm definitely getting the new version. I think the new one is 300g heavier which won't bother me as I doubt I'll be traveling with my Canon kit again.
The push/pull focus never bothered me, it feels reasonably intuitive.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Big Kev »

I was feeling quite flush with cash so I've just traded in my v1 for the v2. Arrived this morning. Hopefully get a chance to try it at the weekend if it doesn't rain too much.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by DexterPunk »

Nice one Kev. Let us know how it goes for you. I think I'll give it a miss. The extra weight is a killer for me while traveling. I'm sure it's an improved lens though.
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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by Big Kev »

Money well spent!

Build quality - excellent as it should be with an L lens. The hood is slightly different. It has clear markings for where to line it up for fitting and has a little clip button to hold it in place and a door to move filters if you have them.
Weight - didn't really notice it being any heavier during a 2 hour walk.
Quiet too. The IS is much quieter. No more grindy motor noises while it keeps everything steady and the focussing is quieter too.

Focussing - wow! so much faster than v1. It's almost prime fast.
Image quality - Noticeably sharper than v1 (for me).

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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

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Re: Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II announced

Post by DexterPunk »

The v1 is very sharp. But I got a lot more out of it with some micro adjusting using focal. The weight wouldn't really be all that noticeable walking around with it. You're right. But my concern is less carrying the weight while shooting, but carry on weights on planes. I struggled to get all my gear to Northern Territoy earlier this year. I ended up having to put some of my gear in checked luggage, which I really don't like doing.

Cool sample pics!
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