Looks like I am going to be getting the 100-400L II a lot sooner than I expected.

[DavidWare]

My wonderful mother received a rather large retirement check yesterday and asked me if I wanted anything special for my birthday/Christmas (they are four days apart) and I told her I was planning on getting the lens. I was expecting to get scoffed at, but she said she would give me the money because she knows nothing about cameras and wants to make sure I get the right thing.

Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for one of these guys, I imagine they're selling like hotcakes. They're supposed to start shipping on the 1st of December, right? Atleast I think that's what I read.

[Kayaker72]

Merry Christmas!! That is great and very generous. But, now the question is, what are you going to get her? :-)

Btw, I've seen late December for ship dates. And that could slide. The 400DO II was listed as Nov, and I haven't heard of it shipping yet.

[DavidWare]

Great question. But I think she is considering this payback for a couple things. Growing up, my parents divorced and my father left, and we weren't financially stable with just my mother's income, at one point living in a homeless shelter for 14 months. My little brother and I didn't even have a Christmas for about 4 years. Also, a few years back, a pipe broke in our basement while I was in Afghanistan, and I sent her a $5k check to replace damaged items and repair damages.

All that said and done though, I am going to print up a few pictures for her on canvas so she can put them in the living room, she has a few favorites of mine that she has hinted towards, and I am going to get those done for her. I'd like to get a few good pictures of my brother and I together for her since we haven't done that since we were in middle school.

She's more appreciative of the little things more than anything you could put a monetary value on. She'd be more happy if I showed up and shoveled her stairs and walkway after a snowstorm than if I went and bought her anything.


As for those ship dates, so long as it is here when everything starts turning green, I will be happy. Are you going to get the 400DO or are you still torn, Brant?

[Kayaker72]

Glad to hear everyone is doing better. She also sounds like she is the type of person that may get more out of giving you this lens than anything else.

Great to hear.

Are you going to get the 400DO or are you still torn, Brant?

Still torn. I am currently evaluating the Sigma 150-600S.

Specifically regarding the 400 DO II, I would need to put in some effort to come up with the ~$7k at this point, if possible. But, before even considering that, I would like to see a few reviews at a minimum. All we have on the 400 DO II are MTF charts, which are impressive. But I would like to see Bryan's charts with the 1.4x TC and 2x TC and his thoughts on bokeh. But, I am certainly intrigued by the 400 DO II.

BTW, I am excited to hear what you think of the 100-400 II. The 100-400 I is a great lens and I expect the "II" to be better in all the critical ways: 4 Stop IS, better sharpness (especially into the corners), faster AF, complete weather sealing, etc.

[DavidWare]

This is going to be my first white lens so I am pretty excited. The only other L I have currently is the 24-105. I am sure I will have nothing but good things to say about it since my only other experience in that range came from a 55-250mm mounted on a T3i haha.

[DavidWare]

I will be preordering the lens from Adorama later today, pretty excited. I noticed B&H has December 12th listed as a ship date. I hope this is true and that Adorama has the same, if not a close ship date to that.

This is my first time preordering something other than tickets or a videogame, and in my experience with that, they won't let you preorder unless they have an adequate supply. Does anyone know if this is the case here? I am going to jump out on a limb and guess that since I still have the option to preorder, then they still have enough to ship out on whatever date they end up going with.

[DavidEccleston]

Sorry David, but I seem to remember that with the 5DmkII, people were waiting months to get their preordered cameras. But it depends on the item... I pre-ordered the 7D2 really late, and I got it the day it came out, so there *is* still hope.

[DavidWare]

I hope I get lucky like you did with the 7D2.

Officially preordered.

[DavidWare]

Also, I saw that B&H is starting shipping on the 12th, hopefully Adorama follows suit.

[DanoPhoto]

I swapped e-mails with Jacob Waldner @ Adorama last night....not tipping their hand on shipping dates yet. Would only give me a "sometime this month" answer. Hoping for sooner than later, too.