Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
by Canon
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: CanonModel: 2526A005
Product features:
- EF mount; super telephoto lens
- Fluorite and Ultra-low Dispersion-glass; internal focusing; full-time manual focus
- 400mm focal length
- f/5.6 maximum aperture
- Micro UltraSonic Motor (USM)
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Customer Review: Great tele lens for handheld action shooting and light gear
Summary: 5 Stars
Update in August 2010: I now use this lens also with an EOS 7D. After several thousand photos with it (flying birds etc.) I can say that it overall works nicely and is sharp enough for the 7D's crowded 18 Megapixel sensor. But with 7D it is much more critical as with the 50D that the AF is perfectly microadjusted with this lens.
My old review:
I use this lens for wildlife photography, in particular to shoot flying birds. I prefer prime lenses as I want tack sharp images to get with my EOS 50D the full tele extension of its smaller crop sensor. I was really thinking about saving a lot of my Euro cents for one of Canons super teles. But besides their enourmos price level (I am still an amateur!) I hated the idea to carry such a big & heavy lens in the wilderness, plus being completely fixed on using a tripod. Many of my best photos I catched with a handheld shot. After some research on the internet I came across this "forgotten" tele lens in Canon's portfolio, and some nice picture examples of wildlife photographers immediatly convinced me that I may have found what I am looking for. And I was right!
The EF 400 mm f/5.6 USM is Canon's most aged tele lens that is still in brandnew copies available (since 1993). It has only a small aperture of 5.6 and no image stabilization. So on paper it does not look sexy - but it did to me! With a weight of only 1250 g (44.1 oz) and a length of 257 mm (77 mm filters) it feels extremely well balanced in the hand with the 50D: take a handy bottle of water, add in your mind a camera body to it and you get a first idea of how it handles. In particular it's image quality turned out to be very good: I can use it fully open (f/5.6) and get already very sharp pictures. In terms of picture angle you get with Canon's crop sensors theoretically a veeeery long 640 mm tele. In reality, as it is so sharp, you get about this tele reach when there is enough daylight available - great! Finally, it's Bokeh is very nice - it's a real "L" lens!
Another big plus is its extremely quick, responsive and surprisingly precise USM autofocus drive that allows full time manual focusing: if you switch the drive to a long distance mode (8 m closest distance) you get focus hunting quite well under control even if the background is vivid (at least with the 50D). This is much more an issue with the smaller brother Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras that I use very often, too.
As I shoot mostly sort of action with it and therefore need quick shutter speeds, I do not really miss image stabilization. It helps to get a quiter picture in the optical viewfinder, but the difference is not too much compared with the 300 mm with IS. You need of course to train a bit before you get successful handheld shots of, say, a flying bird, since your angle of view is quite narrow. But you can learn it successfully! Now I shoot with it and the 50D in combo more sharp action tele photos as with the 300 mm f/4.0L IS USM.
Mechanically, this lens is built like a tank. It has a nice retractable "push & screw" lens hood that protects the front lens well (so you do not need a light consuming protection filter). It's precise and very sensitive mechanical focus ring is a pleasure to use. In fact it has a double focus ring with two diameter sizes so even women with smaller hands than me (average male hand size I'd say :-) ) should be happy with this tele lens.
Overall it's price-performance ratio is super! I can highly recommend it to anyone who can get used to prime lenses instead of zooms.
Another pluses: since this lens does not look as impressive as Canon's big super tele lenses you get not bothered with "expert talks" by freaks when you want to shoot, not to talk. And: it does not radiate so much the "I am expensive please steal me" appeal... that's relaxing if you travel with it around.
Comparison with the EF 300 mm f/4.0L IS USM:
I use both lenses very often. They look like brothers and have both retractable lens hoods. The 300 mm is shorter and more sturdy as it's IS drive requires more space. But their characters are very different! With a closest distance of only 3.5 m and a small maximum magnification of 0.12x the 400 mm is a true tele lens (with a crop cam you can of course fill the picture easily with a bird, no worry). The 300 mm allows 1.5 m approach and then an maximum magnification of 0.24x - so it's a really great "distance macro". And at close distance it turns out that its IS is extremely useful, like a built-in tripod. As the 300 mm combines both decent macro and tele capabilities it turned out to be my standard lens in nature. The 400 mm serves me perfectly if I only need as much tele as possible. Both lenses make less than 2.5 kg in the gear so you really can carry both plus one ore two camera bodys and a few smaller lenses - even in a very rough environment when you need mobility.
Description of Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
This high-performance lens was designed with portability and handling ease in mind. One Super UD-glass element, whose characteristics are similar to fluorite, and one UD-glass element result in sharp pictures from corner-to-corner. The lens also has a built-in hood and a detachable tripod mount.Accessories
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