Bryan, Why do you do this to me?

[Sheiky]

You mentioned the weight of the 400/2.8, and that's an issue with the 500/4 as well.

Yes the weight of the 400mm f2.8L is quite hard to ignore. Honestly handholding this lens to shoot a still object is very, very intensive. Almost to the point of impossible. Especially when we're talking about longer periods of time(>5mins continues). The 500mm however is 1,5kg/3,3lbs lighter. The new version is even lighter. That would make a huge difference. I haven't held one of these, but I bet that that difference would make it hand holdable to me.


For moving objects however(like airshows) I found the weight to be less of an issue. Still it was hurting a lot between the shoulders after a day of shooting, but it was doable. Again, I think the benefit of the 500mm's weight would be a huge difference from the 400mm.I'm not sure if the price of the new 500mm II is justifiable to the weight reduction, but the 400mm II would certainly be worth the extra cash versus the "old" 400mm 2.8L.

The other part of that dilemma is that the current 500/4 is a fine lens, and while I expect some modest improvement with the MkII (perhaps more with TCs), the real difference is probably the weight Is that worth $3500?

As I said, I'm not sure about this. I think you should use the 500mm I and see what you think before trying the number II and get spoiled

My shooting with the 100-400mm usually involves quite a bit of hiking - parking the car, walking a few steps, setting up a tripod/gimbal head and waiting for the birds to come just isn't my style. I have some concerns about hanging the 11.5 lbs / 5.2 kg of gripped 7D + 500/4 from a BlackRapid strap on my shoulder, and walking for a few miles.

While I wasn't really hiking last weekend, some trips required quite a bit of long distant walks. And I believe that the tripod mount is a very nice handle to carry the lens. I wouldn't mind walking more than half an hour with it. However I wouldn't really enjoy it either


Again the weight of the 500mmL's or 400mmL II would be significantly less, so it might not be as bad as you think. PS, forget about the blackrapid thing, you're probably not going to use it with a tele lens like this.


Oh and for the tripod thing. My tripod wasn't really strong enough to carry the 400mm's weight. However my cheap Jinbei JB-300 Lightstand with my free Redged RT-2 Ballhead, was a surprisingly good combination! While it probably wasn't usable for long exposure shots, it served very well as a tripod/monopod. Plus it can get up to 2.8m/9ft of height, which is pretty cool

That doesn't mean that the 7D can't capture
these peak action shots, because it certainly can, however the MKIV just
gives you that little bit of an edge in capturing that absolute peak
moment.

Good point Rich, you're absolutely right on these in between shots. If I was getting paid for my photos this would be a huge thing to consider. However if you're just shooting for fun or something, a lot of actions repeat and you get more than one chance to get that in between shot. That's also something to consider.

WWhew----I checked the B&amp;H Website today for the 1DIV and this is what I found: <span class="red"]<span style="color: #b80505;"]Temporarily unavailable


Imanaged to hold off for four days, Problem solved....... for the moment.

Lucky you Bob! Hehe