Rumor: EF 100-400 f/4-5.6L IS

[Tony Printezis]

Hi all,


I hope you are enjoying your holidays.


Canon Rumors is reporting that someone who was apparently involved in testing the 100-400 mk II e-mailed them about it:


http://www.canonrumors.com/2008/12/ef-100-400-f4-56l-is-cr2/


The summary:

• traditional zoom ring
• latest (4-stop) IS
• f4 instead of f4.5 on the wide end
• weather sealed
• announcement Feb 2009
• sharp

Sounds real sweet.


Tony

[Bryan Carnathan]

That would be very sweet.Rumors are fun, but unfortunately, it seems that most do not come true. Apparently some people get excitement out of gaming the system. I think the people at CanonRumors.comare legit (don't want to discredit them), but as it is a rumors site, theyreport information they receive. And their "CR2" rating is a low confidence level.


I like the current 100-400 L a lot - and a better 100-400 L would be - well - even better!

[Tony Printezis]

Hi Bryan,

Rumors are fun, but unfortunately, it seems that most do not come true.

Of course! But, this one doesn't sound totally unreasonable to me. It's consistent with other rumors I've seen on the net about a potential 100-400 replacement, with the only new info being the Feb 2009 date. Anyway, we'll know in a couple of months. []


Tony

[Bryan Carnathan]

I agree. It is a long-wished-for upgrade. With a (rumored) Feb availability date, the lens would likely be included in the (typically) January announcement.

[Jeff]

It will be fun to see what is announced in early 2009. There are many things a lot of us are waiting to hear and see

[adam]

If that were true, it might convince me to abandon my beloved Sigma 100-300 f/4...


But I won't get my hopes up

[chris medico]

It would make for a very nice lens.


I have the current version of this lens and I find it very useful. I
would welcome the newer IS but I'm happy with it otherwise. Its not as
sharp as my 70-200F4L but its plenty sharp enough when you need the
extra reach.


Here is a shot I took recently with the 100-400.


http://flickr.com/photos/dieseladdict/3103129145/

[Pascal Bleuler]

More than a new 100-400 I'd prefer to see a 200-400 F2.8. But i guess it's never gonna happen. Best I can imagine is a 200-400 F4 and still. It would be awsome. Then add it a 14-24 F2.8 and you would have it all form 14 to 400 opend at 2.8. Sometimes I envy my friends and their Nikon SLRs. Sometimes...

[dancam]

Personally I've been very happy with the 100-400. I have it matched to the 24-105 and 10-22 on a 40D. I actually like the push-pull zoom design, I know it's not for every one. However, I feel with a push/pull you can zoom faster and easier on a subject. As far as IQ goes, this lens is awesome! Images are sharp and colors are great. Just don't use teleconverters. Focusing is fast and accurate. The changes I would like to see are the newer IS. My 100-400 jumps the image if you engage/dissengage the AF on a moving subject. Not a big deal, but its there. The other change I would be interested in is possibly a longer FL. Like the 200-500 Tamron. A larger apperature and weather sealing are always welcome, so they would be a nice addition but, not enough for me to switch to the newer design. I'm sure the new lens will be amazing, I'll be intereted in seeing what happens.

[mike]

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"]
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"]<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"]After too much reading about the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM lens I finally purchased the lens. I did obtain some valued opinions from several experienced people that own this lens and they all indicated it was a very good and solid performing lens. At this site I am very thankful to <st1:city w:st="on"]<st1lace w:st="on"]Bryan</st1lace></st1:city> his insights. <o></o>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"]<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"]This is my first L lens and after owning it for three days I am extremely pleased with its picture quality (I also have a Canon 50D). The contrast and details in my pictures are wonderful and the sharpness (which appears to be a main concern of this lens) appears great. Now I am an amateur so what is sharp to me may not be to others so after reading so much about the sharpness I was concerned. I performed the lens testing suggested at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"][url="http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/testing_lenses.html]http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/technical/testing_lenses.html[/url], thank you Bob Aktins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] The weather condition were not optimal (slight breeze and 10 degrees) but it was a clear sunny day. After cropping my test to 100% my images taken at 400 mm f/8 were still resolved at 3.2 lp/mm. It is my understanding this is very good but most importantly my images taken with this lens look great to me. My suggestions to anyone that might have concerns about a lens they own read the article and perform the tests. Any thoughts are appreciated
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